Oscar fish

Basic information about the Oscar fish species:

Maximum size (min-max): 30.0 - 40.0 cm ( 11.8 - 15.7 in)
Recommended temperature: 24.0°C - 30.0°C ( 75.2°F - 86.0°F)
Recommended water hardness (dGH): dGH 4.0 - 18.0 N
Recommended pH of water: 6.5 - 7.5
Origin: South America

Introduction to the Oscar fish

This fish is very intelligent, it can even recognize it’s owner. Oscars have they own ideas, although they're not the only fish having them. If Oscars don´t like how the items are placed in the aquarium, they pick them up and replace them, or they spit it out from the tank. It doesn’t matter if the plant or rock is real or plastic. If you have a high aquarium, standing near it can be dangerous. The best choice is to have a sand bottom and a few big rocks in the tank. Sometimes Oscars pretend that they are dead. In nature they pretend to be dead and wait until a small fish comes close so it can be caught and eaten.

Behavior

Oscars are aggressive fish so they need a big aquarium and a large group, because if there are only a few specimens in the tank, they will fight, and the weaker Oscar will feel miserable. The best solution is to have either one or many (6 is the minimum) Oscar fish, but never only a few. I have heard that sometimes three fish get along well, but usually they fight and attack each other without apparent reason. However, even if you have more of them in one tank, when they grow up a male and female may separate from the group and start to defend a part of the tank, in which case it is better to remove them. Understanding their behaviour is also important to avoid diseases as diseases are mainly caused by stress. Put two Oscars into a 100 L fish tank is like asking for a problem; not only they'll likely fight, but also they will feel uncomfortable and diseases are just a matter of time.

Oscar fish pictures

Information about care

In general. any Oscar fish grows very fast. As fry they do not need much space, but as they grow they need more and more space. The aquarium for one Oscar fish should be at least 2000 litres. So if you want to have a happy fish with happy friends, you really need a very large aquarium. I would recommend having an Oscar aquarium only in large spaces like big restaurants, or you can keep them in garden aquariums, but not in an ordinary room. And, just like in all tanks it is important to have a filter, gravel, and a heater. The optimum temperature is between 26-28 °C.

Special thanks to Abel Guerrero for his picture.

The tankmates

The best tankmates for Oscars are Large Plecostomus and other large Neotropical Cichlids such as Texas Cichlids, Jack Dempseys, Salvini, and other cichlids from South America which are the same size or bigger. From the Oscar species the less aggressive are Pink Tiger Oscars. That is the reason why Red Oscars and Tiger Red Oscars can make Pink Tiger Oscars miserable. You should ensure that the Pink ones get their food too. Choosing tankmates is very important as plenty of people end up with Oscars only even though they've planned a community aquarium; The Oscar fish will simply eat small species.

In nature Oscars eat small fish. But in aquariums small fish can introduce diseases. Use live food wisely and try to keep the Oscars healthy by using vegetable based food with vitamins.

Breeding the Oscar fish

Breeding isn’t very difficult if you keep a pair. Firstly, I’d like to say something about the water quality. Clean water is required, as well as a stable temperature of about 28°C. Don’t try to breed them in cold water, or water of poor quality. If you keep them in the same tank prior to a breeding program they will probably need some motivation, so remove a male for one or two weeks. Breeding goes well when you use live food. Use heavy rocks, they will clean them in order to lay eggs on. Large driftwood could help this process too. Generally, they breed like all large South American cichlids.

This article is available in German: PDF Der Fisch Oscar.

Picture

Thanks to Tamri Shavi!

Feel free to visit Oscar Care Basics at firsttankguide.net too!

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Oscar fish

has been viewed times since June 30, 2009.

Let's buy a book about aquariums!

Mo on: March 7, 2009, 4:08 am wrote

I have an oscar and he is very healthy and I keep him on my third floor where I live and nobody goes up there except me. I don't think you have to keep them in a big room or restaurant. Mine is doing fine in a very peaceful place where he is never disturbed. I would recommend not having the room very busy when you first get him because they can get very moody and scared easily. I am not guaranteeing anything because I am only a kid and only have had one oscar which is still alive. What I am saying is I don't think the room size matters.

