So Sad....

[TJs]

So as my girlfriend and I were just in a well known chain store, in one of their big "donation" tanks they had 5 almost full grown oscars. I had noticed a couple of their mouths looked alittle beat up. So me doing what a lot of us would do, asked the employee what was wrong with them. (Clearly from fighting) Just wanted to see the response she would give me. She then proceeded to tell me someone brought them in and left them there. She also informed me that the person who dropped them off had them all housed together in a 90 gallon. i just looked at my GF with my jaw practically on the ground and said "Are you serious? is this real life right now?" Like, seriously??? What is wrong with people. That may be one of the worst examples of overstocking I have ever seen first hand. Just had to share as I am still in shock and disbelief. Sometimes there is just no hope for the human race. Before buying fish, people should have to subscribe to this forum.

 

[Fishanatic]

So as my girlfriend and I were just in a well known chain store, in one of their big "donation" tanks they had 5 almost full grown oscars. I had noticed a couple of their mouths looked alittle beat up. So me doing what a lot of us would do, asked the employee what was wrong with them. (Clearly from fighting) Just wanted to see the response she would give me. She then proceeded to tell me someone brought them in and left them there. She also informed me that the person who dropped them off had them all housed together in a 90 gallon. i just looked at my GF with my jaw practically on the ground and said "Are you serious? is this real life right now?" Like, seriously??? What is wrong with people. That may be one of the worst examples of overstocking I have ever seen first hand. Just had to share as I am still in shock and disbelief. Sometimes there is just no hope for the human race. Before buying fish, people should have to subscribe to this forum.

The problem wasn't really overstocking, it was territorial problems. Oscar are really aggressive fish and people don't take the right precautions to prevent these incidents.
Thank you for this story

 

[TJs]

The problem wasn't really overstocking, it was territorial problems. Oscar are really aggressive fish and people don't take the right precautions to prevent these incidents.
Thank you for this story

Well yeah I know what you're saying. Yes it was definitely territorial, but that's what I mean that it was way overstocked with that aggressive of a type of fish. I might understand 2 of em at max. Regardless it just made my skin crawl.

 

[Dreamingdragon]

That in a 90 gallon poor fish. People buy fish not now what fish they get or the LFS is not clear how big they get. I see a lot. But there or people out there that put a crown on it. Really sad

 

[Fishanatic]

Well yeah I know what you're saying. Yes it was definitely territorial, but that's what I mean that it was way overstocked with that aggressive of a type of fish. I might understand 2 of em at max. Regardless it just made my skin crawl.

Yeah, very sad
Usually, 2 females, 1 male works, but its almost impossible to know they're sexes before mating :/

 

[Raleighfishnerd]

Talking to a lfs employee the other day and he tells me how he is setting up his 30g for "like 8 or 9 oscars" I explain why this would not be too good of an idea and he comes back with "so what I should only keep like 6 in there?" just shook my head and left

 

[Fishanatic]

Talking to a lfs employee the other day and he tells me how he is setting up his 30g for "like 8 or 9 oscars" I explain why this would not be too good of an idea and he comes back with "so what I should only keep like 6 in there?" just shook my head and left

Oh My god. That's just horrible. You should really warn him not to even keep one, before he makes a mistake D:

 

[Ellwood]

Talking to a lfs employee the other day and he tells me how he is setting up his 30g for "like 8 or 9 oscars" I explain why this would not be too good of an idea and he comes back with "so what I should only keep like 6 in there?" just shook my head and left

The employee said that...... WOW way to know your job.

 

[molliwopp]

My LFS has a large, maybe 10inch oscar in a tiny little tank. Smaller than my 70ltr juwel i use for afew tetra n harliquins. Its been there for months and in a tank next to it they have another huge hap cichlid in the same size tank. I dont even think either fish can turn around. Looks as if their lips are pushed up against the front glass.
If you cant home the fish, dont take them in.

 

[Fishanatic]

My LFS has a large, maybe 10inch oscar in a tiny little tank. Smaller than my 70ltr juwel i use for afew tetra n harliquins. Its been there for months and in a tank next to it they have another huge hap cichlid in the same size tank. I dont even think either fish can turn around. Looks as if their lips are pushed up against the front glass.
If you cant home the fish, dont take them in.

So sad I wish people would care for fish. They are nice creatures that deserve respect, like any other Mammals/Animals

 

[imtcurveball]

The problem wasn't really overstocking, it was territorial problems. Oscar are really aggressive fish and people don't take the right precautions to prevent these incidents.
Thank you for this story

Oscars actually aren't very aggressive.... If they've been taken care of. But if you put them in a small tank they will get very aggressive. I just can imagine the bioload that they put out and had to live in. Very sad

 

[TJs]

Oscars actually aren't very aggressive.... If they've been taken care of. But if you put them in a small tank they will get very aggressive. I just can imagine the bioload that they put out and had to live in. Very sad

Yeah, definitely. And you know if someone had that many in that small of an aquarium, you know they didn't have the since to do water changes properly or keep the filtration clean. They woulda had to do a 50% wc about every other day.

