rose Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Why does everyone use heaters with their oscars??? Oscar's been happy in an unheated tank for 2 1/2 years and going strong. We live in the riverina and it gets nice and frosty... ps he loves watching fishing shows... he turns so black you can hardly see his red and throws his rocks towards the tv and everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb46 Posted May 24, 2008 Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 Correct me if I'm wrong, anybody, I'm far from well-versed on this topic... I believe that the Oscar comes from a reasonably deep river environment which won't fluctuate in temperature much between day and night? I thought that the idea of heating your water was to avoid fluctuations between day- and night-time temperatures that you get with much smaller bodies of water (such as a fishtank). So even though a fish might thrive in conditions ranging from 22-27deg - they don't thrive if your tank actually fluctuates across that whole range - the temp that your tank is at should stay reasonably constant. So long as your tank temperature doesn't fluctuate wildly (1-2deg at most?) any fish is OK in an unheated tank that falls in the right range. Kylie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anasfire Posted May 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Ok UPDATE!!!! I've moved, everyone is in a tank..finally..and Logan is back in his 4ft and true to what most people said as soon as he was back in it he was back to his normal self. Like instantly he went back to his normal black colour and started swimming around like he was king of the tank! He finds it interesting that I'm now situated next to the tank (computer desk is in next to the 4ft+3ft tank stand) so he's always swimming over to the corner and checking me out. He's eating enthusiastically. Here is a pic of him in full how-can-you-resist-these-puppy-dog-eyes-FEED-ME mode I haven't used a heater in Logan's tank in ages and he seems perfectly fine without it so I don't plan on putting it back in. Which will save me a heap on my electricity bill coz it runs almost constantly trying to keep the whole 4ft worth of water at a constant temperature Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Excellent. Glad to see he's happy again. Everytime I saw that you'd made another post in this thread I opened it in trepidation thinking you were going to say you found him floating on his side or something. What a little diva! I mean Logan, not you. :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anasfire Posted May 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Oh god he is such a diva! If he is indeed male he's got to be gay! I was going to buy some little tiger oscar pals for him, they have small ones at the LFS for $10 ea atm, but was afraid he'd either flip out and go all green again or try to eat them. They're bigger than the tiger barbs he's managed to eat but still, I'm sure he'd give it a go. We want to breed them eventually so I'll need to get a few more so they can pair off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brettc777 Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Oh god he is such a diva! Much like the owner LMAO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brettc777 Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 I haven't used a heater in Logan's tank in ages and he seems perfectly fine without it so I don't plan on putting it back in. Which will save me a heap on my electricity bill coz it runs almost constantly trying to keep the whole 4ft worth of water at a constant temperature Once the fish gets bigger heating doesn't seem as important. I know people that keep these fish at about 20cm long outside in a 4ft tank during winter with not heater with no issues. You can find Oscars in the Tingalpa Dam in Brisbane... they can survive there and breed fine. Forgot to add that because he is in a 4ft tank then temp takes longer to move... huge temp movements is what usually kills fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 great to hear he's back to normal I wonder if Ozzy will be like that when he gets bigger lol.... I hope not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenau1 Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 What a wonderful fish! So much personality and character in that face. Glad he's better now :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rose Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 I was going to buy some little tiger oscar pals for him, they have small ones at the LFS for $10 ea atm, but was afraid he'd either flip out and go all green again or try to eat them. They're bigger than the tiger barbs he's managed to eat but still, I'm sure he'd give it a go. We want to breed them eventually so I'll need to get a few more so they can pair off. I'd be careful buying more little Oscsar's to put in with him. Oscar was about Logan's size when we got tiger, they were fine together for about 4 months, then Oscar got gready and ate Tiger! He paid for it though, had a belly ache for a good week and didn't move from the bottom of the tank.... Glad to hear he's over his sulk!!! Jess (too lazy to log out and back in again :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anasfire Posted May 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Oh he's a character alright. I've piled some river stones up in his tank coz I decided that the 3.4ft had enough gravel in it to cover both the 4ft and 3.4ft (which it did, they both now have about a 3-4cm covering) and he keeps ramming into the piles of rocks trying to dislodge them. Once he manages to dislodge one of them he nudges it to a new position and goes back to the pile, repeats the ramming process and builds a pile somewhere else. I watched him do this for about an hour yesterday and all he did was move the pile about 10cm to the right of where it was originally. Once he was done he proceeded to rub himself all over it like it was a scratching post *rolls eyes* and for some reason he doens't like the curtains in my new place that are behind his tank. I've caught him on more than one occasion ramming the side of the tank where the curtain touches it and mouthing like he's trying to eat it. I'll always wonder why fish do the things they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rose Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 It's great watching them isn't it! Oscars tank is a 3ft on a 4ft stand, and i have photo boxes on either side, i think he want to eat my kids coz he does what Logans doing all the time. We threaten ethan with getting fed to oscar all the time, problem is he isn't scared of him, now E will hand feed him and laugh when Oscar gets his fingers!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anasfire Posted May 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Well Logan is still only around 15cm long so I think if I get a few smaller ones that are like 10cm he won't be able to eat them and they should grow as he does and always just be slightly too big for him to eat. I've kinda got to do it now or he will be too big and end up eating them! Either that or set the new ones up in the 3.4ft with the tiger barbs until they get to Logan's size and try to eat the barbs too lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belle Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 I can't believe that you can get 10cm ones for $10!! Thats not fair!! here the 4cm ones start at like $9 and any bigger just get soo much more expensive. But one of the pet shops here has little black and white tiger oscars atm they are the most georgeous little things!! I wish i could go and buy them all!! But we don't have the money or the tanks... What sort are you looking at?? Have you got spots in the tanks that they can all claim as theres? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anasfire Posted May 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 I was looking at getting at least 2 more tiger oscars in the hopes that a pair will form and if I could find the black and white ones here I'd love to get a few of them, let them pair up then sell the odd ones out back to the LFS. If I put them all in the 3ft to grow out they'd have a ball. It's got lava rocks galore and I'll be getting some more jungle val soon (even though I know oscars have a tendency to rip them up). I really want to breed oscars and maybe even discus but I can't afford any discus at the moment. I was thinking of getting a few angels to put in with Logan but all the ones I've seen at the LFS are too small and would likely become a tasty moving snack at some point. I'm going to go check out the markets here, they have a few pet stores that sell angels cheap and they're pretty large too. Will update if Logan gets and tank buddies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belle Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 Too bad oscars have to be so difficult and we cant just look at them and go "yep thats a girl and that ones a boy" grrrr would make it soo much easier to breed. Not that i am going to do it, i don't have anymore powerpoints left in my house!! and i have way tooo many powerboards around.. Hmm wonder if the landlord would put some more points in..... He was silly enough to agree to pay the water bills :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anasfire Posted May 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 Don't have that problem in QLD...owner pays all water! Yay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 Too bad oscars have to be so difficult and we cant just look at them and go "yep thats a girl and that ones a boy" grrrr would make it soo much easier to breed. I've managed to successfully choose a male and female out of a tank of oscars by looking at the slope of their head and seeing how their dorsal and anal fins overlap with their caudal. It was quite a few years ago now. I can't remember which was which now but that doesn't really matter. Basically I observed the tank long enough until I could discern the physical differences then I just chose 2 different types. Or I could have just been lucky. But that pair bred quite a lot. I was still a novice fishkeeper in those days and I didn't bother trying to raise the fry. But the pair laid eggs quite a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brettc777 Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 I've managed to successfully choose a male and female out of a tank of oscars by looking at the slope of their. wow just like how humans are sexed lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 Yeah... just like that... :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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