# what type of fish can i put in the tank with a baby oscar



## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

well today im going to be getting an oscar because well i just think they are beautiful pet fish. they grow twice thier size every month i know some what about them like the basics. dont put them in the tank with small fish or they will eat the fish. they can eat gold fish but preferably not ect.

so my main goal is to find a fish to put in with the baby oscar but as soon as he grows big enough i will seperate them.

can i have some suggestions or answeres.. he is a baby so it is okay for small fish right now? not as small as guppies though i know that:-D:-D

HELP please


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

What size tank is he in right now? Adding too many fish may stunt his growth.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

kelly528 said:


> What size tank is he in right now? Adding too many fish may stunt his growth.


he is now in a 10 gallon he is very very small about the size of a goldfish but just a little bit bigger than one... what do you mean by stunt his growth?


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## molliefan09 (Sep 21, 2009)

even baby oscars can be quite aggressive. we have 4 (approx 3-4in) in our 160 gallon and they will attack the larger oscar who is about 9-10 inches. i personally wouldnt put even a baby oscar in a 10 gallon tank. they are messy fish and cause a quick rise in ammonia and nitrates. IMPO i wouldnt put more then 1 baby oscar in anything less then a 55, but again, thats just me. if you got a larger tank you could try him with a similar size jack dempsey


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## worsethanzombies (Nov 27, 2009)

i had my oscar in a 35 custom.
he killed my jack dempsey. id say a pleco and thats it. 
and get a bigger tank ASAP.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## molliefan09 (Sep 21, 2009)

i can not keep plecos with my oscars as they kill them all....the most recent was a 14 inch common pleco that they picked all the fins off of. BUT, with that being said...my oscars LOVED my JDs...each fish has their own personality so it is hard to say what you could put in there and have stay a live....i have also seen giant gouramis kept with oscars


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

molliefan09 said:


> even baby oscars can be quite aggressive. we have 4 (approx 3-4in) in our 160 gallon and they will attack the larger oscar who is about 9-10 inches. i personally wouldnt put even a baby oscar in a 10 gallon tank. they are messy fish and cause a quick rise in ammonia and nitrates. IMPO i wouldnt put more then 1 baby oscar in anything less then a 55, but again, thats just me. if you got a larger tank you could try him with a similar size jack dempsey


is there a way that i can i lower the ammonia and nitrate levels??

would a 20 gallon work better than a ten???? because i only have enough money to buy him or her a 20 so far...:-D


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

worsethanzombies said:


> i had my oscar in a 35 custom.
> he killed my jack dempsey. id say a pleco and thats it.
> and get a bigger tank ASAP.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


wow Pecos are nice i think they look nice in the tanks mostly because they stick to the tank and help keep it a little clean...also i was watching YouTube and on there one of the Oscars had a pleco in its mouth. :-| it didnt look very nice ill tell you that much!!... okay so the bigger the tank the better?


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

For a single oscar you're going to need at least a 75g tank. These fish grow incredibly fast so I would try to get the 75g as soon as you can. Check out craigslist for good deals on larger tanks. You can save a lot of money vs. buying a brand new tank that way. As for tankmates, plecos can work but not always (you'd need a bigger tank than a 75g for an oscar and a common pleco, though). I think other cichlids like Jack Dempseys, convicts, green terrors, etc. are probably your safest bet, although there are no guarantees when it comes to cichlid personalities.


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## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

STUNTING...

Basically how stunting works is that the fish secretes a hormone that prevents skeletal growth. The more of this hormone (from itself or other fish) it senses in the water, the less it grows. Which is great in nature where in a crowded pond the very LAST thing you want is a huge, bulky body to feed when competition for food is already tight. But in aquaria where size of tank vs. size of fish is very dramatic stunting can get very severe. 

Of course stunting can be prevented by doing frequent water changes to remove this stunting hormone from the water. But the more fish you have in an undersized tank the more hormone there will be floating about and therefore the more stunting will occur.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

ohh okay i see what you mean well i will keep you updated and i will go on craigs list to fine at least a 100 gallon

also do oscars prefer to be loners like bettas??


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Depends on the oscar. Some play well with others, some don't. Males and females will form pairs together that are (usually) pretty friendly toward one another, but if/when they decide to breed they can make life very stressful (or short) for other fish in the tank.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

iamntbatman said:


> Depends on the oscar. Some play well with others, some don't. Males and females will form pairs together that are (usually) pretty friendly toward one another, but if/when they decide to breed they can make life very stressful (or short) for other fish in the tank.


okay adding on to the males and females how do i tell between male and female???????:-D:-D also what bad will happen if they breed? how do i breed (not saying i will any time soon) until i get all the info and back-round about the Oscar fish!:-D


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## molliefan09 (Sep 21, 2009)

i havent been able to find a way to sex them with out venting them....not something i will do to my fish as i do not plan on breeding......so i too am interested in the answer to that question....


