Planted Oscar Tanks

My oscars moved 5 lb rocks. I don't see a lot of success possible in a "planted tank" with oscars. An Oscar tank with a few anubias or java ferns attached to wood or rocks might work though.

Oscars dig and move substrate constantly. This just doesn't work for a big part of our tanks.

I gave my oscar a brick as a toy. She would roll it around the tank all the time. Every morning it would be in a different place. I did have a little bubble powered scuba diver attached to a treasure chest and the oscar would wait for the lid of the chest to open from the bubbles and then attack it. Eventually there were bits and pieces of the scuba diver floating around (never found all of it) and the lid was ripped free of the chest.
I did have a big tangled mess of elodea floating in the tank which she didn't touch, a big java fern, and an amazon sword. She didn't bother the plants at all but she did have her brick to play with.
I'm pretty sure that even the biggest planted tanks would never survive a breeding pair of oscars though.

I have oscars and the same question. Can plants be grown in these? http://www.sweetaquatics.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=178_179&products_id=780

I stumbled across those a couple months ago but don't know if they'll keep oscars from ripping up the plants.

It would help but no way to guarantee the oscar won't shred the leaves. Those planters are made by a forum sponsor ripariumsupply.com and work great for what I have used them for.

Thanks for the information over_stocked. I might test these out in the future.

How about some java moss on some driftwood?

I would use a planted sump to get the benefits of plants in an Oscar tank.

Or else a MUCH larger set up, like 1000+gallon pond. Then there is enough room for more things to keep the Oscar occupied, and divert their interest from tearing up the plants.

Every fish is different so just because my oscar liked to shatter clay pots, toss around bricks, and slide the wood work around doesn't mean yours will. Mine never touched the plants but but it was a fish tank with plants, not a planted tank with fish.
You could try potting plants and making the pots heavy enough that they try not to move them.
If you do add plants to your oscar's tank, try a few cheap plants first. You don't want to spend $10 on a plant just to have it be coleslaw the next day.

bump...
i just lost all my fish due to water treatment company making an extra effort to protect us. and basicly thinking about putting tiger oscar in well established planted tank. i dont think small oscar will be able to move any plants and if he grows up with them, maybe he wont mess with the enviroment later on. i got some red melonsword, amazon sword and java ferns on driftwood.

You can try it, but be prepare. When the fish turn on the plants he/she won't take very long to destroy them. Within a hour or two it can uproot everything planted in its tank.

I attempted java ferns and anubia. The oscar had to work at tearing the mature java fern and anubia off a large piece of driftwood. It tore all the leaves off the anubia. Every new leave had promise that it was going to be the one that was ignored, but no sooner than I thought it was safe after a few days, the oscar would rip it off. The java fern was reduced to a few free floating pieces.

I finally gave up.

gave up plants or oscar?

This is really silly. My dog's favorite toy is a hol-ee roller ball, a framework of a ball made from rubber. 10 years ago I forced a fuzzy squeaky toy inside and he has spent a decade trying to kill the squeaky. Okay, maybe he isn't the most persistent or smartest dog but what if you put a small moss ball inside the 3.5" one? Fish could throw it around to his heart's content, the moss would stay clean and it certainly would be a conversion piece!
http://www.horseloverz.com/Hol-Ee-Roller-dog-toy-pr-309780.html

Words of experience with oscars. I inherited a 75 gallon rimless with an eheim 2026 filter free. Score. The tank came with an adult Albino Oscar. He was about 13" long and quite boisterous. He would easily topple rock work, some rocks weighing upwards of 20 pounds. Any rock he could fit into his mouth, he would scoop them up and spit them into little piles. The piles would move daily. They're really smart fish. Taught him to jump out of the water and take food from my hand. I tried plastic plants. He disliked them so much, he would take stems in his mouth and tear them apart. If he couldnt pull them from their wedged spots in the rocks, he would bite and pull until he broke the plastic stems. Long story short...awesome fish for a rock/driftwood only tank. I wouldn't even think about trying them in a planted tank.

I had an oscar years ago, unlike the others that posted, his rocks were on the top of the tank holding the lid on :hihi:

He was more like a junkyard bulldog than fish.

About the only plants you would be able to give a go at would be plastic ones. Even those with an Oscar would be fair game. They just have this mentality about them. "Oh I'm bored...what shall a destroy today?"

yea i went to LFS and talked to owner. there is no way i can get both oscars and plants in one tank. no im not sure what ill go with.
came home looked at the plants .... too nice to get destroyed

LFS had 3 big tiger oscars in one tank, damn thing were fighting as soon as my finger touched the top of the water. scary but fun