Any aquarists in the house?

I tried Oscar's once years ago in my 20's and found out a) they get big.. like really big! ...‚ and b) are mostly docile but can get temperamental and anything smaller than it is fair game, if it so chooses. I found that out the hard way when I had a couple of full sized Angel fish that my Oscar decided to dine on overnight. I've seen angel fish kept with other cichlids but Oscar's..yeah no. Not a good fit.. you gotta keep Oscar's with fish their own sized or with other cichlids with bad attitudes like the aforementioned Red Devil.. easily one of the most ill tempered fresh water fish I've come across.

Thanks for all the tips and I'll be checking this thread regularly for the next few weeks in case you guys think of something else.

*yes, I am checking pH weekly. It's been a problem for me for some time (maintaining it close to neutral) but I suspect my poor tank cleaning habits has something to do with it. So it goes without saying a good cleaning is in order this weekend.... My plan is to get back to a regular maintenance routine and see how that effects my algae and pH problem and if things have not improved than I'm going to look at increasing filtration (even though I *think* I have enough, the point was made that it's hard to have "too much" filtration).. and that includes potentially adding an under gravel system
 
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Btw, nice and clean looking 55gl. I'd like to have a clean looking tank like that but my daughter seems to define what goes in and she likes all the planty' stuff...so "cluttered" it is. I'm looking to add another Betta.. this will make 3 in the tank. They're all females ("sorority"). I tried adding just one male a while back and he wrecked havoc during his short tenure in the tank. I had to eventually take him back. Talk about bad attitudes in small pkgs...any brightly colored fish would [censored] him off.. even the females. He'd "flare" & chase incessantly and get nippy, even with the full grown Molly's which are about a half inch larger than he was (at about 3" v. 2~2.5 inches). I'm convinced that male Bettas should be kept either alone or in a heavily planted long tank.
 
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Thank you! Here's some better pictures, plus one of my filter. I'm not sure for your particular algae, but I get the algae that tints my water green and a UV filter seems to always take care of it.

The oscar's name is Dahmer btw
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Originally Posted by Skippy722
Thank you! Here's some better pictures, plus one of my filter. I'm not sure for your particular algae, but I get the algae that tints my water green and a UV filter seems to always take care of it.

The oscar's name is Dahmer btw
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Dahmer.. now that's funny. Good looking fish, plenty of room for him to grow and get big.. and big he will get. Have you kept Oscar's before? I also had tigeg Oscar's years ago in my 20's (I also had a 10ft Columbian red tail and 6ft Argentine boa so there's that ...‚). When they (the Oscar's) weren't gobbling up everything in sight they had personality....‚ i use to live feed them goldfish and crayfish from the local Asian market. The two I had got to about 8/9"ish before I determined i wasn't going to be able to get a tank in my apartment large enough to accommodate them. The apartment I was living in back then had a 55gl limit on water filled aquariums. 55 woulda been the absolute minimum for two Oscar's. I could have done it with a 55 but they woulda been happier in a 75/100gl..so I sold them to a co-worker.

Check out the video.. this guy's got several that are over a foot long in a 600gl tank. Beautiful setup he has going...

Never had the green variety algae, just "blessed" with this black beard stuff ... .. I did try a drop in UV light that went into the hang on back filter...it didn't do anything. I think the problem is that this particular form of algae sticks to just about anything, even the glass and that can be a $&#+" to scrape off. So the UV light was, if anything, just killing free floating algae and not addressing what's stuck on in the tank. I suppose I could put it directly in the tank so long as I had a solid barrier to protect the fish from the UV..but man, that's gonna nuke my my nitrogen cycle. Might as well bleach it at that point.
 
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My first fish was actually an Oscar! He didn't survive very long after I moved... I'm trying to talk the wife into a 75 or 100 gallon tank though
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the oscars in that video are what I want!
 
Originally Posted by Skippy722
My first fish was actually an Oscar! He didn't survive very long after I moved... I'm trying to talk the wife into a 75 or 100 gallon tank though
lol.gif
the oscars in that video are what I want!

Yeah, that guys got some great looking fish. When I had my Oscar's they would swim up to the top and you could "pet" them but as the previous poster pointed out that they can get nippy if the only time you open up the top is to feed them...so you gotta kind of mix it up so they don't always associate the lid opening with food.
 
Nice looking setups!

I've had my oscar and green severum together (just the pair) in a 75 since 2013. In reality, it's not enough tank for a single oscar by themselves, but I feed quality dry food, feed sparingly and manage water parameters by doing a weekly fin level water change on it. The severum is by far the meaner, feistier fish, but their mouths are too small to do any damage to the oscar. They're both like puppy dogs.

