Well their was this oscar at about 3-4in and wanted to know if I can put in in a 16 gal tank with a red tail botia. The reason why it so small is because I divided my 60 gal tank and have a 16 gal part for my red tail botia which may or will eat my small comunity fish. So is it okay to have an oscar with that condiation in a small tank? Reason being is because I will get my 100 gal tank within 2-3weeks.

If it is only temporary quarters until you get a 100gal it should be fine for a few weeks. However I wouldn't recommend putting it in with the loach. You should keep new fish quarantined for 4 to 6 weeks before introducing them with other fish. I wouldn't take the chance of introducing something to any of my existing fish if I was you.

Why do I have to do that? What does that do? How come I have to do that?

When you bring in new fish you never know if they are carrying something that may transmit to your healthy fish. Especially if it comes from a pet store. Even if the fish looks healthy it may still have a disease. It is just a good idea so you don't infect your stock of healthy fish and/or a healthy tank.

Ic so how would I set one up?

Just like any other tank....could even be just a bin with filter heater etc.

Ic thanks but lets say Im putting new fish in a tank. What should I do first?

Well, acclimate them accordingly to what your putting in. In a QT tank you can pretty much just put them in as long as temps and PH are close to one another. Lighting should be the same as other tanks, on at least 8 hours a day...feed them as you normally feed other fish and do plenty of water changes to keep water pristine. Make sure to use a established filter or if using a new filter put some gravel from an established tank or a filter pad from an established filter in to seed the tank with good bacteria. This way you wont have to worry much about cycling.

...and get a test kit

dirtydawg10 wrote:

If it is only temporary quarters until you get a 100gal it should be fine for a few weeks. However I wouldn't recommend putting it in with the loach. You should keep new fish quarantined for 4 to 6 weeks before introducing them with other fish. I wouldn't take the chance of introducing something to any of my existing fish if I was you.

Just noticed this agian............Why is it bad to put the loach with the Oscar? Also is it bad to mix the loach and a arowana? BTW my loach is about 5inches.

The Oscar will eventually get large enough to make a snack of the loach.

I see. I was wondering lets saw I have my 100gal tank set up and already have 2 oscar and wanted to add 4 jds who are small abou an inch would they be okay or should I put a divider till their big enough? Also how many fish do you guys think can I put in my 100gal tank? Because I was thinking of putting 2 oscar,4 jds,2 jaguars, and maybe a flowerhorn or arowana.

ninjastar wrote:

I see. I was wondering lets saw I have my 100gal tank set up and already have 2 oscar and wanted to add 4 jds who are small abou an inch would they be okay or should I put a divider till their big enough? Also how many fish do you guys think can I put in my 100gal tank? Because I was thinking of putting 2 oscar,4 jds,2 jaguars, and maybe a flowerhorn or arowana.

Absolutely not!

That is way too small of a tank for that many fish of that size. And a 100 gallon tank has too small a footprint for an arowana! The arowana will likely end up deformed due to a repetitive pattern in its swimming in too small of a tank. Not to mention, I've seen nothing on filtration. At that stocking rate you would have to have phenomenal filtration and willing to do 30-50% water changes daily. Are you willing to do that?

The oscars are going to average 12-13", up to 15" plus. The JDs will average 10", up to 12". The jags will average 11-13" up to 16" or more. Plus a flowerhorn at 10-13" or more depending on its lineage. I'm assuming you have a standard 100 gallon tank, which IIRC has a 72" x 18" footprint. You are asking for problems of a magnitude I suspect you cannot handle based on your level of experience, as I perceive it from the questions you have asked.