 

[Andy Sager]

I understand the empathy and sympathy being expressed in this thread but I think it's a little misguided.
Having been the breeder of 13 pairs of these fish, the problem I see is that the fish may have posed too much of a job for the owner to maintain properly which was why they were left at the LFS. I used to breed my Oscars in custom made 50 gal tanks. 2 fish, 50 gals of water. The only "problem" I had was that due to the size of my fish, the "bioload" (a.k.a. Fish POOP!) was such that I needed to do water changes much more frequently than in my other breeder's tanks. For someone with so many fish in that size tank, this might have just been too much work for them. Don't forget about the cost of feeding that many Oscars. It can raise a nice hefty food tab too.
As for the dents and dings on the fish, a breeding pair of Oscars often do some serious damage to thier mates. Most of my pairs would not have been "aquarium grade" fish for anyone wanting to have a nice big fish for display. But after the fightin', the lovin' started and eggs were laid. So, even if these fish were in a 1000 gal tank and paired off, they still would have had a number of dings and dents so you really can't blame the tank size for the condition of these fish. It's an unknown at this point as to why.
I agree with you all that not enough info is either given by the stores who sell these fish or gotten by the hobbyist who want these fish. There's enough blame to go around here for sure. So, if you want to raise these wonderful fish without doing a lot of work, keep them in bigger volumes of water BUT, if someone is willing to put in the effort, don't admonish them for keeping the fish in a "smaller tank" (within reason of course) because they can be kept and well cared for this way. I have produced too many babies that prove this.

Something else to consider, I've seen these fish in the wild (canals in S. FL) and they really don't use a lot of space. I'd see a single fish in a spot and see it there for days on end, not swimming far from his hole. I've also seen pairs with fry in the space equivilent to a standard 75 gal tank. So the justification for these huge tanks for Oscars, I believe, is more human based than fish based. I refer you back to the water management part of my post

I hope I have shed some new light on the situation. Thanks for listening.

 

[emerald76]

I understand the empathy and sympathy being expressed in this thread but I think it's a little misguided.
Having been the breeder of 13 pairs of these fish, the problem I see is that the fish may have posed too much of a job for the owner to maintain properly which was why they were left at the LFS. I used to breed my Oscars in custom made 50 gal tanks. 2 fish, 50 gals of water. The only "problem" I had was that due to the size of my fish, the "bioload" (a.k.a. Fish POOP!) was such that I needed to do water changes much more frequently than in my other breeder's tanks. For someone with so many fish in that size tank, this might have just been too much work for them. Don't forget about the cost of feeding that many Oscars. It can raise a nice hefty food tab too.
As for the dents and dings on the fish, a breeding pair of Oscars often do some serious damage to thier mates. Most of my pairs would not have been "aquarium grade" fish for anyone wanting to have a nice big fish for display. But after the fightin', the lovin' started and eggs were laid. So, even if these fish were in a 1000 gal tank and paired off, they still would have had a number of dings and dents so you really can't blame the tank size for the condition of these fish. It's an unknown at this point as to why.
I agree with you all that not enough info is either given by the stores who sell these fish or gotten by the hobbyist who want these fish. There's enough blame to go around here for sure. So, if you want to raise these wonderful fish without doing a lot of work, keep them in bigger volumes of water BUT, if someone is willing to put in the effort, don't admonish them for keeping the fish in a "smaller tank" (within reason of course) because they can be kept and well cared for this way. I have produced too many babies that prove this.

Something else to consider, I've seen these fish in the wild (canals in S. FL) and they really don't use a lot of space. I'd see a single fish in a spot and see it there for days on end, not swimming far from his hole. I've also seen pairs with fry in the space equivilent to a standard 75 gal tank. So the justification for these huge tanks for Oscars, I believe, is more human based than fish based. I refer you back to the water management part of my post

I hope I have shed some new light on the situation. Thanks for listening.

They may not need a ton of room to swim, but those wild places are constantly being filtered, more than is ever possible in our tanks...

 

[Fishanatic]

Oscars actually aren't very aggressive.... If they've been taken care of. But if you put them in a small tank they will get very aggressive. I just can imagine the bioload that they put out and had to live in. Very sad

They are aggressive. But they get very territorial, witch can point out some things.