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

The short answer is: well, you don't. You buy a bunch and see if they pair off, then sell the rest. I would recommend at least a six foot tank for a pair of adults. If you ask me, breeding is really not something you want happening unless you really, really want to breed them. Spawning oscars leads to a whole mess of issues apart from the typical difficulties of caring for the fish. Because of these issues, I don't think I'd ever put more than one oscar in my cichlid community for fear of them pairing off and killing my other fish in the process.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

*im not really understanding sorry*



iamntbatman said:


> The short answer is: well, you don't. You buy a bunch and see if they pair off, then sell the rest. I would recommend at least a six foot tank for a pair of adults. If you ask me, breeding is really not something you want happening unless you really, really want to breed them. Spawning oscars leads to a whole mess of issues apart from the typical difficulties of caring for the fish. Because of these issues, I don't think I'd ever put more than one oscar in my cichlid community for fear of them pairing off and killing my other fish in the process.


so one you do not recommend breeding???.. and i dont want to put any fish in with my oscar now...also what is the bad parts of breeding oscar anyway?
:-D:-D


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

molliefan09 said:


> i havent been able to find a way to sex them with out venting them....not something i will do to my fish as i do not plan on breeding......so i too am interested in the answer to that question....


what do YOU mean by *venting*????:-D:-D


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

well as a betta keeper I assume you understand the difficulties of betta breeding. It is like that except the adults will need a 100+ gal tank you will need many, many, many 55gal and 75 gals to divide up the young oscars for grow out. I personally would never ever keep a oscar in anything less than a 55gal if they are older than 7 days. Spawns are large and these young fish eat a lot and water changes must be done very frequently.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

All of that plus, even if you have some way of getting rid of very young fry and thus circumventing those problems, basically an oscar pair will become extremely aggressive when guarding their eggs and fry. Fish that previously got along with the other fish in your tank will very quickly become ruthless and merciless guardians of their offspring. Basically, you can't expect to have any other fish survive in the tank (unless it is very, very large) if you've got a breeding pair of oscars in there. Not to mention that sometimes the mating ritual itself can be very tough on the oscars themselves.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

ohh okay thanks i was just wondering not gonna breed the oscars gonna breed guppies... but how long does it take for the female guppies to give birth??

like weeks months days yah know


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

about a month for guppies.


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## willieturnip (Aug 30, 2009)

Not to be rude, but this sounds incredibly like a troll. 

If it isn't, get that oscar a nice big tank NOW. Having one in a 10 gallon is a joke to be frank and asking what OTHER fish to put in with him/her is very irresponsible behavior (even more irresponsible than having an oscar in a 10 to start with!).


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## herbwin (Dec 28, 2009)

So did you get the oscar?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## KSASTER2 (Feb 17, 2010)

+1 WILIETURNIP. I hope the OP has not purchased the OSCAR. Very irresponsible!!!!!!!!


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

i have the oscar and he is now in a 55 gallon...he was only in the 10 gal for a week and now its is a happy little guy or girl. he is swimming very frequently and normal 

Questions:
how do you tell if you have a boy or girl Oscar???


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Oscars are very difficult to sex. Essentially, you won't be able to sex a single fish; the most reliable way is to see if they pair off and see which one of the pair lays the eggs. If you just have the one oscar, you don't really need to worry about the sex.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

i just wanted to no can u tell me??? thats why i asked to get an answer thank you


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## willieturnip (Aug 30, 2009)

bettalover2033 said:


> i just wanted to no can u tell me??? thats why i asked to get an answer thank you


Just as a heads up, this isn't the way to get answers on this forum. You were told in an earlier post that they are virtually impossible to sex. If you want to know, use some initiative and find out for yourself. 

As far as I know, the only real way to sex oscars it by looking at the shape of the genital papillae, but this is only visible when they spawn. 

The tank is still far too small in my opinion. It will be alright for a while, but I have seen many oscars well over a foot long. Assuming it's a standard 55 (48" x 13" x 21") it could potentially grow as big as the tank is deep..


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

willieturnip said:


> Just as a heads up, this isn't the way to get answers on this forum. You were told in an earlier post that they are virtually impossible to sex. If you want to know, use some initiative and find out for yourself.
> 
> As far as I know, the only real way to sex oscars it by looking at the shape of the genital papillae, but this is only visible when they spawn.
> 
> The tank is still far too small in my opinion. It will be alright for a while, but I have seen many oscars well over a foot long. Assuming it's a standard 55 (48" x 13" x 21") it could potentially grow as big as the tank is deep..


okay thank you...and no disrespect but i think that this forum is to find information and also discuss the processes and other inputs ect. but the only way to inform yourself is to ask questions and i think u have it all in a mis-understandable meaning so thank you very much...no more input needed by u thanx a lot but believe it or not u helped me a lot:-D:-D


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

willieturnip said:


> You were told in an earlier post that they are virtually impossible to sex.
> 
> 
> when you said they were "impossible" to sex its not impssible because i have successfully sexed them and they are not living happily in my 98 gallon tank thanks for your help:|


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## willieturnip (Aug 30, 2009)

bettalover2033 said:


> willieturnip said:
> 
> 
> > You were told in an earlier post that they are virtually impossible to sex.
> ...


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Well they have already sexed and i see a lot of little baby fish swimming around the momma and the dad is just trying to stay away from his children. lol well there are hundreds of oscars swimming happilyb in my tank i have the best plans for them too. also they look like baby guppies. and they come out by the 10's i think so. i am so excited.


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