Oscars

Oscars are propably the most companionable fishes you can find. These guys have different expressions and states of mind. You can actually see if they are in good or bad mood, tired, etc. just by looking at them. Oscars can yawn, cough, sneeze and even smile (for real!) =) They become your pals and if an oscar dies, it feels just as bad as any other "real" pet passing away.

Each oscar has naturally their own character features and therefore they deserve to be named. At our aquarium each oscar was named when they can be differentiated, usually when they are around 1-year-old.

Ok, oscar is a nice fish, but there are some basic requirements before barging to a local aquarium store to get yourself an oscar:

• Make sure that your thank is big enough. Having even a single oscar requires at least 200 litre (50 gallon) aquarium, because grown-up oscar is a 30 cm (12 in) long fish. (Basic rule: 200 l (50 gallons)/first oscar + 100 l (25 gallons)/additional oscars)
• You can forget having small fishes in the same tank unless you're willing to pay them more expensive live meal...
• Are you pedant when it comes to cleaning the tank? Oscars eat a lot and there will be waste accordingly.
• In addition to steady maintenance you will need a powerful filter.

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Some oscars that have lodged in our tank

HOMER

Homie was without a doubt one of the most colorful oscars around. Because of that Homie is on display on the front page. Homie was one cool fish, who wasn't worried about little details. He was obvious boss of our tank. Homie was specialized in marathon swims from end to end in the aquarium; he often swam for hours. Unfortunately Homie passed away in fall 2000.

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HELGA

Helga was the big momma of our tank. She spawned twice with Olga during summer times when water temperature raised over 30 degrees in Celsius. Helga was also very interested in people's faces - even so that her staring made some people feel uncomfortable. Helga was also very well behaving when it came to cleaning up the tank: Helga was the only oscar that never came to bite you.

Helga stopped eating very rapidly in fall 2002 and stayed on the bottom of the tank. Pölhö, who was Helgas obvious pal, came right next to her and stayed there as long Helga was alive. Oscars can be very sympathic creatures.

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OLGA

Olga was our bubble-fish. This guy got nuts about bubbles a few years back. He was very fond of the air stone and surrounding areas. We never found out what was so special about the air bubbles. We changed the place of the air stone every now and then and Olga moved with it. Olga was very aware of his territory and especially Vihtori was not allowed to come even close to the bubbles. Cleaning the air stone area was a special operation requiring two persons. One for chasing the angry fish away from the stone and the other to clean the place up. One would think that Olga was all gas due to it's fetish, but no. The only good reason for leaving the bubbles is to eat.

Olga passed away in summer 2003.

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VIHTORI

The smallest fish in the tank was Vihtori. He was usually quite brave, but sometimes during the cleaning he get's a bit scared (see the picture). Vihtori ate worth two oscars and he was the one first begging for food. During the summer time Vihtori liked to eat all the flies we manage to catch.

Vihtori passed away in summer 2003