My New Oscar

VirgoWolf

VirgoWolf

Superstar Fish
#1
Feb 16, 2006
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#1
Well I picked up my Oscar yesterday, He looks even better in person! I don't have any pics from here yet, but she sent me a few, so I'll post those. I have never seen an albino oscar like him before, he's not yellow/orangish and blochy, he's a light greyish purple with grey fins and a ripple pattern that reminds me of an opaline gourami. :) They said he was about 6", but he came right up and let me measure him, he's 4" from nose to base of tail.

Oh my niece said his name is Oscar (how origional LOL) after the character from Shark Tale. I love him already! :)

I'll get more pics when I get him in a bigger tank, right now he's in a 20gal because he was so stressed on the ride home I didn't want to put him through the stress of a new aquarium and a mini cycle, I just evicted some little fish and put them with some other little fish and gave him the 20 to himself, hopefully only for a week or two.

Anyone have stock suggestions? I thought I had it when Guppy Newbie suggested a stock plan to me, but I am wondering what other options there are before I dedicate so much tank space and time. Here are some of the others I am considering, please feel free to comment on these if you don't think it'll work. Also, if you can think of something I am missing that would work in this tank, just let me know so I can look them up.

Definitly:
Albino Oscar
Common Pleco

Possibly:
Blue Acuras
Fire Mouths
BG Knifefish (?)
Blue Botias
Electric Blue Jack Dempsey
Giant Dianos (I know I'll probably loose a couple, but they have speed on their side, not necessiary, but I would like to see smaller fish in the tank)

So far the tank plan is a 150gal tank with rocks, driftwood, fake plants, etc... not sure on filtration yet. Anyone care to comment on that too, hopefully somehting affordable, although the tank I'm trying to get is drilled.

OK I'll add the res of the pics in a bit, need to get them uploaded.
 

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Cichlid-Man

MFT Staff
#4
Jul 9, 2003
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#4
Your tankmate list looks good, though not sure the danios or loaches would live, any of them over time.

As for smaller fish, firemouths, convicts, and acaras all stay smaller comparably to the oscar creating the appearence of smaller fish. Plus with convicts every spawn is food you don't have to feed or buy.
 

VirgoWolf

VirgoWolf

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#5
Feb 16, 2006
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Well the loaches were suggested by guppy newbie because they can defend themselves when they need to and they get big enough to not be considered a snack. Do you think they are really a bad idea?

I hear ya about the other guys being the smaller fish, that's fine, but Pure said pink convicts wouldn't be a good choice, do you think they would work well?
 

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Cichlid-Man

MFT Staff
#6
Jul 9, 2003
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#6
Yes, though comparing the loach growth rate with the oscars....they would become a snack, or at least fit in his mouth wayyy before they reached a size to be fairly safe.

Not sure why he said pink convicts would not be a good choice, i'd like to hear his reasoning.
 

Orion

Orion

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#8
Feb 10, 2003
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#8
haha, maybe it's just me but there is no way I would put my heros in with on oscar. heh, but I am known to baby my fish a tad.

No one yell at me, but once upon a time I tried a con with my oscar. The oscar was full grown, close to two years old and the con was maybe 3 inches. They were all by themselves in a 45 gallon tank, and the con wouldn't even let the oscar out to eat anything at more than four times his size. Oscars are big babys.

I think that severums are a really good choice just because they are for the most part laid back like the oscars, are quite pretty and have some size on them as well. The blue acara's would also be a tankmate that I would look at.

That's a neat looking oscar virgowolf! I'm sure he'll be quite happy.
 

VirgoWolf

VirgoWolf

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#10
Feb 16, 2006
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#10
Thanks, I actually took him in for a couple who were being restationed (Army) and coulden't bring that big of a tank with them. I paid a $10 adoption fee. I didn't think I wanted to dedicate that much tankspace and limit tankmates that much, but when I saw him, I knew he was mine LOL.

I don't really like the severums all that well. I really like the Electric Blue JD as the other 'centerpiece' fish and the blue acuras I like alot, any other suggestions?

Here are the other pics! :)






 

VirgoWolf

VirgoWolf

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#17
Feb 16, 2006
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#17
That's what I was thinking Yahoo, but I have ni idea where to start with them. Other than the sump, I was considering using my bio wheel 350 and getting a canister filter. I don't know where to start with the filtration.

Anyone care to comment? I'd like to keep it on the affordable side, but I do want the best for my fish, so if I there is something that's a bit over budget, but I could do in parts over time, that would be awesome too. I don't want to have to do this again for a while, so I want something that I won't have problems with.

Yeah, I have to call the guy about the tank today and work something out. Supposidly his friend was going to use it for SW and never got around to it so he gave it to him, this guy never got the chance to set it up and decided to get out of fish to start with birds, so it's pretty much a brand new 150gal tank and stand, which is awesome, and expecially if we can work out this deal on the price! :)
 

Orion

Orion

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#18
Feb 10, 2003
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#18
If the tank is already drilled and has the overflows installed then IMHO the hardest part is over, getting the water from the tank to the sump. For the sump you can use anything that will hold water that you want to. My sugestion for you would be to start out with a simple rubber maid tub. This way in a few weeks-months if you decide that you don't want to do a sump filter then you won't be out a lot of money. Only other thing that you'd really need is a pump for the return water. I've bought two Life Tech pumps on ebay for around $20 that pump around 700gph each, so that would be a good place to look for starters.
 

VirgoWolf

VirgoWolf

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#19
Feb 16, 2006
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#19
OK just called, no overflow, just drilled.

As far as pumps, I have a few left overs from my DIY pond filters, what would I need to check to make sure they would work for me?

I was thinking DIY would be the way to go, I have made filters out of rubbermaids before, just for ponds, not aquariums, so I am sure I could figure that out fairly easily.

Anything else I should know?
 

Orion

Orion

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#20
Feb 10, 2003
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#20
You can get the overflow kits for a fair price and install them yourself, don't think that there is much too it. Hey if it's drilled might as well take full advantage of it.

On the pumps you want to make sure that your going too have enough flow at the height in which it will be pumping too. So if the top of the tank is 6' off of the floor, then you'll need a pump that is able to deliver a good amount of GPH at a 6' head. You may want to check out some of the salties on this, cause drilled overflows are a common thing for them.

If you've made filters for ponds like that then you shouldn't have a bit of trouble with this little ole thing

Anything else you should know? Yeah, just don't bother with it and bring the tank to me :D
 

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