oscars

[butiaboy]

i have i 3ft tank in witch i keep a 10cm oscar and a plec but my tank seems to be plagued buy string algae and was thinking of adding some red tail sharks to tackle the problem what do other people suggest ?

[chesters1]

i wouldnt advise keeping anything with an oscar in such a small tank (except one of opposite sex or 2 females),the algae is probably a result of dirty conditions , collect enough rainwater to fill the tank ,take everything out and clean it well with rainwater ,put some bio stuff in ( it has organisms in that will boost your filters untill they have their own ) heat up the water to temp then reintroduce the fish ,make sure you dont overfeed them ,oscars are very intelligent and are very good "beggers" for food .i had 2 14" ones in a 6ft tank (even that was small for them) and they used to lift the glass covering the tank (used to stop the condensation escaping) and let it bang ,to stop it i introduced some toys for them plastic balls etc (to big to swollow) i left the lid of one day and one jumped out and died before i came back the other one pined away and died killing any other one i introduced

[MrWiggly]

I agree ..

Oscars are usually very messy eaters, particulally with comercial "pellet" type foods. They tend to crush the food, and a lot escapes out of their gill covers and pollutes the tank.

 

Try feeding your fish with "natural" food. Mine love earthworms, if you can find any at this time of year ! Also consider getting small "deadbait" from you local wet fish merchant. I keep a stock of frozen Whitebait in the freezer .. a couple of those every so often (de-frosted !) keeps them happy !

 

Enjoy your Oscars .. A lovely specimen fish !