How long do Oscar fish live and how easy or hard is it to maintain?

Answers:
Lifespan of Oscar is about 12-18 years, and they tend to suffer from HIH as well as pop eye disease mostly. This fish looks tough, but is actually sensitive to water quality. Its anyway a very good choice for a smart fish, if you need one.

For more details, visit:
http://www.oscarfish.com/

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they live atleast 7 years.

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Oscars live for years. My family had some Oscars and they lived for like 8 years. They are easy to maintain but you have to clean the tank periodically. They get very big depending on the size of the tank.

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depending on when you get them it is very hard to keep them with other fish do to they eat them i had one for alomost 4 years and he was the only fish i could have. The eat the feeder gold fish small size. Can grow with the size of tank you keep them in. I had my in a 30gallon tank he passed when we moved.

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Oscars should live minimum of 8 years. If you take good care of them, they should live at least 12-18 years.

They're a little harder to maintain than other tropical fish, but the rewards are great. They expel a lot of waste since they eat like pigs, so they need their water changed more (quantity %26 frequency) to keep nitrates down. Keeping on top of water changes is the #1 thing that will keep an oscar living for a long time. Without them, they can get hole in the head disease, which will slowly eat them %26 when they show signs of it, it can be too late.

Most things that kill oscars are related to poorly maintained water conditions over long periods of time. Most of these things don't show up right away, so its easy for an inexperienced aquarium keeper to neglect their oscar. They figure if he doesn't look ill, then there's no problem.

2nd concern is feeding them good food. Since they go wild for fatty foods some people make the mistake of feeding these foods as a 'staple' food instead of an occasional treat. Do not feed them feeder fish or beef heart regularly. Stick to a 'chichlid staple' food as their main food. They can get liver disease from eating fatty foods over a long period of time.

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If you get a fish to grow to tank size you are really making it suffer. Give a oscar at least 55 gallons. if you put no gravel in it will be much easier to clean.

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As mentioned they live for about 15 years, and they grow to 12-16" long.

They can actually very easy fish to keep, but kept improperly it can become a hassle. They are messy, so kept in too small a tank it can be difficult to keep clean - but with an appropriate sized tank (75 gallons at least is best for one, 100+ gallons or more for a pair) and with the proper filtration it wouldn't be a problem. Due to their territorial nature and massive size they are easiest kept in species tanks.

The most difficult part about keeping them is keeping more then one. Two Oscars will not share a tank easily - they are territorial, so you would want a breeding pair to keep two, which would share the tank instead of fight over it. To obtain a pair you need to start with a few of them, grow them out to maturity, and let a pair form from them. Then the rest would need to be removed.

Another part that's a little more difficult then small tropicals is their diet - they need a high quality prepared diet that is not allowed to go stale (so it should be stored properly and replaced if it isn't finished within a couple of months) and best supplemented with fresh foods (frozen, freezedried, or live) like krill, shrimp, crayfish, worms, insects, and insect larvae. It's a common misconception that they need feeder fish - in their natural habitat they are not piscavorous and actually eat little to no fish - their natural diet is mostly insects and crustaceans. Mammal and poultry meats, including beefheart, are best avoided.

Should you want to keep other fish with them, they should follow certain criteria. They must grow big enough not to be considered food - Silver Dollars is about as small as it should get. They should not be territorial, like other cichlids or Gourami's, or fighting and stress will result. They shouldn't be too active, like tinfoil barbs, as they can make the calmer Oscar nervous and stressed. Bottom dwellers are most ideal since they use a different part of the tank then the mid-top dwelling Oscars. Since all of the compatible fish also get big, the tank should also be very big to keep a 'community' with the Oscar.