out of all the aquariums that i've ever set up my least favorite to do is the oscar aquarium
and it's a very simple reason no matter what i do or what i have planned out for a beautiful scape
they're going to destroy it and do whatever they want to it in today's video i'm going to show you
how i set up my 180 gallon oscar aquarium i have a number of things i have to keep in mind and we're
going to get to them as the skate progresses first and foremost the bottom of the tank we all know
oscars dig they're going to pick up the substrate move it around and do whatever they please
and when they do this they're going to expose the bottom of the aquarium so i took this
pre-fabricated aquascaped mat i'm not even sure what to call it that aqua decor backgrounds.com
sent me not knowing if i would use it or not but as soon as i saw it i immediately thought this is
going to be perfect for the oscar aquarium because not only does it look great but once there's a
substrate over it if they dig down past it it's going to expose this and it's going to look even
better if we look at a close-up you can see that it's got some intricate designs it's mostly just
like rocks that are just tumbled all over the bottom and i guess i'm saying that because it's
going to be relatively difficult to match other rocks to go along with it but i did have some
now i realized that not everybody's going to like this scape it's going to be very basic it's not
going to have a ton to it but the reasoning is simple not only are we adding oscars into this
but i'm adding my fahaka puffer to it as well as my large bishop now the bishop likes to stay at
the bottom it likes to have caves it likes to hide uh as well as the vahaka it likes to create little
little beds in the substrate and you know kind of just hide when it wants to and it spends most
of its time near the bottom of the aquarium the oscars on the other hand spend most of their time
in the top half of the tank they'll venture throughout the entire thing we got to keep this in
mind and keep the top of the tank completely and totally wide open i also wanted to use these rocks
because it doesn't matter if the if the uh if the oscars kind of tip them over or push them aside or
anything like that because these are hollowed out rocks for market core backgrounds as well um they
didn't send all of these intentionally to match all this i just kind of you know use it whenever
i need it if i do and these came in really handy i decided just make a couple of rock piles and kind
of stack them up i thought that the the contrast between the rocks and the base looked really good
i think they looked you know very similar one of the cool features of these rocks is they have like
it looks like it's supposed to be moss growing on the rocks like very aged in withered now i
can tell you once some algae gets on these things and trust me it's one of my aquariums it's gonna
happen uh this is just going to look absolutely phenomenal just a perfect gorgeous aquarium
the only thing missing of course is a substrate but as you can see there's tons of caves and
crevices and you know it's just an intricate and interesting design but very basic i think we're
using like seven rocks or eight rocks something like that nothing too crazy
and you don't really have to now mind you this scape was entirely inspired by a goldfish scape
that i did years ago in a plywood aquarium if you guys remember it it looks like this and now
things are starting to look familiar aren't they you see sometimes i'll do things a long time ago
and i like them so much that i kind of want to do it again but put my own spin on it
now this scape they can swim all around it in front of it beside it through it be you
know absolutely everywhere so this escape is not going to need to change as they grow i won't have
to take anything out or move anything around and if they do i could just kind of prop it back up
no harm done uh the only other thing that i got to consider is a substrate now like i mentioned
the bishop as well as the fahaka puffer do like to spend time in the substrate but the oscars
also dig and if i do a fine sand i mean the oscars could probably pick it up throw it into the filter
or just make a complete mess of the tank at all times so one of the best substrates for an oscar
aquarium in my opinion in my experience would definitely be a small grain gravel and i just
went one with a small grain gravel with earth tones i thought it would look good give a nice
contrast um it's actually a very similar color to the pahaka so i think he's going to enjoy it
and i just focused most of the substrate all around the decor and a little bit on top of
it as well but for the most part we're just going to surround the the outside of it because
i kind of want to expose the center of it almost like all of those rocks are coming up
and above the gravel such a simple and easy skate but you know again that's my style i like to keep
things incredibly simple incredibly basic i focus everything around the fish as opposed to
uh the escaper or the human and what we think is going to be aesthetically pleasing and i try to
find a bit of a balance something that i like and i think that i that i think looks good but
ultimately is in the best interest of the fish and now you'll notice with the scape it's wide open
a lot of round edges the oscars aren't going to get hurt on it they're not going to get
jammed they're not going to be able to you know cause any damage to the tank itself
it's it's literally the ultimate oscar aquarium it's oscar proof you know some people will want
me to add in plants and i see no point to that it's just gonna be literal waste of money and
a biological load on the aquarium because the oscar's gonna rip them out and kill it
you know maybe in the future we'll add something to it like maybe we can add some silk plants to it
i'm thinking some valisaria or something long and jungle-like or or maybe some ferns of some sort
but for the time being i'm dying to see what this is gonna look like with the actual oscars inside
now one of the things we'll have to wait for of course is for the tank to fill i gotta get some
more plumbing parts for the filtration and by the time you see this video hopefully i'll be able to
have grabbed everything that i need to finish the filters up and finish setting everything up
but i think the furthest i'll be able to get is just to fill the aquarium up with water and then
of course in the near future we will add in the biological media that's already cycled and already
running on their tank i literally just got to take it off that tank and put it on this one so it
it's almost uh immediately cycled and then of course move all of the fish over and the next
video you see on this aquarium we're going to do all of that we'll finish up the filter
we'll add in all the biological media make sure that aquarium's uh biologically safe and cycled
and of course transfer all of the fish over i'm personally dying to see what the bishop is going
to look like in this because right now he's in a 700 gallon and he looks small but this tank is
going to be even more ideal for him we do want to free up that 700 for the raise so we can get them
into more of a breeding mode and you know kind of set the tone might have to play some romantic
music for them at this point but uh and then of course move the oscars over and the fahaka and
i gotta say the oscars in the fahaka now that they're growing together they get along like
they're all part of the same pack of course the puffer is the boss what a beautiful fish and uh
very friendly and he's he's even more uh outgoing now so i think we're gonna see
this i think this tank and its placement first one you see when you walk in the into the
the the gallery of tanks it's the perfect placement because oscars are not skittish
they're not going to hide and run away when you know somebody just appears from over the corner
and that's something i have to keep in mind as well is not only
what am i going to do for these scapes but which fish can safely go in which aquarium based off of
its location something you definitely got to think about with your own aquariums is
not only tank placement but uh are those fish that are going in it gonna be okay with being in a high
traffic zone or do they need to be in something like a lower traffic zone anyways this was the
ultimate oscar aquarium hope you guys enjoyed it you know as simple as it is guys at times
that's that's the beauty in it isn't it anyways i hope you enjoyed this video and this aquarium
if you're excited and want to see what's to come with this tank and the fish and
everything else make sure you subscribe if you're not already see you guys in the next video