Barbara M. on: March 10, 2009, 2:48 am wrote

We have a HUGE ALBINO Oscar named" OZZIE", she is about 3-4 years old and is about 12 inches, and is very MELLOW, we keep her in the living room (12'x8') and she is in a 55 gallon rectangle aquarium. She has a big picture window on the opposite wall, so plenty of light. Careful not to have direct sunlight though. Most of the time the room is quiet. But when our 14 years old son has his friends in she loves it. And she also enjoys watching television. We introduced a 3 month old Male, (Black w/Orange, markings) named ScarFace, about 2 months ago, and when we dropped him in he swam straight at her mouth and "kissed" her on the lips as if to say (MaMa...is that you? " and she didn't EAT him! We were amazed. We also keep a medium sized pleco in the same tank. I have a few videos of my husband feeding them. They are truly a lot of fun!
John and Barbara Manning
Ohio U.S.A.

light on: March 10, 2009, 8:33 am wrote

I just bought my Oscar; I fed him a white cloud minnow.

Bri on: March 14, 2009, 2:03 am wrote

I have two oscars, one is an albino tiger oscar named princess and I have a regular tiger oscar named tiger. I have had them two months and they are tons of fun and I have them with a clown knife fish. They all get along and are always ready to be fed! I have them in my room which is not very big at all and they get very excited when I wake up in the morning and swim vigorously back and forth when I get up. I recommend these fish to everyone, they are like dogs to me.

erica on: March 16, 2009, 3:00 pm wrote

I have a 5 year old oscar (named Oscar) in a 55gal tank with 2 medium parrot fish (Phoelix and Opey). Oscar is very sweet. He gives kisses through the glass to me and my 2 little boys. He also protects the smaller parrot fish (Opey) when Pheolix starts bullying him. I love him just as much as my dog.

John LaGreca on: March 17, 2009, 3:46 am wrote

I have had my Red Oscars for about 7 months now, since buying them unplanned. While in Walmart's pet department, my girlfriend became upset because several other Oscars in the tank were continuously attacking this one particular guy. So she purchased him to get him out. So, I purchased one too, that wasn't one of the attackers, and hense is how I became Oscarpitality. We named them Frick & Frack, and I put them both into my aquarium which already housed neons, tiger barbs, dwarf gauramis, and zebras. Needless to say, they all got along fine until, they became dinner a few weeks later. Somewhere along the months, Frick became very pregnant, and was quite ballooned on both sides of her belly. I put some flat rocks to forsee here laying her eggs on them when the time came. In the mean time, I have added several other fishes to the same aquarium. I've put in Jack Dempses, and 3 small Oscars. I also replaced a male dwarf quorami to be with the female, but I guess Frack likes eating male dwarfs. He doesn't bother with the female at all. I did come to find eggs lined inside a sea shell, and have since removed that shell into a separate tank, and looking forward to seeing the baby fry soon. All in all, I have a pretty good crowded tank, but they are all one big happy family, and get along wonderful together. I would like to mention about my Coby catfish, or what were suppose to be Cobies, are now 8 inches long, and as big as frick and frac? I guess they are not Coby cats?

Shayna on: March 17, 2009, 9:27 am wrote

I LOVE my Oscars <3 . They are such amazing fish; I have two orange Oscars that I am hoping will pair up when they are older (they are only 5" long right now). My fish are really funny and have wonderful personalities! They really like the little "wall" of water that comes out of the filter, they play with it all day! They take turns swimming right up to it and putting their backs up under the little 4 inch waterfall and twitch all their little fins and turn sideways. Don't know why they like it so much but they spend much of their time there together during the day. They are so neat to watch and can be very relaxing to sit in the living room at night with the tank light on watching them swim side by side through their tank. My fish especially love beef heart, mealworms, peas and the medium sized floating pellets and they seem to do very well on that diet. I used to feed them feeder fish until I realized just how bad they were! I bought 20 from the store and put them in a little 5 gallon tank and got up the next day to feed one to the oscars and all 20 were dead the next day from diseases and stress. On closer inspection, they all had very small faint signs of the beginnings of ick, they looked like the had fine sugars on them. Thank God I didn't feed them to my Oscars! I don't want to risk killing my oscars, so they get beef heart and worms instead. They are very healthy and very happy. I would be really upset if I lost one of my babies. I would really really recommend these fish to everyone! They are such friendly, enjoyable, interesting fish to own!

oscar lover on: March 22, 2009, 4:15 pm wrote

I also stoped feeding my oscars feeders. They're bad for your fish and your tank as well. I feed my fish pellets, krill and worms and crickets for a snack everyday. I had my fish for a year now and they're both 7' inches long and they're both tigers. Just wish they would lay some eggs. I have put in a piece of slate for them, but no response yet. It's been 1 month so far and no luck.

lisa on: March 22, 2009, 8:51 pm wrote

We bought a few fish a couple weeks ago including 2 oscars. It all went very well until yesterday, one of our sharkfishes was eaten by them! Even though it was the same size as the oscars. Never again will I get oscars.