My other tanks are 55g a 29 and a 10. There's weeks I wish I had none, but I keep'em going. I haven't brought a new fish in a year or two.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
 
Originally Posted by JTK
Nice looking setups!

I've had my oscar and green severum together (just the pair) in a 75 since 2013. In reality, it's not enough tank for a single oscar by themselves, but I feed quality dry food, feed sparingly and manage water parameters by doing a weekly fin level water change on it. The severum is by far the meaner, feistier fish, but their mouths are too small to do any damage to the oscar. They're both like puppy dogs.

My other tanks are 55g a 29 and a 10. There's weeks I wish I had none, but I keep'em going. I haven't brought a new fish in a year or two.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]


Hahaha.. your fish are very photographic.. that's awesome!👠Great pics.

How big is your Oscar now? I've seen Oscar's kept with much smaller fish than themselves.. I've personally never done it but I believe you just gotta keep the Oscars happy and fed and like in your case the smaller fish has to have attitude like the previously mentioned Red Devil.... That's the problem i ran into.. the 55gl was getting too small for the pair I had. You guys are making me want to do Oscar's again.. they're one of the few species that i genuinely enjoyed keeping. Yeah water quality is a constant battle but that's gonna be an issue with most every fish this size (upwards of a foot or better).
 
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Now that's an Oscar! Goals
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Mad_Hatter, my dad and I swear by the canister filters. They really help keep the tanks a little cleaner with these larger messier fish. They won't make up for lack of maintenance, but where my old HOB would need new filters every ~2-3 weeks, my canister can go for 4~6, and I no longer use any activated carbon.
 
Originally Posted by Skippy722
Now that's an Oscar! Goals
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Mad_Hatter, my dad and I swear by the canister filters. They really help keep the tanks a little cleaner with these larger messier fish. They won't make up for lack of maintenance, but where my old HOB would need new filters every ~2-3 weeks, my canister can go for 4~6, and I no longer use any activated carbon.

I've thought about the canisters and admittedly I've not looked into them much. I know canisters are superior in most every way but my concern with a canister would be too much flow. I keep female Bettas, along with other fish, and the Bettas don't like a turbulent surface, they're labyrinth fish and go to the top occasionally for air. Some turbulence is ok as it helps w/gas exchange but I keep it to a minimum. The main filter I have is a HOB that I've rigged to diffuse the flow coming off it. The corner filter is a small, submersible filter that has built in flow adjustment. I can turn that down to a trickle if needed but it's under water about midway in the water column so flow on that one is really not an issue.

Maybe I need to research canisters to see if there's one i can adjust flow or diffuse the output.
 
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Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter

I've thought about the canisters and admittedly I've not looked into them much. I know canisters are superior in most every way but my concern with a canister would be too much flow. I keep female Bettas, along with other fish, and the Bettas don't like a turbulent surface, they're labyrinth fish and go to the top occasionally for air. Some turbulence is ok as it helps w/gas exchange but I keep it to a minimum. The main filter I have is a HOB that I've rigged to diffuse the flow coming off it. The corner filter is a small, submersible filter that has built in flow adjustment. I can turn that down to a trickle if needed but it's under water about midway in the water column so flow on that one is really not an issue.

Maybe I need to research canisters to see if there's one i can adjust flow or diffuse the output.


If you look at the picture I posted of mine, you'll see a lever below where the hoses connect, that is used to adjust the flow rate. Mine came with a spray bar, which you can buy more cheap ($15 for a 12" Eheim) and daisy chain them, as well as point in any direction. Or run some extra tubing and put the outlet super low in the tank and diffuse it with a spray bar.
 
A little update in case anyone is interested.... we recently moved, and because life is strange I traded a 65" TCL and my 55 gallon aquarium to my landlord for his pretty nice 2-3 year old Craftsman lawn tractor. Picked up a 60 gallon kit and a new filter.

Got a Marineland C-360 canister filter... it's an absolute beast. I want to route the hoses a little better, and get some better lights. Going to pick up a background before I head into work if I have time and get my fish from the other tank after.

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]
 
These are great lights, use them in my marine tank for over a decade (recently 1.5 yrs ago) upgraded to larger tank and bought the same brand. For fresh water you will only need one fixture with 2 bulbs.
This is the company and example of course you would search for the size you need and proper color temperature, for fresh anywhere from 4 to 6k
You can search Odyssea T-5 lighting, I have 2 high output 48 inch T-5 fixtures on this tank, total of 4 bulbs, for fresh you would only need 1 fixture with 2 bulbs I assume.

