Monster Fish Rescue
Have a fish you don't know what to do with?
All about Oscars (Astronotus ocellatus)
TANK SIZE
(YES!! SIZE DOES MATTER.) 1.) If you've always wanted an oscar, and why wouldn't you,
you're first going to need a large tank. Buy the tank, then the fish I always say. The most common size
tank suggested for an oscar is a 75 Gallon (48"x18"x18"). 75's are ideal, as they really
DON'T take up much more room than a 55 - A bare (no decor) 55 would work as a minimum, but why not
get what's ideal for the fish?
GROWTH RATE slow down a bit in growth after they mature. Which
incidentally takes place around the 8-10 inch mark. slow down a bit in growth after they mature. Which
incidentally takes place around the 8-10 inch mark. My theory on why they slow down growing after maturing is
because they're so concerned about taking care of their hormones and sewing their wild oats..... That
well, they forget that eating was once their biggest priority Hey, it's just a theory... biggest priority Hey, it's just a theory...
FEEDING 3.) Please do NOT feed your oscar live prey unless you breed
your own feeders or know the breeder. Goldfish are a great way to give your oscar a parasite....
Feed your oscar a good brand of large cichlid food. Don't be concerned with the fact that they chew up and
spit out their food. I think it's fun for them, they do eat some of it so don't be concerned. Once you've chosen the food you're going to feed your oscar
it's important to not over feed the little guy. Cichlids can eat and eat and eat. That doesn't mean feed
them every time you walk past the tank. I feed my young oscars twice a day as much as they can eat in
about 30 seconds to a minute. After they mature I'll only feed them once a day, usually in the morning.
It doesn't matter though, morning or evening, it's just what I do.... After five minutes if there's
any left over food it can be removed with a small net. Once you figure out how much your little guy can
eat then it'll be easy to decide how much food to put in. Just do your best to not leave un-eaten food
in the tank as it will rot and decay causing less than desirable water conditions. Which leads me to step 4
FILTRATION/WATER CHANGES 4.) Here's the best advice I can give on filtration for
oscars. If the package says it's good enough to filter a 75, and you have a 75? Then get TWO of those filters. That's
right, double your filtration efforts with oscars, and any other cichlid for that matter. I make it
common practice. And believe me: you simply can't over filter when it comes to the pigs of the water. The one
thing you definitely NEED to do is have a strict water change schedule. For one oscar in a 75 gallon,
30% weekly is perfect. (30% is a good start: moving an even higher percentage of water during cleaning,
will NOT hurt.) During that 30% water change you should slowly vacuum the substrate starting at one
end of the tank working your way from front to back, slowly moving towards the other end. In a 75
you should get about half of the tank vacuumed while removing at least 30% of the water. A week
later start the vacuuming on the other side. And so on and so on. Get it? Good, now go do it If you
already have a 55 and are planning on an oscar water changes will need to be more often. Say 30% every 4
days. Remember, it's better to do more smaller water changes than one big one. Keeping the water
clean and fresh is a must for oscars, remember these fish at one time lived in rivers and streams.
More than likely the oscar you have has been breed in captivity for generations. Which leads me to
another subject.
WATER CONDITIONS 5.) Clean, that about sums it up. Oscars are very adaptive and
can live in a wide range of ph and hardness. Just be sure your tank is properly cycled for fish
and keep that water clean and at about 80 degrees.
DISEASES 6.) Hole In The Head (HITH) is the most common disease that
affects oscars. To treat it simply recreate in your tank what the oscar would do in the wild. In the wild an
oscar (or any fish for that matter) will move to shallow water when feeling ill. They don't swim to the
nearest pharmacy and get an over the counter drug to cure their ailment. The reason they move to the
shallows is because the water is warmer, highly oxygenated and replenished with new water at a faster rate.
Soooooo...... Do the same in your tank. Turn the temps up to about 83-85, add a bubble wall or two and
change 10% to 15% of the water daily until you see improvements in the fish. The only difference between us
doing it and Mother Nature doing it is there isn't some big ol' predator waiting to snatch the fish
from the water..... Besides, if you've followed all 5 previous steps in oscar 101, you won't have to
experience your beloved oscar getting a disease.... hopefully!!
SEXING and BREEDING 7.) If you want to breed oscars here's what you need to do.
Get yourself a 125. Buy six bouncing baby oscars of your choice. Then proudly watch them grow and pair
off. After you have a pair, (trust me you WILL know) then remove the other four fish by either returning
them to the store for store credit or bringing them to my house to put them in my 800. Keep the
temps around 83 and do 30% water changes every four days. Feed them well and give them a flat rock to
lay their eggs on. After that, watch as instinct takes over. Don't forget they're new to this and may
need a few practice rounds. (It happens to everybody, give em a break.) Remember to keep the water clean!
Now as far as sexing goes.... There are lots of theories.... But nothing beats simply watching them
spawn to figure out who's the boy and who's the girl! Some say males have more "eye" spots and
longer fins. Others say males get bigger and are more aggressive.... It's all theory, nothing is concrete. Well
except for venting.... For that you'll have to get a photo of the vent out of the water and post a picture.
Yet another good reason to start a thread!
Good luck with your oscar(s), I hope you have your wet pet -
or even a pair - for a long (up to 15 years) time!!
For more in depth reading and some more wonderful things to
learn about oscars, read this article! http: //www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/oscar_cichlid.php
KEEPING MULTIPLE OSCARS Here's my take on the whole two oscars and tank size
issues.... It's been my experience that no matter the size of the tank, even an 800, males will simply not get
along. The problem comes when you have a tank smaller than 800 gallons one male WILL kill the other.
