Oscar tank update 1-2-08

[hopecamel]

wat are dither fish and im surprised to see they dont mess with ur cats

[Gravitysea]

Good tune:)

[RowanTolley02]

cuuuute!

[ADIOfan8]

is it hard to clean the sand

[supatroopa411]

i use to through it away and get a new bag of sand. i have gravle now and its way easyer

[spawn8880]

nice oscars

[SCOTTISHtiliDie92]

beautiful oscars mate i use to have 2 albino ones but they didn't seem to grow fast or be aggressive in any way at feeding and would let any other fish push em around but my tigers and reds grew fast and acted like proper oscars are albino oscars a weak gene strain hmmmm...i wonder hmmmmmm......

[3fitzgrld]

Hey nice tank. I was wanting to use sand in my tank but i dont know how to clean the bottom, since i have a shiphon cleaner. How do you do it? Message me back plz. Thank you.

[Chiggers4Life]

i got a 155g for x-mas and im putting a motoro stingray in it with 2 columbian sharks,1 id shark,1 redtail shark,and some other fish i guess

ps. nice tank

[WhatUrNam3]

how did you get your albino and red oscar to get along? mine seems to ignore or chase each other most of the time and there only 3".

[maynardwix]

Well mine have been together since they were very young, but they have had their bad times too. They are a breeding pair, so they went through a very rough time were the albino (female) almost killed the Red (male). They get along fine now though and only get aggressive when they get redy to mate. Just try keepuing them together and hopefully it will work out, try getting some dither (like danios) fish if you have to.

[rebeldawg124009]

@maynardwix how do you know what oscar is the male or female? did you have them vented or what because oscars males and females looking the same in every way lol

[cleancutamerican]

Nice big, clean tank. Good job!

[agglutination]

I just got a young (2" ish) oscar, after what seemed like an eternity of cycling. What kind of life/frozen food do you use?

[maynardwix]

Only live or frozen foods I feed them are live worms and crickets, other than that it is cichlid pellets most of the time.

[strikeard]

beatiful and neat!

[095340002]

what type of filter is it

[maynardwix]

At this time (back in January), I was running 3 Penguin 350's, not I still hae one Penguin 350, and now have 2 Aquaclear 110's.

[itsjustmecody]

your oscar are real prety i hope the one im gettn this week is as pretty as yours

[maynardwix]

Good luck with your Oscar, feel free to ask if you have any questions.

[happyhouze]

Beautiful tank, i love your fish. they look soo happy and healthy

[maynardwix]

Thanks!

[Bangelo95]

i LOVE YOUR VIDEOS YOUR AWESOME

[maynardwix]

Thanks, The wife and I just had a new baby, but I will try to get new videos posted here soon when I get time.

[nike4231]

if u have 2 oscars in a 75 gal. tank and they fight evry once and a while can u keep them in their like that??

will they kill each other or is that rare??

will it cause stress??

thanx =)

[xxownyoasxx]

it will cause stress and eventualy could kill the other sounds like 2 males ? if they were together since babys should be ok keep a close eye on them tho..

[nike4231]

oh last question is the albino the female

[maynardwix]

Yes the Albino-Tiger Oscar is the female.

[nike4231]

if u bought a male and a female oscar (coincidentally) would they become a pair or

is it only cettain males and females that'll become pairs

[maynardwix]

I'm not possitive that all males and females will pair up, but I am guessing that they will. I think it would be a survival thing where they would naturally pair up being that they want to pass their genes on. Mine went through a lot of lip locking and rough behavior before they finally mated, this is not always the case, but it is probably to test to see if the other fish is worthy of breeding with.

[nike4231]

should you have constant light in the tank for oscars??

[maynardwix]

No, if you leave the lights on constantly it will cause algae to grow, or cause an algae bloom where all the water turns green. The light should be on no more than 8 hours a day, but the less the better. The light is only there for your benefit, the fish are fine with just the ambient light from the room.

[Liam50LB]

hey just wondering whats a good fish that resembles a type of catfish but would spend most of its time at the top of the tank?

[maynardwix]

Sorry it took so long to get back to you, i was not notified of the comment.

I am not to sure what type of catfish would be good for you, almost all of them are bottom feeders. ID sharks are more of a midwater fish, and are a type of catfish. But the problem with them is they get way to big to be kept in a common home tank. Sorry I can't be of any more help, good luck though.

