Age of pet Oscars

[Jacky12]

I took a poll among several Oscar owners & used a free US federal government website for the bar graph that has educational info for kids. The oldest fish was 16. It had actually died 2 days before I did the survey. I included, of course, my own 4 & 8 yr olds.

A few people cautioned me either of my Oscars may explode! This was due to their size, both are 8” long. They said the internal organs are continuing to grow whereas the skin is not. I’ve heard this fish keeper’s myth before, mostly in regards to goldfish. I searched for a basis for it and found nothing. But dang! I’m keeping the lids securely closed on the tanks. Cleaning fish guts off the ceiling would be a real bummer.

 

[Andy Sager]

I took a poll among several Oscar owners & used a free US federal government website for the bar graph that has educational info for kids. The oldest fish was 16. It had actually died 2 days before I did the survey. I included, of course, my own 4 & 8 yr olds.

A few people cautioned me either of my Oscars may explode! This was due to their size, both are 8” long. They said the internal organs are continuing to grow whereas the skin is not. I’ve heard this fish keeper’s myth before, mostly in regards to goldfish. I searched for a basis for it and found nothing. But dang! I’m keeping the lids securely closed on the tanks. Cleaning fish guts off the ceiling would be a real bummer.

If I read the graph right, it kinda shows you how poorly they are kept or genetically made up since there aren't a lot of them in the over 15 year or even over the 10 year mark.

Exploding Oscars?
What WILL people think of next? The only explosion is when they see something on top of the tank and they explode out of it to eat it.

 

[Jacky12]

I’m hoping all theses Oscars will live much longer. But probably unlikely as you say. It’s their current age now, except for the one who just died. I’m hoping my 4 & 8 yr old will go on for years. They only recently came to me. But it does appear in some groups all the fish were well under 3 and I’m seeing people there talking about lethal aggression & rehoming fish. One woman had 4 in a 90 G & all had bad cases of HITH.
I’m only keeping one Oscar per 110-125 tank. One guy got a 300 G, so hopefully he will do better with multiple fish together.

You never heard this exploding goldfish stiff? I’ve had kids working at big box pet stores say this. I think you nailed it on tank explosions!

:

 

[Andy Sager]

I’m hoping all theses Oscars will live much longer. But probably unlikely as you say. It’s their current age now, except for the one who just died. I’m hoping my 4 & 8 yr old will go on for years. They only recently came to me. But it does appear in some groups all the fish were well under 3 and I’m seeing people there talking about lethal aggression & rehoming fish. One woman had 4 in a 90 G & all had bad cases of HITH.
I’m only keeping one Oscar per 110-125 tank. One guy got a 300 G, so hopefully he will do better with multiple fish together.

You never heard this exploding goldfish stiff? I’ve had kids working at big box pet stores say this. I think you nailed it on tank explosions!

:

I had an Oscar knock itself out when it hit the glass lid too hard so I switched to a screen top with weights and clips to keep it on. That worked until a Lizard crawled across the screen and my floor got very wet. Like I said, healthy Oscars are very alert and smart.

 

[Jacky12]

Dang, dude, that’s scary! I have a screen lid once used for the axotle tank. My heated tanks all have glass lids. I’ve read a screen lid on a heated tank results in significant heat loss and evaporation. The evaporation would be easy to fix. I got a $300 electricity bill yesterday, much higher than a year ago this month when I didn’t have 13 tanks. I wonder if they’d be sufficient heat loss to jack up the bill more if I switched out the glass lids will on my 2 Oscar tanks. But, I would, anything for my pampered fish.

Oh, here’s another thing I wanted to ask about. In my survey this guy said Oscars get to 30” in the wild. He knew someone who had one two feet long! Are they really that big?

 

[Colin_T]

A few people cautioned me either of my Oscars may explode! This was due to their size, both are 8” long. They said the internal organs are continuing to grow whereas the skin is not. I’ve heard this fish keeper’s myth before, mostly in regards to goldfish. I searched for a basis for it and found nothing. But dang! I’m keeping the lids securely closed on the tanks. Cleaning fish guts off the ceiling would be a real bummer.

If Oscars explode when they grow to 8 inches, I'm gonna buy a heap of them and put them against the government buildings (that's a joke for those of the sensitive persuasion).

