!!!Please Read... Need Help!!!

[Oscar Man]

I just bought a 10 gallon fish tank and put 2 red tiger oscars in it. I know eventially I will need a bigger tank. My grandma has a 40 gallon tank I might ask her for (its been empty for ages [still in good condition though]), would this be a good sized tank. Here is a list of questions I'd like to know. If anyone knew the answers would the please tell me:

How big do they get?:twisted:

How do you tell if it is a boy or girl?:sygypsy:

My one oscar is laying on the ground a lot and laying there then getting up and finding another spot and laying there. Is it sick? Also It isn't eating that much.:nervous:

Right know they are small (2" and 1.5"); I'm feeding them small cichlid food, what should I feed them when they get bigger?:jaw:

What other fish could I keep in a tank with my oscars (o ya... named them collateral and damage... hehehehe)?:party:

Thanks a ton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:dance:

[SGypsyMermaid]

sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the 40 gal. tank will not be big enough, and the ten is going to become too small very quickly since oscars grow quite fast from what i understand...they max out somewhere around 18". as for the one that's lying on it's side...check your water for ammonia or nitrites. how much are you feeding? what size/type of filter do you have? with two oscars in a 10 gal tank, you don't have room for any other fish. to get more info on oscars, do a google search using the keywords: oscar cichlid.

[jonah]

Oscars lying on there sides is sometimes just the way oscars act, sort of like clown loaches. However, not eating is not that common for them. It might have some sort of parasite or it could just be because they're new to the tank.

18" would be huge for an oscar, but certainly possible. I've had a pair grow out to 14" before. 40g will be too small for one oscar, let alone 2. They'll usually grow about 1" per month until they get to the 10"-12" range, then they slow down a bit. They're easily the fastest growing cichlid I've ever owned.

If you just bought the 10g and have two oscars in it you will have ammonia and nitrite in the tank. Do a lot of water changes to keep the levels down. It'll slow down the cycle, but it would be less lethal to the fish.

As for sexing them, venting is probably the only fool proof way of doing it.

[Oscar Man]

My one oscar died. It looked kinda feeble from the start. When I first got it, It had marks in its fins... I thought it was just because it was a different sex. When it died, I looked closer and realized it must have been in a fight with another fish at the store. I think that I will return it and get money to get a bowl to keep live food for my other oscar. Are goldfish good food for it when it is about 1.5-2"?:(

[aharris]

Feeders are a bad idea because they harbor parasites that will impact the health of your fish seriously if not kill it eventually. If you want to feed live food, you should look into raising your own. And those fish you raise to be feed need to be kept with every amount of quality care you can give them to insure that they are parasite free. Otherwise, you should go with a good cichlid pellet and some frozen food like bloodworms, brine, etc. I doubt that beefheart would be bad for an oscar, but I could very well be wrong. Just remember that fish do better if they have good quality foods and a variety of different sorts of the same.

[SGypsyMermaid]

i'm copying this thread to the american forum.