[JimmytheDonkey]

Upside Down Catfish are the first thing that pops into my head, but I don't know if that's what you're thinking of.

[tonyluvsplanes]

i love your fish, i watch this video probbly like 2wice a day... just wanted to tell you you have nice fish

[maynardwix]

Thankyou, I'm glad you enjoy it, have you seen the updated videos? This one is from in January, I have a few more recent ones.

[asiamaple]

this is so troublesome..

i've seen rtc eating rats! dun even say my oscar..

cross my finger that everything would be peace.haha

thx btw

[maynardwix]

This is true, but by the time they are large enough to eat rats they should not be in a tank anymore anyway. I have seen the two coexist before, but the main thing is the size difference, once the RTC gets to large to house with the Oscar, it is time to move it to the pond.

[zack3mire]

i mean mix*

[zack3mire]

yea i was thinking of black too!

CONTRAST WOULD BE NICE I GUESS

[maynardwix]

Sorry, I accidentally removed your comment with the question about what plants can go with Oscars. If you g owith any live plants I would try Java Ferns and maybe some Amazon swords. Either way they may not work out, my Oscars love uprooting all my fake plants in the tank, so I'm not sure how live ones would fair, but Java ferns would be good because they don't root to the substrate, they root to wood or rocks in the tank.

[zack3mire]

oh yar hats true.. yeah

i also plan to mis my baby oscar to a baby red tail catfish.

any comments?

[maynardwix]

That will work, but you'll have to have a large tank for the two. The red tailed cat will get huge and will need a very large tank. but a as they are about the same size they will be fine together.

[zack3mire]

yea.. i got a pond. its ready for my red tail to grow big and put it in.

however, im alittle afraid that my red tail cat might eat my osacr.

[maynardwix]

I understand, you'll just want to make sure that the Oscar is to big for the RTC to eat, and visa versa, you'll want to make sure that the RTC is to big for the Oscar to eat, other than that they should get along fine.

[zack3mire]

hi! erm im planing to get a white albino oscar. what colour do u think of the gravel should be?

[maynardwix]

I am a fan of the natural gravel, I wouldn't get any colored gravels. Also if you are just getting an Albino, I would stay away from white gravels. Black sand may be really cool too, but it is really up to you and what you want.

[Liam50LB]

i want a tank this size so bad

[maynardwix]

You should look around for them used, it is eay more ecconomical than getting one new. You should check craigslist and ebay, or even check your local papers classifieds. You could even ask around at your LFS and see if they could help.

[frankenstein04]

How big is your tank ?

[maynardwix]

150 gallon.

[Devinn23]

Hey man I've got a few questions about this Oscar tank thing, so I was wonderin if you could like give me your e-mail address or something so that I could ask you there, not over these comment boards.

Thanks

[Devinn23]

Also, what program do you use to put your movies together or like your background movies?

[maynardwix]

I used Windows Movie Maker, I found it in my programs on my computer, it took a little playing around with, but I got it figured out, and I taught my buddy Lee to use it, and if he can do it anyone can, lol.

[Devinn23]

Make another vid! lol its been a month!

BTW, I've got a 75 gallon right now, but Ima put only the small guys in, so that way when they get bigger, my savings will grow, and I can afford a bigger tank.

[maynardwix]

Lol, I know I have been slacking on the updates. I will make a new one this week. And I am happy to hear you know you are going to have to upgrade, thats where many people runn into problems.

[Devinn23]

Also what is that spotted catfish? Like did you catch it or buy it?

[maynardwix]

I got it at the pet store, it is a Four-lined pimelodus (Pimelodus blochii), they are often confsed with and sold as Pictus catfish (Pimelodus pictus). They have a similar apperance, but differ when it comes to adult size. You can go to planetcatfish-dot-com and see the difference in the two.

[Devinn23]

Very cool tank setup

Do you syphon your sand or how do you clean the bottom? I'm getting a bluegill tank and some oscars in a 75 gal and was plannin on putting sand in.

[maynardwix]

I use a hose and start a syphon and just hold it above the bottom by a half inch or so, just enough to suck the waste out. For a 75 gallon you are going to be limited on how mant fish you are going to keep, if you get a Oscar and a bluegill, they will be fine for a while, but when they start to get big you will have territorial issues and you will see one of them get aggressive torward the other.