This tank has been up and running for a decade now, as stated I upgrade the tank from a 52 corner to a 75 gallon about 1.5 years ago, I simply moved everything from the old task into the new,the maroon clown fish is a decade old, that "brown" looking rock in the middle is actually a live coral, that grew over the last 10 years from the size of a human thumb to about a foot high and 7 inches wide, heavy as heck, this is the type of stuff in the wild that tears open the boat of boats.
I post this someplace else with more photos in here.
I know some people will think there is a lot of algae, its depends on what you are trying to replicate. This would be considered an "inshore" reef tank, everything in the tanks is a hard coral or soft coral, algae is part of the deal but yes, I struggle to keep it to a min.

T-5 fixtures and here is the company -
https://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-Dual-48...1?hash=item1a15bcac95:g:uEoAAOSwOVpXaKhX

I have been keeping fresh and salt water fish for decades now, love the hobby, sadly like so many other hobbies now, people just not as interested and getting harder and hard for good stores to go to.

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Originally Posted by alarmguy
These are great lights, use them in my marine tank for over a decade (recently 1.5 yrs ago) upgraded to larger tank and bought the same brand. For fresh water you will only need one fixture with 2 bulbs.
This is the company and example of course you would search for the size you need and proper color temperature, for fresh anywhere from 4 to 6k
You can search Odyssea T-5 lighting, I have 2 high output 48 inch T-5 fixtures on this tank, total of 4 bulbs, for fresh you would only need 1 fixture with 2 bulbs I assume.

This tank has been up and running for a decade now, as stated I upgrade the tank from a 52 corner to a 75 gallon about 1.5 years ago, I simply moved everything from the old task into the new,the maroon clown fish is a decade old, that "brown" looking rock in the middle is actually a live coral, that grew over the last 10 years from the size of a human thumb to about a foot high and 7 inches wide, heavy as heck, this is the type of stuff in the wild that tears open the boat of boats.
I post this someplace else with more photos in here.
I know some people will think there is a lot of algae, its depends on what you are trying to replicate. This would be considered an "inshore" reef tank, everything in the tanks is a hard coral or soft coral, algae is part of the deal but yes, I struggle to keep it to a min.

T-5 fixtures and here is the company -
https://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-Dual-48...1?hash=item1a15bcac95:g:uEoAAOSwOVpXaKhX

I have been keeping fresh and salt water fish for decades now, love the hobby, sadly like so many other hobbies now, people just not as interested and getting harder and hard for good stores to go to.


That tank is gorgeous! How long do those lights last? I would love some full spectrum lights, the LED's are usually pretty narrow.

I got my Oscar and Blue Acara home today. Oscar fought me every step of the way, going so far as to give me a shower when removing him from the old tank. He managed to get water literally everywhere! The Blue Acara had more of a "whatever you say boss" attitude. Hopefully the missing scales and stress don't mess him up too bad....

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]
 
Originally Posted by alarmguy
These are great lights, use them in my marine tank for over a decade (recently 1.5 yrs ago) upgraded to larger tank and bought the same brand. For fresh water you will only need one fixture with 2 bulbs.
This is the company and example of course you would search for the size you need and proper color temperature, for fresh anywhere from 4 to 6k
You can search Odyssea T-5 lighting, I have 2 high output 48 inch T-5 fixtures on this tank, total of 4 bulbs, for fresh you would only need 1 fixture with 2 bulbs I assume.

This tank has been up and running for a decade now, as stated I upgrade the tank from a 52 corner to a 75 gallon about 1.5 years ago, I simply moved everything from the old task into the new,the maroon clown fish is a decade old, that "brown" looking rock in the middle is actually a live coral, that grew over the last 10 years from the size of a human thumb to about a foot high and 7 inches wide, heavy as heck, this is the type of stuff in the wild that tears open the boat of boats.
I post this someplace else with more photos in here.
I know some people will think there is a lot of algae, its depends on what you are trying to replicate. This would be considered an "inshore" reef tank, everything in the tanks is a hard coral or soft coral, algae is part of the deal but yes, I struggle to keep it to a min.

T-5 fixtures and here is the company -
https://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-Dual-48...1?hash=item1a15bcac95:g:uEoAAOSwOVpXaKhX

Wow man, that's absolutely gorgeous!.. great job ðŸ‘
 
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Originally Posted by Skippy722

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]


Love that Oscar..makes me want to do another tank just for Oscar's.
 
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I remember back in the 70s when I was a kid we all watched that movie "Piranha" and it scared the holy heck out of us haha! Did people and do people actually keep Piranhas as pets, or was that a 1970s urban legend? My friend back in the 7th grade had Oscars and he always said they were cousins to the Piranha.
 
Thanks Skippy and Mad ...

I like all aspects of aquariums, fresh and salt. Ive been keeping a reef tank since the days that it was discovered that it could be done and that was roughly around 30 years ago. IN that time, I had around a 5 year gap when we moved south that my 52 corner tank was dismantled. Before we moved I literally turned over everything living to a local store in NY and took the tank with me.