Lance on: March 23, 2009, 6:24 am wrote

I have kept oscars twice in my 30 years as a tropical fish hobbyist. My first experience was very positive. I added a small (3") tiger oscar to my community tank, which consisted of some larger gouramis, a large angel fish and several different varieties of catfish. My little tiger grew to be about 9" long and never bothered any of the other fish. I fed him floating pellets, which he eagerly devoured, wriggling like a little finned, rubber puppy when I put them in the tank. I never fed live food, as I thought this might encourage him to look at his tankmates as a potential food source. Not very scientific, but my experiment worked. When I had to move out of state i was forced to give my treasured fish to friend who owned a pet store. She immediately separated my pets into different tanks, saying she didn't want her customers to think putting these different species together was a good idea. Last week I again added oscars to my community tank, which consists primarily of immature frontosa, large angel fish, and an annoyingly aggressive gold gourami. I purchased two 3" babies, one albino tiger and one red tiger. I am hoping my experiment works again.

Nigel(india) on: March 25, 2009, 2:51 am wrote

I have 4 tiger oscars all 4" long and they are quite aggressive.They mostly unite together to bully my kissing gourami. 2 days ago I introduced about 40 guppies & my oscars cleared them in just 2 hours.

Danny L on: March 25, 2009, 1:44 pm wrote

I have a 7 ' albino red oscar. It is housed with a Jack Dempsey about 1/2 its size and shows no aggression at all. There is also a pearl cichlid about 1/4 of the oscar's size and again no aggression. I once put in a friend's pair of albino oscar for 2 weeks, all hell broke loose. They fought every few minutes, non stop from morning till night. Once I've removed the pair, it became peaceful again. Any fish which fits inside the oscar's mouth it will engulf in the blink of an eye. I have a bala shark about 3' long and 1' high yet the oscar won't try to eat it (but probably could inhale it whole). It is a great fish to keep, plenty of personality, great when it comes to feeding time and unfortunately when it comes to pooping... I hope you have a strong filter!

anne on: March 25, 2009, 6:01 pm wrote

Could you tell me how to sex oscars, please?

Answer by admin: Visit http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=oscar in order to read the answer.

Lezlie on: March 27, 2009, 2:08 pm wrote

I purchased two oscars (Bonnie & Clyde) about a month ago. They are the most awesome pets ever, almost like dogs. Allthough they are very aggressive! Two days ago I bought a crab to help clean the tank and when my husband and I woke up yesterday my crab was hanging out of Clyde's mouth. We got ahold of it but nothing was left but the large claw and half of its body. If you are going to put anything in your tank with oscars, make sure it is as big or bigger than the oscars!

hari on: March 27, 2009, 7:13 pm wrote

I have got 2 oscars; one white with red markings & black with orange markings. I called them diku-kusku. Also I have one clown fish and a red tail shark and two suckers. They sometimes call me to give them food, and sometimes fight with each other. It gives relief and pleasure when I am watching disku-kusku.

Robin on: March 28, 2009, 12:07 am wrote

I have an oscar in a tank with an angelfish, columbian shark, redtail shark, silver dollar, and two other cichlids and they get along just fine.

Kim Poe on: March 29, 2009, 9:55 am wrote

I am so happy I found this site. It has been so helpful, including some of the stories from the community. Yes, Oscars are quite a unique breed of fish. I have gotten to experience them playing dead, doing tricks for food, recognizing me as their owner, excited when I get up in the morning etc. I love them and I don't think I would ever want other breeds of fish. I have been completely spoiled by my Oscars. I do have one question. How do I give my Oscars vitamin C? I researched this and other sites, and on another site I read that Oscars require daily vitamin C. Otherwise they can become pale & develop spots on their liver and eventually can die. I absolutely love my Oscars like I love my dogs. I have a 110 gallon tank and I used to have mixed smaller freshwater fish. It never seemed to make my tank look full. So I traded all fish to my Niece for her 3 Oscars. I never would of imagined how personable Oscars could be. That's why I say that I am spoiled to only Oscars from now on. Once a week I buy 100 feeder fish. I originally thought that should last them a week. Ha Ha.. they devour most all of them within a hour, they save just a few for a treat the next day. I would like to also know if I am feeding them enough. I don't want to over feed them. But like this site says, they beg...big time. Ha Ha.

