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Who lives with Oscars?
Badmans Tropical Fish Message Center: Beginner
freshwater : Who lives with Oscars?
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S Waterman
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Monday,
January 14, 2002 - 01:53 am
This question is totally unrelated to my other questions.
My brother in law has a 30 gallon tank with 2 Oscars. They
are about 4 inches in length. We visited him for the holidays
and I noticed that his tank water was green (really
green). He has a hangon filter, plastic plants and tank
gravel. He has had Oscars for quite a while. His first oscar
lived about 2 years and then came up with some disease and
died (it was about 8 inches long). He has had these
2 oscars for about 6 months, and he said that he has tried
plecostimus, but they die fairly quickly (not eaten).
He feeds flake food most of the time and once a month feeds
live goldfish (about a dozen) which are gone within
10 minutes. I am guessing that the green stuff is algae,
but what is a safe and easy solution for getting rid of
it? Are the water quality levels to bad to add algae eaters?
or is there an algae eater that will thrive in this environment
(with the Oscars)? I know he is not putting as much
thought into his tank as I am mine, but that surely isn't
healthy for the Oscars. Right?
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joycedonley
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Monday,
January 14, 2002 - 08:24 am
Too small of tank for the Oscar. At least 55 gallons for
one. The only fish that can be kept with them to my knowledge
with a guarantee of no problems is a catfish. They can get
12 inches and are very messy fish as well as aggressive.
That's why they need a large tank and good filtration.
Also they dig so no UGF will work properly with them. He
needs a bigger tank and too do water changs at least every
two weeks. Also suggest a pleco for the algae if it's
green and you are talking an Oscar...they will eat small
fish like ottos.
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joycedonley
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Monday,
January 14, 2002 - 12:29 pm
Extra note if he's killing a pleco with algae in the
water I suggest that the tank maintenance leaves much to
be desired. I've had three plecos and three UD catfish
and mine always live long and healthy lives. I think in
a tank full of algae it's pretty hard to kill a pleco!
Sometimes they won't eat algae when they get very old,
but I suspect in your brother-in-laws case it's the
water quality that is killing the fish! Since most cichlid
live at least 7 years the one dying at 2yrs should speak
volumes!!!
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Kick
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Monday,
January 14, 2002 - 06:34 pm
Amen, Joyce....there you go, S. If you want a maintenance
free aquarium that is what it would look like.....I have
nothing more to add!
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Anonymous
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Sunday,
January 20, 2002 - 11:46 pm
I have only had my 10gallon a weekend. I have one male mickey
mouse platy, 3 female platy, one male betta, and 2 corey
cats. I lost one of my female platy, and I did see a little
tiny fellow for a little while, but I think someone ate
him/her. Anyway, could my female platy died giving birth?
Shelia
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joycedonley
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Monday,
January 21, 2002 - 07:22 am
Sounds more like the tank hasn't cycled. You need to
read genesis and basics articles on the sites main page!
It takes about 4-5 weeks to cycle a tank and with only a
10 gallon you should only try it with about 2 fish. Your
fish are probably dying from too much ammonia produced by
food and fish waste. Anyways read the articles and get some
test kits for ammonia and nitrite.
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