I have 5 oscars (from 5" to 9 1/2") in a 90 gallon tank right now, future home is a 180 gallon. I have 600 GPH of water turnover through 3 HOB filters, and do a 40% water change 6 days out of every 7. I barely keep up with keeping the tank clean! I hope to have their new home up in a coupla more weeks, right now the 90 is for quarantine and treatment purposes due to the poor condition I acquired these fish in. Large cichlids are messy feeders that produce a lot of metabolic waste. You will be in over your head instantly with the stocking rates you are suggesting. My example is 5 fish currently smaller than the eventual growth of the 9 fish you are suggesting you will keep in the 100 permanently. My tank is only 10 gallons smaller. Think of the work yer gonna hafta do. The fish will be the ones that suffer.

Not trying to be a hardass, but I'm going to reccomend that you need to stock less than suggested on forums and such until yer understanding of aquariums and livestock increases and yer maintanence habits are well established.

You'll save yerself a lot of heartache. My advice? Put the two oscars in the 100 and maybe add a pleco, with a lot of filtration, and be satisfied with that for now.

WYite

Wyomingite wrote:

ninjastar wrote:

I see. I was wondering lets saw I have my 100gal tank set up and already have 2 oscar and wanted to add 4 jds who are small abou an inch would they be okay or should I put a divider till their big enough? Also how many fish do you guys think can I put in my 100gal tank? Because I was thinking of putting 2 oscar,4 jds,2 jaguars, and maybe a flowerhorn or arowana.

Absolutely not!

That is way too small of a tank for that many fish of that size. And a 100 gallon tank has too small a footprint for an arowana! The arowana will likely end up deformed due to a repetitive pattern in its swimming in too small of a tank. Not to mention, I've seen nothing on filtration. At that stocking rate you would have to have phenomenal filtration and willing to do 30-50% water changes daily. Are you willing to do that?

The oscars are going to average 12-13", up to 15" plus. The JDs will average 10", up to 12". The jags will average 11-13" up to 16" or more. Plus a flowerhorn at 10-13" or more depending on its lineage. I'm assuming you have a standard 100 gallon tank, which IIRC has a 72" x 18" footprint. You are asking for problems of a magnitude I suspect you cannot handle based on your level of experience, as I perceive it from the questions you have asked.

I have 5 oscars (from 5" to 9 1/2") in a 90 gallon tank right now, future home is a 180 gallon. I have 600 GPH of water turnover through 3 HOB filters, and do a 40% water change 6 days out of every 7. I barely keep up with keeping the tank clean! I hope to have their new home up in a coupla more weeks, right now the 90 is for quarantine and treatment purposes due to the poor condition I acquired these fish in. Large cichlids are messy feeders that produce a lot of metabolic waste. You will be in over your head instantly with the stocking rates you are suggesting. My example is 5 fish currently smaller than the eventual growth of the 9 fish you are suggesting you will keep in the 100 permanently. My tank is only 10 gallons smaller. Think of the work yer gonna hafta do. The fish will be the ones that suffer.

Not trying to be a hardass, but I'm going to reccomend that you need to stock less than suggested on forums and such until yer understanding of aquariums and livestock increases and yer maintanence habits are well established.

You'll save yerself a lot of heartache. My advice? Put the two oscars in the 100 and maybe add a pleco, with a lot of filtration, and be satisfied with that for now.

WYite

Really nothing more to say besides I couldn't agree more....Excellent post wyite!

Oscars get big and messy. If you want to get a tank full of Cichlids in a 100g you can but not the species you have suggested. If you want a few larger Cichlids that's possible too but the stock you are talking about will set up failure.

I understand your point. But lets assume that I will get a larger tank when they get bigger maybe a 200gal tank. Would that be okay? Because what Im thinking is if it would be okay since their just babies? Because at the lps the oscar are about 3 inches and the jds about 1-2inches.

ninjastar wrote:

I understand your point. But lets assume that I will get a larger tank when they get bigger maybe a 200gal tank. Would that be okay? Because what Im thinking is if it would be okay since their just babies? Because at the lps the oscar are about 3 inches and the jds about 1-2inches.