Answer by admin: Adding vitamin C into foods is simple; One way is adding crushed vitamin C (buy some vitamin tablets) into their food. Of course, this requires you to feed them some other type of food than feeder fish. For instance, adding crushed vitamins into frozen bloodworm tablets, or into meat will work for sure.

Regarding feeding: It always depends on the size of these feeder fishes, but also on how nutritive they're. Someone could use 100 feeder fish, but it wouldn't be as good as 50 other feeder fish which are more nutritive. You should give them only that amount which is eaten in a minute or two. You'll notice if they become hungry (hungry fish should be more impatient of seeing new food in the tank), and then you can increase the feeding amount.

Beth on: March 30, 2009, 1:58 pm wrote

I love Oscars. There are wonderful pets. I love to watch them play and follow me when I get up near the tank. I want only oscars.

casey on: April 6, 2009, 12:22 am wrote

I have 4 oscars. And they are wonderful healthy fish! They are the size of basketballs, they are huge! We have them separated because of dominate territory. We have two that are red and two that are albino red. They are very aggressive, we feed them feeders and red meat and night crawlers and oscar food. We have had them for ever! They are our babies, we love them to death!!!

BILL on: April 9, 2009, 8:36 am wrote

I have a 125 Gal. tank. In it I have ( 24 ) African Cichlids, ( 3 ) Oscars 1 - Albino Oscar 1 - Tiger Oscar, 1 - Red Oscar and ( 4 ) Pleco. They all get along fine the funny thing is when the African Cichlids chase my Tiger Oscar and I'm next to the tank he comes to me where I'm as much as saying protect me from these crazy fish but I noticed that when I'm not there and they do this to him he opens his mouth and goes after them and all you see are the African Cichlids hiding under the rocks. The Oscars have a lot of fun when I come into my living room and they see me, they all swim back and forth to see if I come to them. When I put my hand in the tank, my big Albino stays next to my hand and I pet him like a dog and he stays there until I move.

Tammy on: April 19, 2009, 12:29 pm wrote

I had a 75 gallon tank with 11 Oscars in it and believe it or not, when I would go to feed them I would have to open the lid quickly and shut it or I would end up with 1 or 2 of my oscars on my floor if I left it open just for a few seconds. They are great fish to have and so much fun to watch! They get so excited when they see you. Just like a dog! Love them =)

Jonathan on: April 29, 2009, 8:03 am wrote

My Aunt had a big foot long Oscar and It had a tank mate, a bala shark and they where together for years then one day I noticed the Bala in the oscars mouth then my dad had a 9 inch Albino and they played then my Aunt Mel took the albino and put it with her Albino African clawed frogs. They are really fun I am considering getting one with my Texas Cichlids

joel on: May 12, 2009, 1:14 pm wrote

I've got 2 tiger oscars called oscar and grouch. I've had them for about 2 months, one has grown a lot quicker than the other. Is this normal? They're great pets, they go nuts when I put my hand above the tank. One is about 3" and the other about 2" I can't wait till they get bigger.

Answer by admin: Different growth speed is normal.

Thalyann on: May 16, 2009, 4:51 am wrote

I bought an oscar, and named him Neo. I've had him for about two days with a black mystery snail named Pooh, and a Mekong iridescent shark named Tiberious. It's so fun to see this tiny shark play chicken with Neo (twice his size!!!). Eventually karma will kick in, and Neo will give Tiberious a piece of his mind. Oscars are such mysterious fish, who knows what kind of devious plan Neo is conjuring. I love OSCARS!!! Pooh the snail, not so much.

Michelle on: May 18, 2009, 11:44 am wrote

Oscars are fish that will eat smaller fish than them for breakfast. They can get violent and are not safe for kids. I have one that is still growing and my mother and me are afraid to clean the tank. My neighbors tricked me saying it was a goldfish when it was small. That's how much they didn't want it.

shannon on: May 20, 2009, 12:57 pm wrote

I have had my oscar named Sunny for about 7 mouths now and I love him more than anything. He's very sweet, non aggressive, but about 3 days ago I fed him rose reds and now as we see he is passing slowly and it breaks my heart. But I do love these fish and I plan on getting more once he passes.

blake wayman on: May 20, 2009, 6:14 pm wrote

I have a 55 gal and a 110 gal tanks. My 55 gal is the home of one tiger oscar, two plecostomus, and two red tailed shark. The tiger oscar is "THE BOSS" of the tank for sure. I know having two red tailed shark isn't good because one dominates the other. in my case, yes that use to be the case but not any more. Now those two are best friends as they stick together to survive from "THE BOSS" surprisingly enough the tiger oscar never messes with them which is a weird thing because any other fish in his space, well besides the plecostomus also he destroys. Oh, I forgot to mention, he loves carrots.

joel on: June 1, 2009, 2:59 pm wrote

Is it true that you should give your oscar vitamin C. If so, how much and how often? Thanks guys!

