# Which should i get red bellied piranhas or oscars?



## jrcash4321

So i'm eventually wanting either red bellied piranhas or ocar fish. 
I know both grow large so would need a big tank but I was wondering if any of you had had experience with either species and could lend some good advise. pics would great too :2thumb:
Cheers.


----------



## _simon_

Oscars have a lot of character, are very active and will learn to associate you with food so hand feeding may be possible. They like to rearrange their tanks so they're usually always up to something.

Oscar Fish Keeping and Care - Tankmates for Oscars - Breeding & Disease Info - Oscarfishlover.com

Piranhas from what I am told are quite boring fish in that they do very little. But I'm sure some piranha owners / ex owners will reply.


----------



## Esfa

Oscars.
Real piranahs may as well just be cardboard cut outs.


----------



## jrcash4321

I am leaning more towards oscars as i have fallen in love with the tiger albino kind :flrt:


----------



## jrcash4321

_simon_ said:


> Oscars have a lot of character, are very active and will learn to associate you with food so hand feeding may be possible. They like to rearrange their tanks so they're usually always up to something.
> 
> Oscar Fish Keeping and Care - Tankmates for Oscars - Breeding & Disease Info - Oscarfishlover.com
> 
> Piranhas from what I am told are quite boring fish in that they do very little. But I'm sure some piranha owners / ex owners will reply.


thank you what a great website, i am definetly leaning more towards oscars.

Cheers.


----------



## stecal

hi i have kept both in the past and would definetely go for the oscars, pirahna have to be one of the most boring fish i have ever kept


----------



## jrcash4321

stecal said:


> hi i have kept both in the past and would definetely go for the oscars, pirahna have to be one of the most boring fish i have ever kept


Thankyou so much i will go with your advise. i will be getting two tiger albino oscars and cant wait.

Cheers.


----------



## Sutters

I personally feel that if you have a full time job and or kids big fish simply are not the best fish to keep and heres why..

I currently have x2 oscars and wow they are messy messy fish...Water changes every week .....Glass cleaning every week and the filter you need will not be cheap...I have a 1400ltr an hour all singing all dancing filter and it just copes....

Ornaments or even anything in the tank as mentioned above will continually get moved about and never be where you like it...Also you have to really watch nothing kinda heavy is in the tank as an oscar will think nothing of banging it off the glass ....

Of course im not saying DO NOT get oscars just do your homeowrk and appreciate these are hard work andf expensive to keep fish.....

I love my 2 oscars "hud it" & "dud it" but they are worse to keep than my dog lol....


----------



## kattes

I have kept both species too. Piranhas are just as boring as everyone says and oscars are a riot.

But oscars a lot of work? I don't necessarily agree. But then again, I do weekly water changes with all fish species.. But I'd say I spend an average of 30 minutes a week with 200 gallon'ish tanks. 

If you're planning from ground up, a tank with overflow and big trickle filters in the sump reduce a lot of the filtration maintenance which to me has always been the most tedious task. Then combine that with something like DIY internal filter that runs with a big tunze turbelle classic and fine sand on the bottom and you'll have a nice, low maintenance setup with very little crap buildup. I've dabbled with freshwater denitrification but it just isn't worth the hassle. But surprisingly, the easy life filter media does seem to reduce nitrates a bit, so it could be useful. I still do weekly WC though, even if the nitrates are low. 

Also, I've always kept oscars in heavily planted tanks and found that even if the occasionally dig up a plant or two, in general they do really well with plants and the ones that are dug up can be replanted into some place where they don't bother the interior designers..


----------



## _simon_

I wouldn't say they were hard work either. Weekly cleaning should be the norm with most tanks and it doesn't take all that long if you have the correct kit. Quickest way is a pump with a hose long enough to reach out of a door/window or to a drain. Depending on the set up you may be able to suck out the debris at the same time. And to refill a hose from the tap adding the dechlorinater as it fills.

I have 2x 1300L indoor ponds which I do at least a 50% water change and debris vac on every week. That takes me about 3 hours including filling them back up.


----------



## FarleyMarley

Having had Oscar's in the past, I totally agree with the rearranging of the tank think. Mine had to have slate siliconed over the heater or they would literally throw it about. Make sure you find a very good way of maintaining the tank without putting your hand in, they can and will bite and I still have the scar on the top of my hand where it needed stitches!