Especially if a female is present. I currently have EIGHT oscars in an 800, five are mature, three are not
and have not revealed their sex yet. Of the three that are mature only one is female. The two males still
hate each other but there's room to run in a 14' tank, not a 240, or a 75. To get two males to get along is
not an easy task but it's been done.
In short here's the deal:
F + F = OK F + M = OK (sometimes) M + M = No way
That's usually why only one oscar is recommended for a 75, not
because there's not room for two oscars but because there's aggression issues.
Two females will work in a 75 with a 90% success rate. I say
90% because there's still a 10% chance they won't get along. I'd still do it though.
I'd give a pair about a 75% success rate in a 75 simply
because a female will test a males strength before spawning with him, if he's too strong and she's got no place
to run then she's dead. If he's not strong enough then she might kill him if he's got no place to run..
And two males I'd give about a 10% shot... best not to try it.
Now here lies the problem, there's no proven method of sexing
juvenile oscars.... So you're stuck with the only safe option of getting one Using dithers to spread
aggression around doesn't work with oscars.... (Dithers are target expendable fish that are used
so your main fish don't kill each other. They spend their time going after the dithers instead of each
other) Oscars will simply eat the dithers, or ignore them
These are my opinions that are backed up by a couple of
decades of having kept and bred these things. Have more questions? Feel free to email me. Go to “contact us”
to email me!
-Jonathan Strazinsky
Clare and Karl
Lister
Clare and Karl
Lister have been keeping fish for around 5 years now. It all started with a
coldwater Black Moor! They bought a Juwel 3ft tank and some coldwater
companions to go with the black moor. A few months later they saw their first `0ddball` fish, Tetradon
Palembangensis, or Humback Puffer. That started their obsession in oddballs and they upgraded the
coldwater 3’ tank to a 5ft tank and bought the pair of Plamebang Puffers. It wasn`t long before it became apparent to the Listers that
the puffers were not a pair and actually could not be kept together, then came the third tank so we
could seperate them. They started researching oddballs and found there were a huge variety of
fish they never even knew exsted let alone could be kept in a home aquaruim. Their hobby grew fast and it wasn`t long before they started
having purpose built 8ft tanks on 4" box xsteel stands with 7ft tanks underneath surrounding the
lounge, wall to wall.
Their next interest was Polypterus, being non aggresive they
kept all kinds of fish around that time with them, from Fire Eels, Elephant Nose, Sun Catfish to Hujetta
Gars and Pike Characins. After many a fish store misleading them with bad advice and
wrong information they found Wharf Aquatics and then their real fishkeeping started! They saw a Mbu Puffer and it was a `must have` fish. They had a purpose built 8ft tank for him, later upgraded to a
9ft x 3.6ft to give him a bigger turning circle as he grew huge!
mates happily until he sadly
passed away 4 years after we bought him. He was a wild caught adult, although he grew a lot once he was given the room to do so,
his cause of death was unknown as he although he grew a lot once he was given the room to do so,
his cause of death was unknown as he showed no sign of illness, this was one of our lowest points
in the hobby.” Says Clare showed no sign of illness, this was one of our lowest points
in the hobby.” Says Clare
Their ambition to keep Red Tail Catfish became a
reality 2 1/2 years ago. They bought him as a tiny baby, just the size of a finger nail, looking lost in his 7ft tank.
he was brought up around other fish so he was used to tank mates. Now nearing 3ft he is ready to move into his final home, a
20ft x 5ft x 3ft acrylic tank. The tank itself cost in excess of £7000, it is in a purpose built fishroom, brought
in by crane before the doorway being blocked up, insulated and the room finished off. This project has taken over 3 years and cost over £10,000 in
total, it should not be taken lightly and has progressed from being a hobby to a way of life. The Red tail will be housed with 2 xydoras Niger, a Tiger Shovelnose and a
male/female pair of silver arowanas. “Our Red tail is very boisterous
and for this reason he will be the last to be moved to the big tank, giving the other fish chance to establish their territories
first. We do feel very privelaged to have these fish in our lives but
it is not without sacrifice.”
They have 12 tanks in total and do weekly 25% water
changes in every tank, amounting to 2150 litres of water being changed in one go, soon to be another 1000litres
added to that sum when the 20ft tank is up and running. Every tank is fitted with a blur moonlight, and all their fish
are given strict regular feeding, some in the mornings, some at night with the blue light on, and some last
thing at night in darkeness. This means no holidays, high electric bills and no nights off!
Amongst some of their most interesting fish are their
snakeheads. A solitary Channa Striata being the most aggresive fish they own and a group of 7 Pleuropthalma
being some of the most colourful. Some gentler giants are the shoaling Spotted Gars, and their South
American Lungfish. Then there are some aggresive fish like the Fahaka Puffer and Palembang Puffer that they
would not keep with anything, not even an armoured pleco.
“Fishkeeping is a huge part of
every aspect of our lives and it takes dedication even at the lowest points. If anyone is thinking of keeping large fish I would
say to be very sure you have the money, time and commitment to take on a project to keep it.”
“Large predatory fish are a wonderful spectacle and deserve
respect as living creatures with special requirements, if you give them this they are some of the most
personable, amazing `pets` to be part of your life. Hopefully our project will show what can be achieved by anyone
who sets their heart and mind to it.”
Our hats off the Clare and Karl! They’re a great
example of what it takes to keep these Monster fish. Here are a few pictures of their prized pets:
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