New 40 Gallon Advice, and a bad pleco

[briann]

hey guys, i have a red oscar and a tiger oscar that ive had for a month or two and theyre growing fast, so i bought a 40 gallon breeder tank as the dollar a gallon sale is about to end. nice 36 inches long, 18 inches wide and 16 inches tall. anyway im emptying the water from my old tank now so i can move the new tank on my dresser then proceed to fill it up. i have the two oscars in a bowl which im not to happy about as i dont have anywhere else to put them. so i wanted to know what i should do to get the best out of this new tank, how long do i let the water sit and get temperatured with the heater, let the filter run, before adding the oscars, i dont want to keep them in the bowl for too long. also i have a common pleco about 1.5-2 inches long and hes acting weird, like floating instead of sucking on glass, and if i gently touch him he swims away and tries to suck on the side but he just ends up floating. im nervous and hope its not too late to save the guy. thanks

brian

 

[toddnbecka]

A 40 breeder is waaay too small for one Oscar, much less 2 and a common pleco. Those 3 fish really need at least a 125 gallon tank. Best to return them to your lfs, get the 40 properlt set up and established, and stock it with fish that won't outgrow it and/or kill each other in a few months.

 

[JoeBob]

Well Hey Briann - while I agree that the fish you have will outgrow the tank you have pretty quickly, you have what you have, right? So IMO (and there are many more knowledgeable people on this site, so have faith and patience) Even though you're using your old tank water, since it's a brand new tank and I assume new substrate, etc. you are really starting over and need to cycle your new tank but with the fish in a bowl you should google cycling a tank with fish in and see if that helps, they definitely don't need to be in a bowl long. If you don't have one, get a good thermometer for your tank so you can manage the temp easily and a master water test kit to check out all your water parameters as soon as you can. As for the floating pleco, that doesn't sound too good to me, but I hope he hangs in there. And try not to freak out oscars are pretty tough! at least the ones I had were. Good luck!