Fish, just like other animals and living beings, need vitamins. All vitamins should be present in quality foods available at your local pet shop. If you need to increase the amount of this vitamin, add it into the food (not just into the water!). One or two vitamin C pills, that are recommended for humans per day, should be enough for a week for your fish. Bear in mind that fish can suffer hypervitaminosis too.

Michael Whisk on: June 5, 2009, 11:26 pm wrote

I have a 1.5 year old oscar (only 4.5 inches long) and he's a pacifist and won't fight. The only reason why he survived is because my green terror is very protective over him and won't let other fish attack him. The green terror is only about 3 inches long but very solid. She lost a lot of her body length 1 year ago when she was mauled by my red devil in a fight and lost her entire tail fin plus some tissue around it that never grew back. Every one of her scales was lost and eaten plus she git serious scaring to the face that is still visible. When was iffy for a month or so but now she is fine except for her tail which was too damaged to grow back. Even though my oscar is a lot bigger than her she protects him and he treats her like a parent fish. It's very interesting.

PS: How long does it take for oscars to grow up because I've had mine for over a year and he is not very big?

Answer by admin: Don't worry about growth speed. This species is known to grow very slowly. In fact, with a potential lifespan of almost 20 years it isn't anything bizarre.

Kim Ngui on: June 8, 2009, 8:11 am wrote

I had 4 Oscars ( Boyzin, Tails, Speedy and Yellows) but 2 died, one jumped out of the aquarium overnight (Tails) and Boyzin died fom swallowing too much stones. I had to put him in the other tank with my kois because the other oscars were beating him really bad, and after some time Boyzin developed the habit of the Kois of sucking the stones, he became one of them to his detriment, by not spitting out the stones as the kois do. It broke my heart when Boyzin died as he was my first Oscar, he was 6 inches long. My Oscars have personality and they do recognize me as their owner. Speedy and Yellows act very docile towards me and looks at me sideways, up and down and wags when they see me. They jump at my husband whenever he feeds them, and any stranger that comes close to their tank, they flare up like dogs. Today I came home and I saw eggs on one of the stones in the aquarium, I tried to take out the stone but Speedy has now become very aggressive and is flaring up for me when I approach the tank. He opens his mouth and is showing me teeth. I am waiting on my husband to come home to take out the stone so that when the frys are born they will not be eaten.

Matt on: June 10, 2009, 12:16 pm wrote

Yeah, I had an Oscar for about 30 minutes because it didn't do so well in my salt water aquarium. I don't know why.

I am just joking, haha.

I have one Oscar fish, his name is Leroy. He is being moved into a 55 gallon tank and then once he is grown up he will be moved to 100 gallon or 85 gallon. He has been so great I can pet him and he doesn't mind. Sometime I put my finger in and he rebs against it and sometimes when I do the water cycle every week I forget to change the water temp to the same and if I put my finger in the water when it's not 80 you will get a good bite. Also if it's not me putting my finger in and my friend he will bit them. I really don't know how knows me but he the greatest guy ever.

Hendrik on: June 14, 2009, 6:50 pm wrote

I have 1 tiger oscar named Rambo. 6 months old and 17cm (~7").Ttankmates are two green terrors; dexter and cindy as well as a high fin pleco (25cm) which I have had for 4 years. I used to have different kinds of tropical fish from gouramis to mollies, but never had an oscar. Very clever and are able to learn and recognise things.

tammy on: June 15, 2009, 12:55 pm wrote

I have 2 Oscars about 4 months. I have them in a community tank. There are 2 parrots, 2 bala sharks and a red tail shark. The Oscars could easily eat the red tail shark but they have not touched it. Their feeders are 1 and half size bigger. When I started this tank I got all the fish at the same time. I would recommend these fish (Oscars), they are very entertaining.

