Oscar and Felix.

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#5
Yes, I'm sure I'll have 'decor issues' once these guys age some. They love hanging out in the floating wisteria and water sprite at this point.

The oscar has definitely grown, green severum too. Of all the nice pellets and granule feeds I have, they like the lowly Tetramin "Pro" tropical crisps I have most. The severum spits out the new life spectum pellets and the oscar ignores them.
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#8
all my fish dont eat new life spectrum food either. really odd. only the bottom feeders eat it as if it's pond scum.

I hear that! I feed it to my shrimp & snail tank and sometimes to my 55g community, but those hogs don't need to eat more. Some of the fish in my 55 community will suck in nickle sized flake food in one gulp. LOL. FWIW, I've been feeding DrsFosterandSmith tropical flakes for some time. Big cans are reasonable.

Bad thing about and oscar tank is, the only clean-up crew is me! Shrimp and snails get eaten real quick.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#10
I feed my community 2 types of flakes as their main and then the bottom feeders get a slew of different stuff from KensFish. I also throw in a slice of zucchini almost every day but only the plecos care for that.
The flakes i feed are Cobalt Spirulina flakes and TetraMin tropical flakes. They do not care for pellets or granules.
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#12
+1 on the syno cat
LOL!

If it was larger than a 75g tank, maybe. I'll have my hands full when the O and severum grow to full size. This tank (and my ambition) will be maxed.. and then some.

The O is rotten to the green severum anyway. Lunges at the sev any time anyone approaches the tank. The sev holds his own at feedings though. They're both growing. Problem is, O people claim you shouldn't exceed 10ppm nitrates with O's. A lot of them in the hobby with 2 O's and maybe a few other smalls in a 110 or 120 do two 80% wc's a week. Nooooo way I'm willing to do that.
 

FishDad

Superstar Fish
Mar 4, 2012
1,218
1
38
Cleveland
#13
Syno cat really isn't that obtrusive. I had three in my 125 and rarely saw them. Mine also seemed to stay smaller than 8 inches. I saw one at my local aquarium that got about 9 inches but I think that's rare.
 

Newman

Elite Fish
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#14
that's odd that oscar people say that about the nitrates. 10ppm is a very clean planted tank type of thing. i'd say if you treat them like fish and keep nitrates below 40ppm always they should be fine.
 

KcMopar

Superstar Fish
#15
My Oscar and Jack tank can hit well over 100PPM nitrate at times and they are still Ok. I normally change water every two weeks at the latest and its about 40-80PPM by this time if I have fed lightly, if I have fed heavy its off the chart by two weeks. I normally change once a week but it gets away from me a dozen or so times a year.
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
1,337
23
38
East Aurora, NY
#16
That's my thoughts on that too guys. AFAIK, ~10ppm is about discus territory! That's what some heavily in the hobby claim for O's, and what's funny is they always seem to be battling ailments with them. I'll keep with my weekly water change regimen. With my maintenance schedule, I rarely measure for nitrates once the tank is setup, stocked and settled.
 

big54bob

Superstar Fish
Dec 20, 2006
1,486
6
38
30
On my office chair playing Runescape
#17
Keeping nitrates below 10? What are you keeping, a reef tank?

Oscars and sevs are hardy fish. The only reason you want to keep up on waterchanges is to prevent Hole in the head in the oscar and the sev. Even then, a 30% waterchange using aged water is enough to prevent HITH.

You should be able to get away with a 3rd med sized fish either a med. sized cichlid, or a catfish/pleco. There was a member a while a go that was keeping an Oscar, Male Convict, and Male Salvini in a 75 gal for a while. A 3rd fish will break up the aggression between your Oscar and the Sev. If you don't go the catfish/pleco route, convicts make great dithers and won't add a lot to your bioload allready. They only get 5-6 inches in length and are able to take a beating. They come in either normal, pink, or calico.