File :-(, x, )
hurrr i'm a fish Anonymous
Recently got into the fish hobby. Got a nice community tank going here.

But god damn, i have ALWAYS wanted an Oscar.

Do any of you /an/ons have Oscars? Care to share your stories so i can live vacariously through you?
I don't have the space for a tank necessary to house one... but i'm seriously considering putting up the investment for one of these fish. Are they worth it?


ITT Oscars (and other huge bad ass cichlids)
>> Anonymous
Oh, yes, Oscars fucking win. I rused to have Oscars, and after going through many other tank residents in the big tank we had them in after them I'm considering getting them again because they are so awesome.

I got four, 2 just like the one pictured, one albino one, and one that was sort of red mud colored.
Within a few days, orange striped oscars had killed the muddy one, and the albino one was hiding, so I moved him to another tank, equally large. (however, he was stunted, and never got much larger than a medium sized goldfish. Probably because he was albino and therefore retarded.)

But after that, the other two were best buds. A male and a female. They even tried to mate all the time, but the idiots would always eat the eggs after fertilizing them. They usually will swish the eggs around with their mouths to rearrange the/ protect them/ etc., but they were just stupid and accidentally ate them. Every time.

Otherwise they were awesome fish. Fed them worms and crickets and beetles. Never needed to give feeders. Didn't want to risk it, personally, feeders can have parasites and shit.

They are great creatures with a surprising amount of personality. If you have the time and money to invest in one of these awesome beasts (and they are beasts, can get almost as large as a small platter) then I would highly recommend it. Make sure you put large rocks on the tank lid, as they have a tendency to spaz out and can jump right out onto the floor. happened to me a couple times before I put the rocks there.

TL;DR, OSCARS FUCKIN' RULE.
>> Anonymous
>>282637
This deserves an award
>> Anonymous
>>282637
Best Oscar story evar.
>> Anonymous
Bump for moar oscars!
>> Anonymous
282637 here.

What, no more love for Oscars? /an/, you disappoint me. I love Oscars, and when I saw that there was an Oscar thread on /an/, I rushed right away to contribute.

But, no /an/ has no time for Oscars. It's all dogs, cats, and flying squirrels. The occasional carterpillar.

Hmph.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>282640

Appropriate.
>> Anonymous
I want an Oscar. Exactly how big a tank do they require?
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
My oscar once ate my 'sucker fish' while I was at work. He stripped the meat right off the bones. It was terrifying. He was such a sweetheart, though. When I stuck my finger into the tank, he would come up and 'kiss' it. I think he was actually trying to eat it, but his mouth was too small.

Picture sort of related. It's the species of fish Lars (my oscar) devoured.
>> Anonymous
bumping for moar witty conversation about Oscars.
>> Anonymous
My highschool biology had a couple of tanks in the classroom and one was home to a frying-pan-sized oscar. We would be listening (or not) to lecture and hear a tremendous splash as the big guy tried to get out exactly as '37 mentioned. It was always fun to watch him feed and oscars in general are really friendly. You can put your hand over petshop (where fish are generally skittish) tanks and get a lot of response. I would say for two oscars it's necessary to start with a 55g. You might get away with smaller but having a 55 from the start will be easier as water quality is easier to maintain in a spacious tank. If you want a big guy over the long term, and especially if you want more than one, you need a 75g tank.
>> Anonymous
*biology teacher
>> Anonymous
>>282637

i used to have an oscar...only i didn't know it was an oscar. Me and my sister bought one and a bunch of big eyed goldfishes....my favorite was a black goldfish, one day i was feeding em, when i noticed that the black one was missing an eye, i was like wtf! over the course of a week, my black goldfish was eyeless, finless, and had his face torn off....i was so sad i didn't want to keep fish anymore....the same thing happen to the rest of my goldfish.

so i stopped looking at the tank, but one day my niece brought home some neon fish, within a day, they were all bitten in half, all 10 of them. so in the end there was only the odcar and the tank cleaner fish.

and about the jumping out of the tank part, yeah, one night i was getting a drink of water when i heard something flopping i turned on the kitchen light and the fucker was like 10 feet away from the tank.
>> Anonymous
just as long as either the oscars are the focus of your tank or the tank is able to live with oscars you will be fine. They are awesome fish. I used to have a longfin oscar a while back. Real pretty fish IMO.

Just do realize that they will get big and devour fish that are small, stupid, or slow enough... and then some ^_^
>> Garde !ITvlxaQ5aM
When I was a little kid, we had a big fishtank in the living room, with an oscar I had appropriately named Oscar. He got too big for the tank, and eventually we had to give him away to my dad's friend who did have a big enough aquarium for him to stay in. I got to see him often enough, but only when my father took me.

Eventually my parents broke up, and my visitations to Oscar slowed to a stop. I continued spending time with my father, and many of his visitations, after dinner at a local diner, my brother, him, and myself would go to a local Petco to spend time in the aquatic department. I have fond memories of a cichlid with "Hole in the Head". Every Wednesday we'd get to watch him slowly degrade further.

After a while my father moved across the states and he was out of my line of communication, though I didn't care enough to keep contact with him (Nor do I today).

I never did find out what happened to that fish.
>> Anonymous
I used to have a tiger oscar, he always remained bright even after he matured (its worth it to buy real cichlid food and not the cheap stuff). He was very noisy - always jumping up and hitting the lid, and whenever someone walked by the tank, he would try to follow them and bump against the glass. Oscars get very attached to whoever feeds them, so he always went crazy when I came near the tank.

He would jump up and bite if anyone put a hand over the tank. He would always rearrange his decor every night.

If you do something an oscar doesn't like, he'll sit on the bottom and pout. I remember this first happened when I brought him home and I thought he was dying, then I just found out that they're the spoiled brats of the fish world and will sulk when things change or they don't get their way. He would also sulk after changing the water, if the filter accidentally got unplugged, and also for a while after I cut him off from live food.

For a fish, he was a neat pet. Unfortunately I had to move 900 miles and just couldn't take him without risking him running out of air or getting too cold on the trip.
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
My sister had an oscar (also named Oscar) who lived alone in his tank because he destroyed anything you added and then he got too big (would have cost and arm and a leg to find something he could live with that was an appropriate size, he'd destroy anything smaller than him). He was pretty awesome. He may have actually been albino, not sure. He would watch you if you came into the room. It was really freaky lol. He seemed really intelligent.

Oh and he was super badass.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>282637
>>282703
>>282939
>>282981
>>283017
>>283143

OP is pleasantly surprised.

Once i get out of college and settle down, i'm getting one of these badasses.
I only have a 30 gallon community tank right now. But some day... a 75.

What would be good tankmates for him? I've seen them housed with some rather large cichlids before... Any recommendations fellow fishfags?

(Pic related, it's a Pearl Cichlid. Saw one like this housed in a 90gal with an Oscar and a Arowana)