Aeryn Jamie on: June 17, 2009, 5:19 am wrote

I have a year old Oscar named Bucket with a story. He was only a couple inches long when he was at the pet store and was the smallest in the tank. My friend A felt bad for him and bought him so he would stop being picked on by the other bigger fish. Unfortunately A didn't have room for this new fish so the poor thing lived in a 5 gallon bucket with a filter for two or three months. Then my ex-girlfriend was nice enough to take the fish, whom I named Bucket because of where he'd been living, and she had him for about half a year and then some. When my ex moved, she didn't want to take Bucket with her and she hated him. She never took good care of him (even though she is an avid fish lover and has her own fish) and his water was just disgusting. Right when she gave him to me he had developed hole in the head disease, poor baby. So now I've got this 9 inch Oscar named Bucket that I've fallen in love with and am so worried I'm not doing enough to keep him healthy. He really is doing well, though, and lives in a 55 gallon tank by himself. He loves waking me up at night rearranging the two plastic plants or getting angry with the water heater and clanging it against the tank glass. He also doesn't like when I do water changes because I mess up his sand. He will shove his head in the sand to try to put it back where it was. It's cute. He is hard to feed because his sense organs also got attacked by the now in-remission hole in the head disease, but I'm committed to making sure he's fed each day and that he gets enough. I'd like to get him a bigger tank to make sure he grows to his maximum potential but he's fine how he is. I'm glad he's finally in a home where someone loves him and can take care of him. I love my Bucket!

Laura on: June 25, 2009, 2:03 am wrote

I have an interesting story. So... I have owned Oscars before, but they got taken in a breakup years ago. I have since had a community tank, and up until yesterday it consisted of 3 bala sharks, 1 angel fish, 2 severums, and a decently sized pleco. Well, my husband called me at work yesterday to let me know one of the Beastie Boys (Balas) had just died. :( He disposed of him for me, and I went home to look at the tank and noticed my husband had put in a couple of caves I used to have in when we first got the pleco so he could hide since he was just a tiny baby. Amused, I thought it was just for decoration until a little, teeny tiny baby tiger oscar swam out from behind one of the caves. HOLY COW. Obviously my husband doesn't know much about researching fish and thought he was doing something really nice to surprise me. So... I am faced with the dilemma. Right now my fish are in a 45 gallon bow front tank. All of them are fully grown. The baby oscar fish is the smallest in the tank by far, and I am worried because I know Oscars can be semi aggressive to aggressive, even though my previous ones I owned showed no signs of aggression towards the other fish in the tank. Do I keep the oscar in the community tank for now as he grows and see how he does or separate him right away?

Answer by admin: Oscars should be peaceful toward other species when juveniles. You could watch how he behaves and based on the result you should consider appropriate actions. One option is moving the fish into another tank, but he may also grow and stay peaceful. I'd choose waiting instead of moving him.

Matt on: June 27, 2009, 2:42 pm wrote

I have 6 oscars in a 100 gallon setup with a 30 gallon trickle filter and they are jamming. Very entertaining fish and they all have very different personalities from one another. They do recognize your face if your the one that feeds them all the time and get real excited whenever you walk by. Shameless beggars. But either way they are great fish own if you have the right set up.

Ryan on: June 27, 2009, 4:24 pm wrote

I was going to get a 125 gallon tank and was wondering if I could put 6 oscars in it. Also could the different types of oscars breed with each other (tiger,red, and albino)?

Answer: 6 Oscars would be too much for a 125 gallon fish tank. Different breeds will breed with each other as long as they get along.

nicole loves oscar's on: July 2, 2009, 8:58 am wrote

Hi everyone, I was in a pet store the other day with the kids who wanted gold fish, so far enough we walked out with a 85 gallon tank and a tiger oscar. The kids thought the tiger oscar was the coolest thing around. Unsure really how to look after oscar's, this site has given me loads of information and I'm sure I have enough information to look after my new fish. 'Problem is' what are we going to call it now lol, the shop owner said they have started to call it UGLY. As it was in a fight at the store and he has a ugly lip lol. The kids think their new tiger (UGLY) is the best lol.

mike on: July 23, 2009, 11:21 am wrote

This site is sweet! I have been researching for the past month every night after work. Just one afternoon (2 hours) of reading your comments and stories, has been more helpful than any thing else I have come across.... I am picking up a 60 gallon tank this weekend, so far thinking about 2 oscars and a tall fin pleco. I also like green terrors, but was told they may bully the oscars. I realize it is hit and miss, every fish, much like a human is different in it's own way. I think I will let the oscars live a few months in my there new home and maybe down the road introduce a green terror. I will keep you posted, take it easy, God bless!

