# oscar bioload



## paul_28 (Jan 20, 2011)

how bad is the bioload for oscar? from what people say its almost as if oscar is worse than a tank of 6 goldfish. I was thinking that rule 1 inch of fish per gallon does not apply to oscar. this might be where people are going wrong and saying 29gallon miniumum size tank and that a 40gallon could house 2 oscars. It would seem oscar would foul up the 29gal water in a day.


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## -DC- (Apr 21, 2010)

not sure where you got info of 29g but that's WAY off, i'd say 70g is the absolute min you could keep a single adult Oscar in and you would need frequent water changes and heavy of filtration.

the "inch per gallon" is a BS rule, maybe with small enough fish like guppies, but not large fish. I have a big oscar VERY messy they are big heavy bodied fish that eat allot and make a mess doing it!


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## eternity302 (Apr 22, 2010)

-DC- said:


> not sure where you got info of 29g but that's WAY off, i'd say 70g is the absolute min you could keep a single adult Oscar in and you would need frequent water changes and heavy of filtration.
> 
> the "inch per gallon" is a BS rule, maybe with small enough fish like guppies, but not large fish. I have a big oscar VERY messy they are big heavy bodied fish that eat allot and make a mess doing it!


He's not even joking... I think he speaks for all the oscar owners here!
Even a 55gallon for one is way off!
I have to run 3 x Fluval plus 3, 1 x Rena XP3 and 2 x power heads to even keep that one oscar! and I still change water every 3 days LOL!


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## `GhostDogg´ (Apr 22, 2010)

IMO 90G is bare min for 1 Oscar.
Even in a 90 you'll still be doing a lot of work.


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## paul_28 (Jan 20, 2011)

how about when they are small like 4 inches will that also foul up water no matter which filter u have? by the way it sounds the oscar is worse than an adult goldfish.


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## -DC- (Apr 21, 2010)

the problem is a 4" oscar only is 4" for a couple weeks, then it's 5" and so on and so forth until you a full oscar,

and yes in my opinion MUCH messier then any goldfish I've seen, and has a higher metabolism as a fast growing tropical fish helping it produce allot of waste.

70-80-90-100-120 tanks are all 4' long with various widths, this is the absolute bare minimum for a solo Oscar once it starts too mature and the higher you can go the better as your adding width for the fish and volume for cleaner water. And you can scratch out most tank mates in a tank that size since it's not enough room for other fish too run away from an adult Oscar if it has a mood swing.

Another thing too consider is Oscars are fairly intelligent fish, quite personable and MOODY! On top of the water volume/space needed too keep it alive they will get bored in limited space and bored Oscars kill or destroy things too entertain themselves!

Here's mine in a 240 gallon tank, too give you some size reference of what it will become!










here is is again next too an Aro for a bit size comparison


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## eternity302 (Apr 22, 2010)

Wow!! Sexy!!!


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## paul_28 (Jan 20, 2011)

if u type oscar at youtube the 55gal is most popular and they like 13inch wide tank. thing im intrested in is how flexy they are, i dont think they turn around in 55gal Lol must just swim backwards.


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## paul_28 (Jan 20, 2011)

at photos what is that zebra fish, does he get attacked? its just everyones says oscar can ko any tank mate and even have a go at large plecos.


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## King-eL (Apr 21, 2010)

paul_28 said:


> if u type oscar at youtube the 55gal is most popular and they like 13inch wide tank. thing im intrested in is how flexy they are, i dont think they turn around in 55gal Lol must just swim backwards.


Oscars will likely get stunted in a smaller tank. They will end up with a deformed lower jaw or dent forehead or dent belly. Even worst, breaking their back. Oscars can get to 16". Oscars are not that flexible especially larger oscars.

As for the bio-load.... It depends on the owner on how much it feed the fish, tank size, filter and maintenance. I would say that goldfish can produce the same amount of waste or more than an oscar does as goldfish does not stop looking for food and continue to poop at the same time.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

youtube is not the best way to find out good information about fish keeping.


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## -DC- (Apr 21, 2010)

paul_28 said:


> at photos what is that zebra fish, does he get attacked? its just everyones says oscar can ko any tank mate and even have a go at large plecos.


the "small" striped fellow is a young indo dat, MY oscar has always had tank mates and is no more agressive then any other fish in that tank, the Aro is actually the dominate fish, if the oscar acts up and bothers the bichir's or Dat the Aro quickly attacks too remind him who's boss.

As i touched on earlier tank mates depends on tank size, if you go with the bare minimum tank size then you wont be able too have tank mates. if you go bigger then you can play around with tankmates.

Fishes aggression will also be effected by what you feed and how you raise it. A fish kept solo, kept in a tank too small (even if you upgrade later they keep that mean streak), one that's being under fed or feeding on live only are all are factors that will increase aggression.

Not too be too blunt here but there are literally hundreds of other of cichlid species that will do fine starting in a 30 finishing in a 50-70. If you don't plan too start with a 4' tank and move too something larger in the near future then dont get an oscar get something your capable of caring for instead.


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