oscar

[jennymit21]

i've never had an oscar before, but someone offered me one for free yesterday b/c he is moving (tank not included). he's not full grown yet and he's 5-6 inches long right now. Prob is .. my only empty established tank is a 20 gal tall...will this work for now until i can get something bigger?

 

[Andydg]

Only if you're getting a tank in the within 3 days I'd say. I have an adult Oscar and he's in a 55 which I think is too small for him and he's a very active fish. They dig around in the gravel all the time and rearange any nice aquascaping you've ever done. I'd get a 75 or larger aquarium and get it soon and stock it with some other South American Cichlids.

 

[BrianNY]

Just my 2 cents. A 20g would be fine to house a 5 inch oscar for a while. As he grows, you'll need to decide if you want to provid larger quarters, or give him away.

 

[Hypostomus]

I agree with Andy. Get a minimum 75g and put the oscar in that ASAP-- in a 20g "tall" tank you risk stunting the growth and very quickly (months) will have to deal with the volume of waste created by these adorable, if rather gigantic cichlids.