How to Choosing your Oscar

It's time your tank is fully cycled and you are ready to choose your Oscar. When you go to the fish shop to choose your Oscar, have a very good look at them before you actually buy. Try to go for ones that are nice and alert, in other words, they are very perky and active. Don't choose any that are just lying on the bottom of the tank, there's a possibility they may be something wrong with that particular fish. If you are choosing from a tank that has a lot of babies and they are all nice and healthy, they should all be acting the same, probably hanging around hoping to be fed. The picture above shows some 3 inch baby red Oscars. They are always alert and on on the lookout for food, this is the sign of a healthy fish.

If you are going for a mature Oscar, study it very carefully. If it has any pitting, or holes around its head, leave well clear. There is a possibility it could have hole in the head disease. You never know how it has been treated and what kind of environment it has been kept in before. Having said that, if you want to buy a diseased fish and try and treat it, go-ahead. Just remember that the treatment could be very time-consuming and expensive, and it may not work at the end of the day.

Because Oscars come from the tropics, their tank water needs to be warm. Oscars will be okay with temperatures ranging from 22°C (72°F) to 28°C (82°F) You would normally have transported your fish home in a large plastic bag. Don't just open the bag and pour the fish in. Float the bag in the tank for around 15 minutes until the water inside the bag has had time to match that in the tank. The fish will already be a little bit stressed out from the journey, putting them straight into a tank that has a different temperature water could very well stress them even more, which could increase their chances of developing diseases.

When you first put your new Oscar in the tank, you may well find that he just swims to the bottom and sits motionless. Don't panic, he may just be a little bit stressed. After all it can't be a very nice being dragged out of your tank leaving all your mates behind, and then bouncing up and down while you're transported in a car. If you purchase more than one Oscar, they are normally more relaxed, safety in numbers I suppose.