 

[TJs]

I understand the empathy and sympathy being expressed in this thread but I think it's a little misguided.
Having been the breeder of 13 pairs of these fish, the problem I see is that the fish may have posed too much of a job for the owner to maintain properly which was why they were left at the LFS. I used to breed my Oscars in custom made 50 gal tanks. 2 fish, 50 gals of water. The only "problem" I had was that due to the size of my fish, the "bioload" (a.k.a. Fish POOP!) was such that I needed to do water changes much more frequently than in my other breeder's tanks. For someone with so many fish in that size tank, this might have just been too much work for them. Don't forget about the cost of feeding that many Oscars. It can raise a nice hefty food tab too.
As for the dents and dings on the fish, a breeding pair of Oscars often do some serious damage to thier mates. Most of my pairs would not have been "aquarium grade" fish for anyone wanting to have a nice big fish for display. But after the fightin', the lovin' started and eggs were laid. So, even if these fish were in a 1000 gal tank and paired off, they still would have had a number of dings and dents so you really can't blame the tank size for the condition of these fish. It's an unknown at this point as to why.
I agree with you all that not enough info is either given by the stores who sell these fish or gotten by the hobbyist who want these fish. There's enough blame to go around here for sure. So, if you want to raise these wonderful fish without doing a lot of work, keep them in bigger volumes of water BUT, if someone is willing to put in the effort, don't admonish them for keeping the fish in a "smaller tank" (within reason of course) because they can be kept and well cared for this way. I have produced too many babies that prove this.

Something else to consider, I've seen these fish in the wild (canals in S. FL) and they really don't use a lot of space. I'd see a single fish in a spot and see it there for days on end, not swimming far from his hole. I've also seen pairs with fry in the space equivilent to a standard 75 gal tank. So the justification for these huge tanks for Oscars, I believe, is more human based than fish based. I refer you back to the water management part of my post

I hope I have shed some new light on the situation. Thanks for listening.

You make a lot of good points. I have kept a single Oscar myself in the past, in a 75g. So I don't have experience with multiples. With everything as well as our hobby, experience alone will shed a lot of light on certain situations. But with all that being said, do you really think that 5 of these fish about full grown is nearly enough space? I know they really don't swim around that much but that seems awful crowded for even the basic turning around while feeding. And while they may not be very aggressive, I think the beat up fish is just a sign of invasion of personal space, which there wasn't much if any at all. I personally don't think it's enough space by far, while again, I don't have experience with more than one at a time. Just curious as to your thought on space with this specific situation, since you yourself do have experience with it. And I also just don't agree with people purchasing any fish, especially fish of this size, if you can't care for them properly. Because in the end, they depend on us.

 

[Andy Sager]

They may not need a ton of room to swim, but those wild places are constantly being filtered, more than is ever possible in our tanks...

With all due respect, your point is only half right. In one of my hatcheries, I didn't have the space to have them in 100 gal tanks. I got so tired of changing water on them that we designed a flow through system where the tanks were on constantly running water (not recirculated water) so my fish WERE in highly "filtered", clean water. The flow was only turned down on breeding days.
So, is this more than the average hobbyist might do, yes. Can it be done by the average hobbyist, yes. Can it be done without the running water, yes. It's just more work.
My point was that many of the posts were assuming that the tank size had to do with the condition of the fish but as I explained, it may not have been the case. You can over filter a tank so that the water is clean. It is expensive, laborous, and time consuming. BUT, if you want to keep these fish healthy and in a smaller (within reason) tank, it CAN be done. That was my point.

 

[Andy Sager]

You make a lot of good points. I have kept a single Oscar myself in the past, in a 75g. So I don't have experience with multiples. With everything as well as our hobby, experience alone will shed a lot of light on certain situations. But with all that being said, do you really think that 5 of these fish about full grown is nearly enough space? I know they really don't swim around that much but that seems awful crowded for even the basic turning around while feeding. And while they may not be very aggressive, I think the beat up fish is just a sign of invasion of personal space, which there wasn't much if any at all. I personally don't think it's enough space by far, while again, I don't have experience with more than one at a time. Just curious as to your thought on space with this specific situation, since you yourself do have experience with it. And I also just don't agree with people purchasing any fish, especially fish of this size, if you can't care for them properly. Because in the end, they depend on us.

I guess to accurately answer your question, I'd need to know what size you are calling "almost full grown". Back in the 1960s, I was given my Mentor's pair of Oscars to breed. These were wild common Oscars that eventually measured 22" & 24". Those sizes are unheard of today because after years of breeding and inbreeding, the mature size of these as well as other fishes have decreased. So would a 90 gal tank be enough for 5 of my "big guys", ABSOLUTELY NOT. But, if you are talking about 12 inchers, the question then requires us to know the dimensions of the 90 gal tank. What if it were a long, wide, not so tall tank? Would there be enough room? Maybe. In a recent thread I talked about whether a 40 gal tank was enough room for a school of 7 fully grown Congo Tetras. A standard 40 (48"L x 12" H x 12" W) would be but a 40 gal tank (24" L x 24" H x 24" H) would not. So I won't jump to the conclusion that the tank was the problem just yet.
As for the dents and dings, these fish can be very territorial so bruises can happen even in a bigger tank if 2 fish eye the same spot and claim it for themselves. Then again, larger Oscars that were raised together from smalls/ meds tend to have less aggression towards their fellow longtime tankmates whereas they would beat the crap out of a new addition. What you see as a major ding might have just been from a "family squabble" to them. You just don't know.
I just don't have enough info to totally agree or disagree with yours or the other poster's posts on this. The bottom line tho, is that the fish now have a chance to be housed in another situation and hopefully, the new owner(s) will take good care of them.