My Oscar Setup

Tell me more about the chemicals next to the food on your stand?

 

It is not chemicals its my PH, Nitrate and Ammonia test kits (API)

 

So I "rebooted" my Oscar setup after I had to put down Marcus, so I did a 50% water change, did a gravel vacuum and cleaned out my filters. So the water looks nice clean and clear again for once.

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I am also experimenting with different plants for my Oscar setup to see which would last the longest with him, so after asking around I came across a amazon sword type plant that has extremely thick leaves and stems and is about 4 times as tough as normal swords. I also got some hornwort which I planted in the gravel, will see how long these plants last.

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Here is some picture updates of my tank:

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Sorry to hear about markus ... V2 of the tank looks good. See you added some algae eaters. Still think the plants might last a bit longer if you plant them in unglazed terracotta pots and then into the substrate. That way when the new dude goes mental it will have a hard time uprooting the plants out of the pot. What might work well in the tank is a few skunk botias - not that you have a snail problem - but they are always busy and tough buggers.

 

Marcus had the habit of shredding the plant leaves and not uprooting them will see what this one does. Hence a bought a plant with thicker leaves. Yeah bought 3 Chinese algae eaters as they keep the tank nice and clean since most of my snails died after the ick treatment. The Oscar tried to catch and eat them but after a day he figured out he was too slow and they are too smart for him so he gave up. They have a nice big spot to retreat too and sleep at night under the piece of wood.

Well he has already gone mental on the hornwart, he grabs them by the end and swims in the other direction pulling them out, then waits for me to replant them and he does it again. So I took a little plastic pot those you get with your plants and the lps wrapped the base of the hornwart in some filter wool and stuck it in the pot and filled the top half with gravel to weigh it down and then planted the whole pot under the gravel. And so far its holding.

Though about that but botias have spikes for self defense if and when the Oscar manages to swallow one it make either kill him or hurt him really badly.

 

Ok two questions

1 Who rakes your gravel like a japanese zen garden
2 Is that stuff under the tank always that neat ot just when you take photographs

Looking nice there Larch, hope the new guy appreciate plants.

 

good job.. tank is crystal clear as always

 

Oh yeah, I dont do gravel vacuums anymore I find it pointless because unlike smaller fish the Oscar's waste is big so it does not actually go sit in the gravel. So I made a little rake out of some coat hanger wire, I use it to disturb the gravel and cleanit so I end up making zen style patterns instead of mixing it up randomly

It is always that neat lol, many moons ago I used to work as a workshop manager for a very large company that build about 2000 computers a day by hand and having a neat workshop and tool bench is a must. I guess it rubbed off on me.

 

It's also called OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)

(Sorry... couldn't resist)

 

Say, didn't you have a Chinese algae eater that you put with an Oscar, not so long ago, that you presumed wouldn't be eaten by your Oscar but was anyway? And not only myself but several other forumers agreed that these fish clearly aren't ideal for mixing? And still you add a further 3 to an Oscar setup.

It's a nice setup, and a beautiful oscar, but then to see you do something like this (again) seriously gets me down.

 

I killed it! Oops!

Larch gave it to me and ja...its no more lol sorry larch

 

Ahaha it survived a tiger oscar for 6 months and you killed it without doing anything. But its okay got 3 nice big ones now they been doing fine with Mr Red for a week now. They are a bit faster and more agile than Mr Red not to mention they can hide under the drift wood were he cant get to them.

 

Well it might not be necessary take a look at what the plant routs have been doing in the substrate. If they route any further it would take a lot to get them out the gravel:

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Been a couple of months now since I got my Red Oscar after my Tiger died and my setup has come a long way, also been almost 4 months now and my planted setup is holding up well between the Oscar and the fact that I dont use any ferts. I have also thrown conventional methods out the window, I dont do water changes anymore only fill up whatever evaporates from the tank. Been three months now and no nitrate or ammonia spikes, also I stopped bothering with trying to keep my PH levels stable at 7.0.

My hornwart has been growing nicely the last couple of month I prune it every month now, I also build a small "cage" out of kite wood that keep the hornwart in one corner of the tank and out of the filters:

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Also managed to get a big Asian trumpet snail population going, they do wonders for the algae growing in the tank. They also seem to vacuum up whatever the Oscar messes in the tank:

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Then I got these unidentified fellows 4 of them about the size of a R5 coin, they spend most of the day outside of the water and only seem to go back into the water at night to feed. No clue what they are but they dont eat the plants but love the brown algae:

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Some pictures of my little monster:

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Also found out he has a sweet tooth for Meal worms the type you feed to your lizards he loves them:

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iT IS SAID IF YOU LEAVE THE MEAL WORMS TO BECOME A BEATLE ITS CLOSER TO THEIR NATURAL FEEDING

YOU INSPIRED ME AND I GOT ME TWO TIGER O'S

 

Oscars dont naturally feed on meal worms and it is easier feeding them and keeping them when they are larva then when they are beetles. Reason I feed them to my Oscar is because they have almost 50% protein value something a growing predator fish needs loads of.

 

JA bLAAR

 

Looking good man. Oscar looks happy.

 

Thanks, he has picked up a nasty habit of nipping me while I clean the tank. And by nipping I mean till it actually bleeds. So I usually flick him on the nose and he cuts it out for awhile.