Introducing an Oscar...

Question
Hi!  I have a question.  I'd like to keep an Oscar (only one) in a 55 gallon tank, but I'm having problems figuring out how to get it ready
for the fish.  In past tanks, I'd used danios or guppies to establish (cycle) the tank before adding more exciting fish.  So how do I do that
when I'm only going to have one Oscar living in there?  I don't want to stress out my new companion by placing him in a newly set-up, extremely clean tank!

On a side note... how do I determine the sex of a young oscar?

Thanks!

Answer
Hi Paige,
 Personally, I wouldn't worry about cycling it.  I would do a lot of partial water changes (10%) in the first two weeks, maybe one every three days and then settle down to a routine of 25% once a week, EVERY week.

 You could put a danio or guppies in there if you want. Eventually they will *go away*.  

 As for sexing oscars, that's easy to answer: you can't.  Males and females look identical so there is no way to tell. People will tell you that they can sex them: they have a 50:50 chance of being right.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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