A 200? Say 2 oscars, 2 JDs and a jag, with maybe a coupla plecos. For comparison, my stocking plan for my 225 is a jag, a midas, a red devil and a blackbelt, with maybe a large catfish. For my 180, 5 oscars and maybe a coupla mid-sized plecos. That's it, and there are a lotta people who'd make an argument I'm overstocked at that, on both tanks. The 225 will have 1500 gph of through-filter water turnover, the 180 will have 1700 gph. That's 7-8 times the tank volume per hour, and I'm still anticipating 25-30% water changes twice a week. When yer talkin' large cichlids, 200 gallons isn't that much volume.

If you don't have the larger tank in hand, do not assume you WILL get it. A word to the wise, never purchase fish anticipating you will buy a larger tank when they are ready for one. IME life has a way of twisting circumstances so that the best laid plans go awry, resulting in other things becoming more important than a larger fish tank.

WYite

I see. Well I will start off with only 2 oscar in that 100gal tank. Everyone has been loads of help and I still have alot to learn with alot of question now since Im going to do a ciclid tank. But ya with that being said. if how do I tell if an oscar is a male or female?I did the reaserch but no one is certain. So I was thinking that you guys would know. Well What I read in different articles is that the you cant really tell because they all look the same. But some say you should wait till their about 4inches, the anal fin doesnt help much, and that the color of a female is less color than that of a male.

Also for that 100gal tank what filtration would you recommend if I do get that amount of fish lets just say 2 oscar, 2jd and 2jags?

Quote :

Also for that 100gal tank what filtration would you recommend if I do get that amount of fish lets just say 2 oscar, 2jd and 2jags?

Seriously. 100g tank, too many fish. Bad ninjastar, no cookie.

Pick two from that list and stuff them in the 100.

The only exception to that would be that you could get 3 JDs in a 100 and it would be fine.

For filtration one Rena XP4 or two Marineland Emperor 400s should do the trick.

Agreed. Two oscars in the 100 or any combination of two out of the above. It may seem like a waste of space, but you will appreciate it in the end. Like I said before, ya could probly get by with a mid-sized pleco as well. But more cichlids than that is askin' for a headache.

Oscars are a bitch to sex. Most of the differences seen in other cichlids are absent. The only real way, as far as I'm concerned, is when ya can actually see the oviositor on the female and compare it to the male. Oscars seem to avoid fallin' into any consistency for sexing IME using traits such as pointed fins, color, nuchal hump and size.

WYite.

But if their only 2 inches isnt it okay? Because if they grow an inch a month and in a year their about 12inches I can assume that I should get a larger tank 6months in.

Nyet.

It's a bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad idea. I can say bad some more if you'd like.

Once they start getting bigger, they start getting more territorial. They get more territorial they get more argumentative, then they start picking on each other and then add different sizes based on growth speed, and shit goes down hill real fast.

JDs can be dicks, Oscars are dicks, and Jags are gigantic douchebags. Nevermind the bloody stumps of death bringing horror you'll get if one of them decides to pair up with that many fish in there.

Stick with two. It will make things so very much easier for you. Honest.

But then only 2 Oscars in a 100gallion tank looks and feels weird to me.

ninjastar wrote:

But then only 2 Oscars in a 100gallion tank looks and feels weird to me.

It may now. I remember when I thought 6 or 7 small fish in a 20 gallon tank felt weird. It's because in yer mind yer basing what a tank should look like based on how many fish are in a tank at the LFS. They buy large numbers of fish and move 'em out to customers quickly, those fish are never kept in those conditions for long. You are going to keep your fish in that 100 gallon tank forever. Give it time, and you'll realize that a coupla healthy happy fish are better than fish that are fighting and stunted due to poor conditions.

Fish that are kept in good conditions at the proper stocking rate begin to show colors and behaviors that you will never see in a crowded tank. The rewards for patience and taking good care of yer fish will far outeigh the "it feels weird" syndrome that ya get because there are only a few fish in a tank.

WYite

So only 2 and nothing more?

ninjastar wrote:

So only 2 and nothing more?

Correct!!!