# Fish growing to their full size



## Warhawk (Feb 23, 2014)

Over the coming months I will be buying a lot of new fish and I want to make sure they all grow quick but stay healthy. Here are the fish I will be working with.

I have 2 common pleco that are just over a year old. The smallest one is about 6" and the other is 7" so they have a long way to go to get to the 18" that I have read these guys can get to. The smaller one was picked on in his tanks so I have moved him out and I can see a huge difference in him in the last 4 weeks. My plan is to move the plecos to my Oscar tank (125G) but I want them to be bigger before I do that.

The Oscars for my Oscars tank aren't even bought yet so I will be growing those guys up. I'm buying small ones from the local pet store (2-3") keep them in a 29 gallon tank for a few months until they grow some. I hear these guys will get 10" in the first year. 

My wife wants a pond in the yard with two gold fish(Shubunkin Goldfish). She doesn't want to buy adults so she wants me to get some smaller ones (4-5") and grow them in a tank until this summer when we build the pond. In the winter we will move them back to the tanks so they can keep growing. These guys will get 10" long when full grown.


My plan is to do water changes 2-3 times a week and feed them quality flake food, blood worms, veggies and maybe some earth worms. So I'm thinking keep the fish in smaller tanks for a few months then move them over to they have more room to grow. Also I will try to keep the fish with their own kind so they don't have to stress over other fish competing in the tank.

My questions are
Is that enough water changes or should I be doing more? 
Any other foods I can use to help?
Any other tips?


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## jeaninel (Aug 24, 2007)

Sounds like a plan. 2-3 water changes a week sounds like plenty if not a bit excessive. What percentage of water were you planning on changing out each w/c? 

You could start the oscars on flake but i would get a good cichlid pellet to use as s staple for their diet. I feed mine Hikari Bio-gold and Omega One and he loves them. NLS is also excellent but a bit pricey. I also feed fresh market shrimp once or twice a week.


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## Warhawk (Feb 23, 2014)

jeaninel said:


> Sounds like a plan. 2-3 water changes a week sounds like plenty if not a bit excessive. What percentage of water were you planning on changing out each w/c?
> 
> You could start the oscars on flake but i would get a good cichlid pellet to use as s staple for their diet. I feed mine Hikari Bio-gold and Omega One and he loves them. NLS is also excellent but a bit pricey. I also feed fresh market shrimp once or twice a week.



When they are in the smaller tanks I plan on doing 1-2 30-35% water changes, with a 50% change once a week. Once I get them moved to the larger tanks I will go back to 50% change twice a week. 

Sorry I missed that yes I will be buying a cichlid pellet for the oscars, small ones until they are big enough to eat the big ones. I'm also growing out guppy fry to feed with(feeding the fry ever well also) a few times week. I didn't think about adding shrimp but that is a good idea. 

I'm thinking feeding twice a day with feed pellets in the morning and in the evening rotate Shrimp, Guppy, and Blood worms. And if I get home at lunch feed a few more pellets. That is assuming they are eating all the food quick and not wasting it. Guessing that won't be a issue with Oscars. 

The plecos will be getting veggies 3 times a week. Plus the water changes


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## Embouck7 (Jan 11, 2015)

Two oscars would need 100 gallons, I have one and his name is oden for a reason. Also just go out and buy the heaters that are ment to take a beating. Mine spends all day playing with everything, hes a interior decorator haha with terrable taste. But yeah 13" now and he did most of that in the first year.


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## Warhawk (Feb 23, 2014)

Embouck7 said:


> Two oscars would need 100 gallons, I have one and his name is oden for a reason. Also just go out and buy the heaters that are ment to take a beating. Mine spends all day playing with everything, hes a interior decorator haha with terrable taste. But yeah 13" now and he did most of that in the first year.


Mine are going into a 125g when they get a little bigger. Here is my plan in progress for them. http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/cichlids/my-oscar-tank-520026/


I have thought about the heaters getting beat up I might even build a cover for them or place rocks around them so they can't get to them.


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