2 Oscars And A Firemouth

[Raechal]

I just bought an albino oscar and a firemouth and added them to my 125 gallon with my other oscar. They are all about an inch long right now but seem to be getting along great, especially the two oscars.

Do you think this is fine or have I made a mistake?

I think the tank is 125 gallons. It was made by my neighbor and he used it as a saltwater tank and then sold it to me for $150 but he made the tank and stand and the tank is extra wide so not exactly sure how many gallons but it is a little bigger than my old tank and my old tank was 125 gallons.

I also haven't measured it yet either.

 

[shroob]

So the stocking is 2 oscars and a firemouth?

I don't see a problem with the firemouth, its the 2 oscars I would be apprehensive about. If they are 2 males then they will most likely fight and get along. 2 females stand a better chance of working. And of course if you have 1 male and 1 female then they might pair up, then its time to think about the firemouth and how it might get bullied.

They will get along now because they are young, the problems (if any) will come when they mature. In all honesty it will probably work -it is a 125 or larger - the problem I can see is if you have 2 males that don't get along.

 

[Raechal]

I am not exactly sure when oscars are able to show mating or bonding behavior, but to me it seems like the red oscar is a male and the albino is a female. the red oscar constantly follows her around, never nips at her but makes his body into a u-shape and rubs against her. His red color almost instantly brightened up when I added the albino oscar to the tank.

The firemouth hid behind some plants I have in the tank for the entire time I had the lights on, but when I turned the lights off I found them this morning all swimming together.

If they are a male and female and if they do pair up, is the firemouth in any trouble? Are they too young to pair up now?

The albino oscar doesn't seem to want anything to do with the poor red oscar. She just swims around looking so happy she is out of the filthy tank I got her out of.

 

[shroob]

Yes, at an inch long they are not mature and wont pair up for a while yet. Oscars grow very quick given the right conditions, around an inch a month so another thing to watch out for would be that the oscars outgrowing the fire mouth and I wouldn't put it beyond possibility that they might get to a size where they could view the FM as a meal. Oscars grow quickly to around 8" then slow down, in that time the firemouth might only be 3 or so inches.

Another thing to say is that you can't tell the sex of oscars by just looking at them. The best way is to wait for them to breed and then judge by their breeding tubes/actions. Venting could be another way but is abit intrusive and not worth the hassle unless you really need to know.

EDIT: Also to say you can't tell if an oscar is mature by size alone, normally an oscar would be mature at 12-18 months.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

they're really too young to be showing any agressive behaviour yet, it's normally around 1 year to 18 months old that you start to see problems.

i'd suggest you may well have problems with the set up, it's not generally advised to keep two oscars together, as above if they turn out to be two males they will fight and one of them will most likely get killed, there's a chance that they will pair off but if that happens then the firemouth will probably be in trouble, particularly if he is the only other tankmate the agression is not dissipated at all.

in my experience if you want to keep an oscar with other fish then it's best to keep them with quite a few other fish to spread any agression out. if there's just one or two other fish in there then they'll be quite likely to be bullied.

I'd suggest you should only keep one of the oscars but then as it's a 125 gal you have loads of room to play with and can add a shoal of dithers like silver dollars or bala sharks, some bottom feeders maybe a shoal of big clown loaches or some big plecs then a couple of other cichlids of a similar size/temprement to the firemouth.

 

[Raechal]

I have kept oscars before and know how they act towards each other. I guess I will just monitor them and see if there is any aggression as they grow up. If there is any bullying I will be sure to relocate the fish to a different tank.

 

[gregkarr09]

125 gallon tank!!! And 3 fish 1 of wich wont get all that big!!! you will be fine trust me!!! thats plenty of tank space....they will all be fine....you can put some decor on both sides of the tank so if the oscars end up not getting along the will each pick a certain decor that will be there territory.......

 

[england]

Hey you glad to see its all going well, as others have said its a case of keeping fingers crossed, if they want to they will constantly attack each other....but remember even if there male and female and they court it can get very aggressive,trust me ive witnessed enough when my female was alive....But for 95% of the time it was brilliant,,

 

[Raechal]

Thanks. I really want it to work out between all of them so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

But I will move any fish that I need to move if things start to get bad.