Graham on: July 28, 2009, 7:40 pm wrote

What a great site for Oscar! I read the articles and comments and have found it interesting. I inherited my oscar from my son because it ate his Red Tail Shark so he decided oscar had to go.

We have put him in a large tank with Silver Dollars, Jack Dempseys, Corydoras and Pleco also a large Red Devil and so far all are going well. Oscar loves eating goldfish and Feeder barbs, but also flake and pellet forms too. So far the tank is still in good order as I have large rocks and large plants to keep him interested. It is true that oscars do have a mind of their own and they do know who their owner is. Very entertaining fish to keep.

Lou on: July 31, 2009, 3:20 pm wrote

Brought home two tiger oscars today - they will be in a tank of their own for the time being... This site has excited me, can't wait to get to know my new friends!

sagar pawaskar on: August 4, 2009, 3:21 pm wrote

I have six baby oscars in my tank. 5 are albino and the other one is a tiger oscar. They are very pretty and united.

jarrod on: August 4, 2009, 5:43 pm wrote

Hello, oscar lovers. I am new to owning oscars but have come to love them very quickly. I currently have 3 tiger oscars and 16 gold fish, and a hi fin pleco. I have had 2 albino oscars but they died as well as a convict and a red oscar. I thought it was my firemouth that was beating them up and killing them but was unsure so to be on the safe side I returned my firemouth to the pet store. I would like to add some more different kinds of fish to my tank but am unsure what breeds of fish I can safely have in there with oscars. Any help is much appreciated.

Miguel on: August 19, 2009, 11:31 pm wrote

I love my two oscar fish. Sometimes they fight, but I still love them so much. I almost have had them for 1 year. And one day I almost lost my two oscar fish because my brother was running by the tank over and over again and I told him to stop because he was going to knock the tank off the table and still kept running until the tank fell and the fish were just laying there. I picked them up and put them in the tank and then got a bucket of water and through it in the tank.

Until it filled up with water. My cute fish survived. That day I was so mad with my brother, but I forgive him. That day was the scariest day my fish had ever experienced.

Vee on: August 25, 2009, 7:29 am wrote

I have a tiger oscar. I named him oscar when I first got him without knowing what kind of fish he was. I've had him for over a year now. I keep him at the dinning room area and he's very happy. I love the fact how smart he is. He knows I'm the owner and always tries to get my attention when I come in the room he even gets close to the tank so I can give him kisses. He doesn't mind when my family is around his tank either. He just swims around and sometimes gets their attention for more food. He's funny, I love that fish. I'm currently trying to introduce new fish to his tank but I'm afraid to do so because for of the fact that every fish I put in the tank he kills. So if anyone has any info to help me out please do share. Thanks!

Stoph on: August 26, 2009, 2:40 pm wrote

I used to have 6 oscars, 4 jaguar Cichlids, 3 goldfish and 2 Yabbies (nippers) in the one tank living happily together.

I bought the goldfish to condition the tank and water before I added any fish I liked, but because my oscars grew up with them they just let them be. The yabbies I bought just to clean up the scrap heart that they were leaving behind for the filter to suck up.

I Had a house fire and saved my fish in a plastic rubbish bucket until I got them to a friend's place. When I reintroduced them back to there home I could not put yabbies , goldfish or anything else for that mater into the tank without them killing it.

oscar on: August 28, 2009, 12:59 am wrote

I love my oscar very much. I had him for five years!!! And still going strong.

katlin on: August 28, 2009, 3:59 am wrote

To those of you with so many fish in your tanks may I say that you should only have one oscar per 45g otherwise your nitrates will be through the roof. It is also not good to have barbs or other tropical fish for the fact of water temp difference. I also noticed many of you have goldfish as feeders, this is bad because they are cold water fish.

Terry FLORIDA on: October 5, 2009, 12:37 pm wrote

These fish are great and sweet. I have one handsome guy named Herman he's a red oscar. He's my second one Iv owned. My first was a tiger named Jaxy and lived for over 20 years. I keep Herman by himself and love him. He's still small, about 4inch. Can't wait until he's fully grown; I feed him pellets, shimp, krill, and algea waffers. To everybody who's new to ocsars keep water changes weekly and don't overfeed them and for a treat earthworms are great. Good luck to everyone and enjoy them, they live for a very long time if taken care of.