Now to get them to explode, do we stick a fuse up their butt or do we give them a mobile phone and just call them?

How big a bang do they make?
Do 6 inch Oscars make a smaller explosion than 8 inch Oscars?
Can we use 2 inch Oscars to blow doors off hinges?

I know why they explode, it's the nitrates in the water. The fish absorb the nitrates and create their own potassium, then boom. That's why they get hole in the head disease, high nitrates in the water and their system mixing with potassium to cause small explosions in their head.

Sorry, I could go on like this for hours.

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The next time someone says the fish's guts keep growing but their body doesn't, ask them why?
Why would their guts (organs) keep growing while the rest of the fish remains the same size?
It's kind of illogical and doesn't make sense. I mean, peoples guts don't get bigger while their body stays the same size. Well some do, but I am talking about organs getting larger on a normal healthy person, not someone with a Santa belly who is suffering from hepatitis, diabetes and obesity.

Fish stunt in small volumes of water but it's a natural condition for them. They slow or stop their growth when conditions aren't good and water is in short supply so they don't outgrow the environment. When they are put into larger environments, they start growing again. It happens in waterways that dry up or shrink in volume. The fish that are trapped there stop growing and go into survival mode and hope for the best. If their pool of water doesn't dry up completely and they don't get eaten by birds or animals, then they can continue living when the rain comes and the pools turn back into lakes and rivers.

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Mum, Mum, the Oscar exploded again.
Oh Dear, not again. Oh well, time to clean up the mess and get another aquarium.
You tell your Father to get a small Oscar this time because I am sick of them blowing up.

 

[Jacky12]

lol: Colin T, you are hilarious! You have my wheels spinning. I know where a few can place those exploding Oscars, but we may need to research precise pre-explosion parameters. The suspense of awaiting the Big Bang may trigger a hypertensive crisis. And I really hate the ER.

 

[Jacky12]

What do you think about those who said a 4 & 8 yr old 8” Oscars can undergo catch up growth? Beats exploding.

 

[Andy Sager]

Dang, dude, that’s scary! I have a screen lid once used for the axotle tank. My heated tanks all have glass lids. I’ve read a screen lid on a heated tank results in significant heat loss and evaporation. The evaporation would be easy to fix. I got a $300 electricity bill yesterday, much higher than a year ago this month when I didn’t have 13 tanks. I wonder if they’d be sufficient heat loss to jack up the bill more if I switched out the glass lids will on my 2 Oscar tanks. But, I would, anything for my pampered fish.

Oh, here’s another thing I wanted to ask about. In my survey this guy said Oscars get to 30” in the wild. He knew someone who had one two feet long! Are they really that big?

My Mentor's Oscar pair was 24" and 22" so they do get that large. ( They are also the largest ones I've ever seen.) I believe 30" is kind of a stretch however.
The cheapest way I know of heating a tank and reducing the evaporation level is to heat/ac the room and not the individual tanks. I did that in my hatcheries in Florida. In colder states, it may require insulating the rooms a bit more than standard but in the end, it will be more efficient.

 

[Andy Sager]

What do you think about those who said a 4 & 8 yr old 8” Oscars can undergo catch up growth? Beats exploding.

In my experience, I haven't seen fish that have been tank stunted grow that much in length when later placed in larger tanks but will grow in gurth. This is why you really want to have fish like Oscars in large aquariums during their growing years.

 

[Jacky12]

Oh, no! Andy are you saying my old pink Oscar girl will turn into a blimp? Can I pass her off as a Discus?

I’ll have to google and see what these giant wild Oscars look like. Someone posted a big Oscar variety he called picu today. Beautiful red-bellied fish. He said his LFS in CT had it. Nothing like that around here. Mostly tigers, some albino.

It would be difficult for me to heat the house vs the tanks. I like a cooler house; I’m on a stationary bike & treadmill almost everyday. But the natural gas does cost a lot less than electricity here. I wouldn’t know how to insulate the house. I’m not about to take down drywall & work between the studs. What a job that would be! The house has a brick exterior and it’d probably cost a fortune to have holes drilled & insulation blown in. Easiest thing I could do is put styrofoam behind the tanks and on the sides of some.