Even though I never kept Cichlids (except angel fish)I find them fascinating, and oscars are absolutely awesome fish, so much character.
I love Angel Fish that I would start off small and grow them into large adults, through in a dozen or less neons and live plants, well, just loved it.

With the reef tank and my busy life, I have been doing it so long now, I actually find the reef tank more easy then fresh. It was a long painful process but I am now (and have been for a long time) where this is true.

It pretty much is its own ecosystem and very little needed from me except to throw a chunk of frozen food in every day or two, clean the sponges on the power heads and clean the protien skimmer every week, I change around 5 gallons every 2 weeks while I "vacuum" up whatever junk I can.

Im running 3- 500GPH circulation pumps (inexpensive) and only recently added them for fun/experiment and something to do.
2- 300 GPH power heads
1- 200 GPH protein skimmer (guessing gph forgot)
1- 200 GPH hang on back power filter (guessing ph forgot)

I stopped using carbon or any type of filter media and simply clean the sponges every week and the protein skimmer every week.

Skippy - I really think you would like the light I told you about. The T-5 bulbs are great, you will have to replace them at least every two years, they will last longer then 1 year for sure. Just be careful IF you ever do decide, there is the standard output T-5 and the HO T-5. I use 4- HO T-5 bulbs in two fixtures. A fresh water tank would need much less I think, one fixture is fine. As far as standard output T5 bulbs and HO T5 bulbs you would have to decide what is good for you. I would almost assume standard but have no idea, you would need to search replacement bulbs before deciding on which and what is cost effective.
I get them dirt cheap on eBay/amazon typically known from "grow light" companies, since grow lights have become so popular (uh hum) T5 bulbs in a variety of color temperatures available cheap.

I know many people get caught up with the LED thing and nothing wrong with it at all, but to me, its just a light and I can get better, more reliable and brighter light at much less cost then LED.
For the LED type lighting I would need would be well over $500 and even then, I just would not trust it. Because of those magical words LED there is sooooo much marketing and hype and expense, more so for the reef tank keepers, I would never use them, since I have had great success close to 30 years with fluorescent on the reef tank and see so many people trying to start reef tanks and they think everything is about the proper LED lighting at great cost and loss of aquarium life.

With all said in this insane long post, if your not "growing" anything. Any light source is good, including LED.
 
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Skippy, great looking start to a setup! I do like the black silicone on tanks vs clear. I too own a C-360 canister. It's been going strong on my oscar/severum 75gal tank since 2013. I break it down and clean it every 3-4 months. I kind of dread doing so because it's a chore and the fear of leaks afterwards. 2 lower trays I keep loaded with sponge pads and the 2 uppers have various bio media. I've had canisters leak on be before (not this one) and it's a mess if you don't catch it right away. I carefully clean and apply plumber's grease to the O-rings. I also run a Seachem Tidal 110 hang on back style filter on this tank, but wouldn't recommend one. They have some great features, but I just don't like them as much as my AquaClear HOBs.

Alarmguy, your marine setup is awesome!! I know nothing about marine and the such little water change amount needed intrigues me. I do know nitrates run higher in marine water. Just curious how nitrates and total disolved solids, etc, are maintained..

I do disagree a bit on the Odyssea T5 lighting. I had one of their 48" twin tube T5HOs over my planted 55g for a few years, but the ballast gave up the ghost and a replacement was nearly half of what I paid for the whole fixture. The other issue is the plastic lamp holders get brittle and break off. Not a huge deal as you can rig up other means. Same exact issues happened with a 30" twin tube Odyssea T5HO I had over my 29g. The other issue with T5 lighting over planted tanks is, fluorescent lamps loose their PAR output every minute they're fired up. Given I used them 8hrs/day, every day, I'd need to replace lamps every 6-12 months even they were not even close to being burned out. Not doing so would result in slow plant growth and increased algae growth in freshwater setups.

I guess my point is, if you are starting fresh, buying new, I'd go with decent name brand LED fixtures from Current Satellite, Finnex, Marineland, etc. I replaced my 48" odyssea with a 48" Current Satellite planted + about 5yrs ago. It's been perfect. LEDs obviously loose their PAR output too, but it's a much slower process.
 
Well... I was moving the filter lines and forgot that a siphon was a thing, and that my filter had valves for a solid second or 2 while I stared at the filter line I was blocking with my finger
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I also decided to kick the heater horizontal and have the output blow across it towards the other side of the tank.

Coworker is giving me one of his old Marineland LED lights, I think I'll go with that for awhile... never had issues getting plants to grow with them before.

[Linked Image]
 
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