oscar pH

Question
what is best for my oscar, pH levels, frozen or live, nitrite, ammonia, pretty much what i need to know. co-habitantshow often do i need to do water changes (20 gal). currently i have 2 one inch oscars w/ 7 inch rope fish and an algae eater 4 inch.

Answer
Hi Chrissy,
  There are two key things you need to know to keep an oscar happy and healthy.  First, never feed it feeder fish.  These almost always carry diseases like ick which transfer to the oscar and kill it.  I get emails every week from people who lose their oscars because of feeding the oscar feeder goldfish -- don't do it!

  The second thing is that you need to do regular weekly water changes. You need to change 25% of the water once a week every week.  If you do that, your oscar will most likely avoid getting hole in the head.  

  Things like pH are much less important, unless you tap water is very extreme.  

  As far as cohabitants, oscars don't generally have any.  An oscar will eventually eat any other fish in its tank. That is what oscars do and they are really, really good at it.  

  You will also find that an oscar is a truly remarkable animal.  It can easily recognize one person from another.  Treat him well and he can be around for a long, long time.  For example, an oscar can easily live into his teens and some reach 20 years old or more.

  An adult oscar is about 12 to 16 inches long and for that you will eventually need something like a 75 gallon tank or larger. They can reach that size in a little over a year or so if well taken care of.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>






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