Edddd on: October 6, 2009, 6:41 pm wrote

I have 2 oscars in a 65g tank, a tiger (Beast) and a red (Bowser). The red I had before the tiger and is about 3.5" and only a few months old. The tiger on the other hand is about a year old and is 7" easily. I got the tiger about a week ago as it was a rescue fish from the petstore. They had it in a small tank with a larger (9") oscar who bullied him constantly. The tiger had hole in the head and was on other verge of dying. So I purchased him on a discount. Now I am feeding my oscars vitamin soak pellets and treating the tank with octozin to get rid of any parasites. The tiger is much more energetic now and his colours are coming out nicely. Hopefully his hole in the head heals up but its too early to tell. Bowser and Beast kinda get along. Only problems is when Beast is in a bit of a mood and doesn't like happy Bowser swimming around him. They both enjoy their food and like each others company. I can't wait for Bowser to grow up but hopefully there's not too much trouble when he does. Right now it's big brother and little sister in the tank. But a couple of months down the line who knows what's going to happen.

me on: November 8, 2009, 12:55 am wrote

I work at this place and we have an oscar; it is about 10 years old. They have had it since they opened. He is very mean, he will attack the tank, he will jump out, he has bitten one of our employees while cleaning the fish tank. He does not like children at all, he will go crazy when kids come to her. He is very vicious. But when his owner comes, he is very calm and will allow him to pet him. So I think it also depends on what kind and the fish are just like humans.

jacob on: December 21, 2009, 12:36 pm wrote

I have 2 oscar fish who live in the living room in a 95 gallon tank and the fish are HUGE! And we feed them big pellets, but one time one of them sticked it's head out of the water and scared me.

smiffy on: December 22, 2009, 9:47 am wrote

I've had my 2 oscars in my 240l tank now for a couple of months, and I'm so glad I got them. They've already grown about 1.5 inches in that time and I really hope they get huge! The only other tank mate is a leopard plec which, when I bought him, was about 2 inches long back in April. 'Spot' is now at the time of writing, just over a foot long. So the oscars should do well too. Such characters! I mostly love feeding them by hand, even when they get a bit keen and launch themselves out of the water and nip my fingers rather than the pieces of mussel I have for them. Good job they're still small! Have to be careful of this when they're larger because of the barb in the back of their mouth which (apparently) can leave you with a substantial injury! Also feed them high protein dry foods, live foods ( brine shrimp, blood worm, tubifex worms) which they seem to relish. The red oscar needed teaching about the brine shrimp when first fed them. Spent the first effort looking inquisitively at them like an underwater puppy. The Tiger showed him what it's all about though. Oh, and if you want to get vitamin C into your oscars, try putting the occasional berry into the tank. Mine quite like raspberries!

Daniel on: December 31, 2009, 9:25 pm wrote

Hey, I just got a brand new 90L tank for Christmas and wondering if it would be a suitable size for 1 or possibly 2 oscars?

Answer: No. Not only 2, but also for 1 specimen a 90 liters aquarium isn't big enough.

Erin on: January 4, 2010, 4:02 am wrote

I had an Oscar years ago named Felix, and he was my baby. He knew me and we loved each other. When I left for college he died of a broken heart. I am now ready for another one. I have a 20 gallon tank and I plan to get a small one and grow him like Felix. Any suggestions on food for him. I do not want to start him on feeders. They are dirty and kill your fish. What are others feeding their Oscars?

shannon on: January 15, 2010, 10:55 am wrote

I bought my first oscar today! He is a red oscar and beautiful. I haven't given him a name yet as I am still watching him and thinking on it. I am very excited and eager to see what personality my guy develops. This is my first time on this site and have found a great deal of useful info.

Steve on: January 20, 2010, 11:49 pm wrote

Hi, I purchased my first oscar about 6 months ago. He's a very pretty red tiger. At the moment, he is in a twenty gallon tank but I plan on moving him to a 55 at the very least. I don't have him with any other tank-mates because of the horror stories I've heard about such experiments.

Hopefully when I get another 55 I'll be able to pair him/her up with another tiger. Anyway. Love the site, great resource for us oscarheads. Also, he keeps eating the rocks in his tank. I don't know if this can cause problems or not but it is quite strange. And yes, he is actually eating them. You can see it in his poo.

Sheree on: January 31, 2010, 7:01 pm wrote

Hi, I just got a 140L tank, just wondering if it is big enough for at least 1 oscar?

Answer: I would put any Oscar into such an aquarium. For instance, 140 liters is 50x50x56 (cm). If you have a fish that can grow to 40 cm in length, then it's easy to see that such an aquarium would be too small for an adult specimen.

Let's buy a book about aquariums!

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