[dowellz]

[/list]

• Just wanted to say hi. I am upgrading from my 30 gallon tank in about a month or so. I really like keeping Oscar and want a tank I can keep cichlids also in. So I'm buying a 150 gallon tank with the help of the gf.
  
  Right now I'm just doing tons of research. The tank I'm looking at comes with a mega flow.4x. That should do a decent job and I was thinking of undergravel filtration with power heads to help out. This area I need some help in too.
  
  As for fish. Like I said I want 2 Oscar. I really like jds and would like a pair of them but I don't know about comparability yet. Then I would like cichlids ranging in the size range of 4-6 inches. Then 1 plecostomus sp?
  
  I would like to put plenty of driftwood and build some cave like structures and plenty of fake plants.
  
  Thanks for any help. I'm really excited to get this thing up and running. It's gonna be lots of work but will be awesome.

 

[markscichlids]

hi .

1st piece of advice would be to forget the undergravel filter , especially if you plan on keeping oscars . they are simply not up to the job. on a 150g tank you are really going to want 2 large external cannister filters . oscars are very messy fish . in 150g if you have 2 oscars you wont have lots of room for other fish , but you could have maybe a couple of medium sized ciochlids such as firemouths. or a small group of silver dollars .

 

[dowellz]

I would think there would be plenty of room, just the possibility of that fit in the mouth problem these Oscar have. I'm thinking if I introduce the oscar's and jack dempseys at the same time when they are under 2 inches they might not fight. As for the smaller cichlids its a gamble. Sounds like they might not grow as fast. I'm afraid the others may eat them.

The tank I'm looking at is 6x2x1.5 it will have plenty of cover so I would think they will pick their territories out. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but I find it hard believe a 150 can't house what I'm thinking about.

 

[markscichlids]

full grown oscars are very big fish , and also very messy , therfore produce a heavy bioload . reccomended minimum for a single adult oscar is 75 gallons . and for 2 youre looking at around 125 g. so talking in terms of the fish you want 150g isnt actuall that big . when heavilly stocking an oscar tank it is very easy to run into water quality issues . as long as the firemouths are too big to fit in the oscars moutrh they will be safe . if you start with fairly large firemouths and juvenile oscars it should be fine . you could maybe do 2 oscars and 1 jd , but deffinately not a pair . as they will be agressive and territorial when spawning. also 2 oscars can often fall out when they mature , and if there is not sufficient space can even fight until 1 is dead . 2 males will almost certainly fight once mature , 2 females is usually ok , as is a pair , but even then there is no guarentee. you have to take all these things into account when stocking an oscar tank. and when you do that suddenly 150g doesnt sound so big does it ?

 

[funnyjew2]

IMO 150 is plenty for 2 Oscars. get them as Juvies. If you can get male and female or female female, male and male their could be trouble with aggression but in a 150 you might be able to get away with it.

As far as stocking you could put 2 O's 2 Convicts 1 Firemouth/ or salvini their beautiful (if you can find them) and a nice schooling fish 5 Silver dollars for movement. besides the Oscars all the otehr fish only get to be like 5 or 6 inches. Not sure how large salvini gets.

But definetly 2 cannisters..as long as you have alot of filtration and do weekly water changes you should be fine. The more filtration the better.

 

[markscichlids]

i did say that 2 oscars would be ok in that tank , just said the op didnt have as much space for tankmates as he thought. but after a calculation the tank youre looking at is 510 litres/112 imperial gallons . you can still house 2 oscars , but not a lot else .

and i wouldnt add 2 convict , as if they pair off and spawn they are more than capable of kicking the **** out of an oscar .

the only trouble is you wont know the sex of your oscars until they are mature , and you see their breeding tubes

 

[funnyjew2]

this is true of Convicts but if he gets oscar that is bigger than convict it will be fine, and yes, sexing them is hard to tell. Probably just 1 convict. Salvini if you can find them. Also a great tank mate for Oscars are Severum's but they do get to be like 12 inches themselves. So I would not advise 2 oscars and a severum just 1 oscar. But definetly add a schooling fish in their. Silver Dollars are best with oscars.