 

[Andy Sager]

Oh, no! Andy are you saying my old pink Oscar girl will turn into a blimp? Can I pass her off as a Discus? [ You'll get a blimp only if you over feed her. You get a more rounded fish if you just slightly overfeed. You get a healthy fish if you keep your feeding under control. As for a Discus, I haven't seen one yet that can pass for one. ]

I’ll have to google and see what these giant wild Oscars look like. Someone posted a big Oscar variety he called picu today. Beautiful red-bellied fish. He said his LFS in CT had it. Nothing like that around here. Mostly tigers, some albino. [Can't seem to find any information on a "picu" oscar so it sounds like just a reginal name or just someone's nickname for a particular fish. As for wild Oscars, picture a red tiger without the red. ]

It would be difficult for me to heat the house vs the tanks. I like a cooler house; I’m on a stationary bike & treadmill almost everyday. But the natural gas does cost a lot less than electricity here. I wouldn’t know how to insulate the house. I’m not about to take down drywall & work between the studs. What a job that would be! The house has a brick exterior and it’d probably cost a fortune to have holes drilled & insulation blown in. Easiest thing I could do is put styrofoam behind the tanks and on the sides of some. [ You don't have to do the whole house. What some do is take a space inside of the basement and wall it, insulate it and put a separate thermostatically controlled heater in there. As for doing a single room, you would either use sheet insulation against the outside walls and just seal off the window to keep the cold air out, or keep the door closed and use a room heater. So it's all possible without going overboard. That or keep adding water for evaporation and pay that electric bill. ( Also, don't confuse adding water for evaporation with doing a water change. They are not the same. ) ]

 

[Jacky12]

I have a winner! A Japanese woman who appears very credible said she inherited a 20 yr old Oscar & it lived 2 years longer.


Thanks for the insulation advice, Andy. I will see if I got the Picu name correct. He sure was gorgeous.

 

[Jacky12]

You couldn’t find a Picu Oscar because I got it all wrong! The guy in the Oscar FB group posted several Oscars he has & he said one was Red Belly Pacu when I asked what kind of Oscar it was. It was huge & looked a little different from the obvious Oscars, but not all that much to my untrained eye. Exquisite fish!

 

[Andy Sager]

You couldn’t find a Picu Oscar because I got it all wrong! The guy in the Oscar FB group posted several Oscars he has & he said one was Red Belly Pacu when I asked what kind of Oscar it was. It was huge & looked a little different from the obvious Oscars, but not all that much to my untrained eye. Exquisite fish!

Yeah, a Pacu is a little bit different than an Oscar.
Pacus also get much larger than Oscars. They are a food fish specie because they can can grow to 50lbs +. Black Pacu have been found to grow to 70-80 lbs. The company I worked for supplied the Pacu to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas back in the late 1990s. If you ever see videos of their fish section and see them, just know that they were all over 10 lbs when they were sent there.

 

[Jacky12]

Great balls of fire! I didn’t do any research on them. I had no idea. That’s one big fish! I wonder if these red belly pacus the LFS in CT is selling will grow up to be monsters. I’ll have to track down the guy who has one along with several Oscars. The tank or tanks sizes he has were not clear from the post.

 

[Colin_T]

There's a number of different species of Pacu and most stay small (under 6 inches). The black pacu grows to about 2 feet in diameter and eat Brazil nuts. They can bite through the shell, and if you have ever tried to crack open a Brazil nut, you will realise how tough the shell is.

Pacus live in groups so you need to get at least 6 (preferably 10) or more.

 

[Jacky12]

Wow! What an interesting species! I’ll have to do some reading.

 

[rlederer]

I’m hoping all theses Oscars will live much longer. But probably unlikely as you say. It’s their current age now, except for the one who just died. I’m hoping my 4 & 8 yr old will go on for years. They only recently came to me. But it does appear in some groups all the fish were well under 3 and I’m seeing people there talking about lethal aggression & rehoming fish. One woman had 4 in a 90 G & all had bad cases of HITH.
I’m only keeping one Oscar per 110-125 tank. One guy got a 300 G, so hopefully he will do better with multiple fish together.

You never heard this exploding goldfish stiff? I’ve had kids working at big box pet stores say this. I think you nailed it on tank explosions!

:

Fish explosions? Absolute nonsense. They may break open if injured or via a disease, but not with any explosive force, no matter how much you feed them.