[maynardwix]

This is just something to think about, Oscars get to around 15 inches in a home aquarium, and bluegill have been known to get as large as 16 inches, but 14 is more of an average. When dealing with fish like this, the bigger the better.

[petersen21]

Wow man Nice, i also keep a Pair of breeding oscars in a 150 gallon, there breedin about 4-5 times a year now, Jus thought i'd see if you've had any luck? By the way very nice tank man Grats luved seenin your little guys in the old video compared to your most resent

anyways Cheers

DanePete

[maynardwix]

Thanks a lot, I like going back and seeing them when they were young compared to now. I have not had any luck with them breeding yet, I'm begining to think they are either both males or both females. I will have to wait a little longer and see for sure. Congrats on your breeding though, it must be an exciting thing to see. What other fish you have in the tank with yours?

[toolshed333]

Two thumbs up. Those Oscars are beautiful!

[maynardwix]

Thanks bud, they are so happy, thanks for watching. Where have you been lately?

[tutor4011]

i keep waching these lillians getting bigger ed, your doing robin with them. tutor

[maynardwix]

Just wait till you come to my mickey, you'll get to see them in person and even give me a brass with a cleaning.

[turdonmyface]

Those are nice fish. How old are they. My catfish are growing fast. Last week, my redtail swallowed 2 rocks bigger than it's head. A couple hours later, he spat them out.

[maynardwix]

Oscars, severum, pictus, and columbian are all about 7 months. The Channel Cat is only about 3 months, he is now the biggest in the tank, great cat. Rettails are notorious for swollowing things they aren't supposed to, you need to watch out for it.

[turdonmyface]

I got rid of all the swallowable things in it's tank.

[maynardwix]

Lol, good to hear, It is not pretty when they do swallow things, I have see some have to go to surgury.

[finchtheamazing]

what kind of catfish is that by the ship wreck???

[maynardwix]

The bigger one with the stripes is a pictus, the smaller one is a columbian shark.

[g465777]

eh i dont really care about ph as long as its not low or high, mines at 7. sumthing.

yea im just looking for cheap good looking sand lol

[g465777]

lol nice.

im getting silica sand cause its white and itll go along with my malawi's

[maynardwix]

Right, good idea, black sand is good too with africans, the Tahitian moon sand is good and I think it has a buffering capacity, i just think there is a big price difference.

[g465777]

i mite get some silica sand :]

[maynardwix]

This is just regular play sand, paid $10 for 150 pounds of it, can't beat it.

[g465777]

lol, my oscars get scared when im putting the fish net in the tank for putting ghost shrimp or feeders[my convict breeds them]

[maynardwix]

yea, mine hate when I have to remove the decorations in there, the go to a corner and "hide". They are funny fish, but the albino one lets me pet him, the red one rather me not, but they are very cool.

[g465777]

lol my oscars like swimming around the filter sucker thing lol.

we have the same filters lol

[maynardwix]

They like the out flow of water from the filter, the also love when I'm doing a water change, they play in the new water being added.

[tutor4011]

they are growing like mad

[maynardwix]

Yea they are, I wish I could have gotten some video of the Channel cat, he is the biigest in the tank now. I'll have to take some video when doing a cleaning, I remove the skull that he hangs out in and he has to swim around.

[g465777]

wow i love the way your tank looks. i might get sand soon for my 100 gallon, and my 45, and mabye my 20 if theres any sand left.

i think my 100g has alotta decor cause the oscars somtimes run into it. gonna take some out and mabye put them in the 45 gallon, like i did with the slates.

[maynardwix]

I just love how easy it is to take care of compared to gravel. You can get enough sand for all you tanks for around $15. The oscars need the room to move, they do like to have something in the tank to swim around though. I am about to get new heaters because of the fear of them running into them and breaking. They already broke a glass thermometer that was in there, I'm going to get some visi-therm stealths, they are good for oscars and other fish that are rough on their sorroundings.

[Turppa21]

Man I love your oscars. I wish my dempseys would grow as fast as yours do. They probably will when I get a bigger tank.

[maynardwix]

Definatly, I had these in the 75 gallon for maybe a month when they were around 2 inches, the second they got into this tank they started growing like crazy.