----------



## kattes

Stitches from an oscar bite? Wow. I mean, I don't doubt that but I've had hundreds of oscar bites (and I do admit that around 99% of them were me trying to get them to bite, since I always found it funny.. I know I'm a bad person) and never even felt anything that resembles pain. But I guess if they get you just right it can happen.

Anyhow, here's the small 800 liter oscar tank in the bedroom. At the time of the photo it was previously used as a breeding tank for a pair of oscar, then the pair went to the big one and was used for rearing the juvenile oscars and juvenile Liosomadoras oncinus. This one is the one with commercial filters, eheim models 2260 (the large home brewing tub thing, great for cichlids but a PITA to clean) 2217, UV-C, and two home made internal filters. I ended up keeping two of the juveniles with the catfish in this one.


----------



## FarleyMarley

Beautiful tank  Yes they can definately go for you, I had originally got a line of slate up on its end down the middle of the tank with the heater behind and with a screen of vallis. They had knocked over a piece of slate onto the heater, I put my hand in, to stand the large (at least 18inches) bit of slate back up again and they literally went for me. They tore a chunk off the back of my hand and so it had to have a couple of stitches put in it.

Thats when I decided that I had to silicone everything in.:2thumb:


----------



## dyzasta

Easy choice for me - oscars all the way ! One of the coolest fish ive ever kept was a 14inch oscar sadly now in the great fish tank in the sky  but when he was alive and kicking whenever i put my hand in the tank he would turn onto his side to get stroked... which i think is pretty damn cool for a fish 

Hope you enjoy your fish whichever you chose.


----------



## Morgan Freeman

Oscars. Piranha are incredibly dull.

Don't let maintenance out you off, if it does you shouldn't be keeping fish in the first place.


----------



## kattes

FarleyMarley said:


> Beautiful tank  Yes they can definately go for you, I had originally got a line of slate up on its end down the middle of the tank with the heater behind and with a screen of vallis. They had knocked over a piece of slate onto the heater, I put my hand in, to stand the large (at least 18inches) bit of slate back up again and they literally went for me. They tore a chunk off the back of my hand and so it had to have a couple of stitches put in it.
> 
> Thats when I decided that I had to silicone everything in.:2thumb:


Man, I though my WC pair was nasty, yours take it to the next level. 
But it is indeed incredible what oscars can move and I'm truly glad I siliconed everything together from the get go.


----------



## Jimmyjayz

lol personaly i dont think they are boring at all, change it up get a black rhombus and then you have more attitude for the cichlid lovers lol


----------



## berry1

Jimmyjayz said:


> lol personaly i dont think they are boring at all, change it up get a black rhombus and then you have more attitude for the cichlid lovers lol


Fully agree i have kept oscars, red bellies and a rhom all where great fish to keep, i dissagree about red bellies being boring if you provide them with a big enought tank and get a large and i mean large shoal of atleast 15 then they can be very interesting regarding their shoaling.

Oscars are also great fish damn annoying with tank decor but haha their funny personalitys make up for it:lol2:.

Also black rhoms are cool grow large and can be a pain with agression but their damn funny fish. Personaly i like rhoms over red bellies.


----------



## Paul B

Oscars all the way.

They need a large tank and mean large. 6x2x2
Please do stick all the rocks together as they are probably the most destructive of fish.

I used a pressurised pond filter with mine with added jap mat that just coped with the waste matter as they eat like dustbins and poo like sewer pipes.

Regular water changes too.

As for being bitten mine used to be able to swallow my thumb right up to the joint and really didnt hurt, just made you jump. Loads of personality.

As for the stiches I am not sure as they dont have teeth as such.

P


----------



## jrcash4321

Thanks guys. some great advise and thanks for the pics.


----------



## caribe

Paul B said:


> Oscars all the way.
> 
> They need a large tank and mean large. 6x2x2
> Please do stick all the rocks together as they are probably the most destructive of fish.
> 
> I used a pressurised pond filter with mine with added jap mat that just coped with the waste matter as they eat like dustbins and poo like sewer pipes.
> 
> Regular water changes too.
> 
> As for being bitten mine used to be able to swallow my thumb right up to the joint and really didnt hurt, just made you jump. Loads of personality.
> 
> As for the stiches I am not sure as they dont have teeth as such.
> 
> P


More like rough rasping "teeth" and cutting plates at the back of there throat. Been bitten plenty and never had an oscar draw blood.

Devils, Dovii and Mana on the other hand.... all of them have given me decent cuts


----------

