Oscars.... its a fish

[ChiChi]

anyone own these cool fish??? i am thinking about getting 3 or 4... anyone kno anything about them?

[elegy]

they are humungous and need a humungous tank. and i think they're pretty aggressive/territorial also.

[Pugdawg1]

I like them, but personally wouldn't get one. Too aggressive and require too much space. They get BIG.

[ChiChi]

yea that is why i like them! (not the big part) i am gonna get the small ones (there are 3 diffrent types) and i need like a 25 gal or more tank right??? i have a ten gal, and that would hold two, at least that is wat petsmart said! but i love em, there awsome fish!

[Ritz459]

What do they look like? I've never heard of them before so I am corious. When I picture an 'Oscar' fish I picture a Goldfish with Black right above its mouth. lol We had a Goldfish once named Oscar that looked like that. His other names were Groucho and Mustache. LOL

My sister bought a male and female pair of Black Mollies from Petsmart and what do ya know? We had about 50 (probably more) baby fishies!! lol The mommy didn't try to eat them, she tried to protect them. About half (give or take) of them died and all of the rest (except for four of them) we gave back to Petsmart. We didn't want that many fishes. lol I like the fancy guppies. They are soooooo pretty.....*sigh*....I had three of them once. A Black and Yellow female named Chickadee, a Matalic male named Tai, and a orange and white male named Husky. I wish I could have some more, but I don't have room for a tank. Just a bowl. And Guppies can't live without a filter, right?

[ChiChi]

Oscars are realted to the Pirahna (sp) but they dont have any teeth.... there the fish that if u stick ur hand in teh water they will try to eat it! lol it tickles tee hee! but yea..... i rpolly wont be able to get them for a while.... until i can keep my room clean for like 2 months... i am a horrible pig.. i admit it! lol but i mite sneak one! LOL

[metalmorphosis]

Ok my OH has studied fish management for 5 yrs so you could say he's pretty experienced.

Over here we work more in feet but here's his comments.

A 40 gallon tank is around 3ft, this is the MINIMUM of one adult.

Aggressiveness has been mentioned; this is not strictly true. They are boisterous and will bully small fish but will not actively attack fish of around the same size, and can be kept harmoniously with fish such as Cichlilasoma/Gibbicepse.

If you want 3 or 4, the smallest tank he would consider, and bearing in mind this is again a minimum, is 7 x 3 x 4ft.

Although not very active, these fish are largely pelagic (mid water swimmers) so need lots of space.

Although there are lots of Cichlid formulas available, they will do best on fresh meat, cockels, prawns etc so can be quite expensive to feed.

On the plus side...they have great characters and will readily learn to hand feed. I'd suggest keeping one Oscar in a 4ft tank with a large Lochorid species such as adult Gibbiceps, queen Panaque.

If you have the space don't be put off, they're a fantastic species to own.

Hope that helped, sorry for any spelling mistakes!

[metalmorphosis]

Originally Posted by ChiChi

Oscars are realted to the Pirahna (sp) but they dont have any teeth.... there the fish that if u stick ur hand in teh water they will try to eat it! lol it tickles tee hee! but yea..... i rpolly wont be able to get them for a while.... until i can keep my room clean for like 2 months... i am a horrible pig.. i admit it! lol but i mite sneak one! LOL

Oh a couple of things to add. Oscars are one of your stereotypical Cichlids, whereas the pirahna is a member of the Characin family....2 totally different genuses. Many fish once tame will suck at fingers, e.g. goldfish! (Cyprinids) Tilapia (Cichlid) Koi (Cyprinid) Sterlet (Acipenserid)

[metalmorphosis]

Oh...other nice looking fish of similar locality to check out are Thorichthys meeki (Firemouth Cichlid) which is related to the Oscar but is less aggressive, and only gets 5-6 inches, and so a pair can be kept in a 3ft tank.

They will also hand feed and have bags of character

[metalmorphosis]

Ok just one more thing....HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHICHI!!!!

[poodlesmom]

Many years ago a couple I knew had 2 of them in an extremely large tank. They asked me if I wanted to see their fish float upside down. It was the funniest thing. Every time they went to feed their fish, they would come to the top, turn upside down until they got their bellies rubbed and then they'd turn back over & wait to be fed.

[SalemWitchChild]

I have one named Psycho. We had two but he killed the other one. They need a large tank. My tank is 100 gals. Thats good for two. When you get a couple make sure they are about the same size. I also saw a comment about them not having teeth. This isn't true. They have two sets of teeth. You just can't see them because they are small. One is used to push fish into its mouth, the other to break up.

They are great fish and each have their own personality. Just make sure you want the responsibility that goes along with them. They are a dirty fish. So adequet filtration is a must.

[flyndog]

For fish, they are pretty smart. They do not play well with others. They can get huge. But they make good pets. I used to be a real cichlid freak.

[Rip's Girl]

I'm thinking of setting my old 55GAL tank back up and putting an Oscar in it.. I raised African Cichlids for several years up until I got Ripley. When my dogs and school started taking up most of my time, I decided to stop breeding and put a divider in the tank. My last male died over the summer.. Now, I miss having fish, and I always admired Oscars.. And a single large fish is better, to me, than a tankful of small, super aggressive fish.

[SalemWitchChild]

Oscars seem to be happier being alone. At least for the more aggressive ones. Psycho is everybit what his name means! He even lived through a suicide jump out of the tank!