 

[markscichlids]

agreed , sevs are excellent tankmates for oscars , heros efasciatus can indeed hit 12" but in aquariums 9 to 10 is more likely . there are smaller severum species tho such as rotkeil , and the true heros severus or mouthbrooding severum. i would be very weary of a salvini tho . oscars are territorial but not agressive , and very often get beaten up by smaller but more agressive cichlids , and salvinis are pretty nasty .

i think a nice stocking for this tank would be

1 oscar
1 rotkeil sev
5 or 6 silver dollars
and if you want something for the bottom , maybe something like a synodontis eupterus .

thats going to put you at your limit imo , and as stated before 2 large cannister filters , and plenty of waterchanges.
water quality is without doubt the most important factor with keeping oscars ,as they are very suseptible to poor water comditions , and very prone to hole in the head . and an adult oscar produces a mighty bioload.

 

[funnyjew2]

agreed! nice stocking suggestions...make sure you take pics when ur done. You can also go to aqadvisor.com pretty cool site. plug in your tank size, filter/filters and everything you want to stock and it will tell you if you need more filtration and the % you have as far as stocking. and what % water changes you will need to do based on the stock that you want. It's pretty cool.

 

[markscichlids]

deffinately some pics . !!

 

[HawkinsStu]

I have a 150gal but not the same dimentions, its a 48x24(d)x30(h). I went for 2 tigar oscars (currently 8-9 inches), 5 giant danios (2 inches), 5 inch pictus catfish and a 9 inch pleco. I will no be putting anything else in there, i feel like that is at its max so the fish in there has space to swim.

It all depends on how aggresive your oscar(s) are which you wont know untill 5 months down the line.

 

[Dj823cichild]

Thanks for the update Hawkins! Our Twin Oscars live on BRO! :thumb:

 

[Chubbs the Jellybean]

So jealous of your tank hawkins - hopefully with my new canister that i'm getting this week my water will be as clear - what filtration do you run?

 

[newcichlidiot]

My kids bought me my oscar when he was the same size as my africans around 2 inches maybe a little smaller. I only had the one 55. Now that my africans are all about 4 inches my oscar is TEN inches. He shares a barely bare 55 with a pleco and 2 cats. I have an Eheim 2217 an HOB and just recently added a sponge filter on a 250 gph pump. Get out of that 30, and listen to these good folks about your stock list.

 

[HawkinsStu]

Thanks for the update Hawkins! Our Twin Oscars live on BRO! :thumb:

Haha which one of mine looks like yours both Tom and Jerry look much different to eachother at the mo, did a long tank update thread last week which didnt get much attention but i have just made a new thread under the photo section of the best pics so far, have a look!
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1555774#1555774

So jealous of your tank hawkins - hopefully with my new canister that i'm getting this week my water will be as clear - what filtration do you run?

Hi Chubbs thanks for the compliment, this is the filtration i have:

Water changes i only do around 50ltrs a week. Filtration it has on it a FX5 which is just biomax and its spounges so thats just for biological and i have recently added a fluval 205 with a spray bar which just has nitrate and phosophate remover which is why my water change is only 50ltrs a week! The reason for both nitrate and phosphate is the brown alge was starting to go wild with the high phosphates, this is because the water out the tap here is at 7 and above (havnt got a scale high enough). Every week i test the water before clearning the sand and removing water and it:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrates - around 10
Phosphates around 0.25

More info on the thread i made last week http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=222392 or if you just want to see the best pics i have taken check out http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1555774#1555774

 

[funnyjew2]

your tank is awesome! Thos Oscars don't eat your danios???

 

[HawkinsStu]

your tank is awesome! Thos Oscars don't eat your danios???

Thanks, na they sometimes try and corner and seperate one danio out but they are far to quick for the oscars and would be hard to fit in their mouths at their size.

Feel like im highjacking someone elses thread so please leave comments on mine if you have any :thumb: