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75 Gallon

Nicholast35

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Would a Oscar, Cuban and Rhino Pleco all be fine in a 75 gallon if I got the Cuban and Oscar at the same time?


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I personally wouldn't. I think Oscars are a single species tank fish. I know people do keep other fish with Oscars, pleco's should be fine with hiding places But personally I recommend just an Oscar.
One Oscar in the 75gal (presuming I've converted to litres right) should be fine, don't forget you are looking at a 10-12 inch fish as an adult.
 
The other fish I haven't much researched, but I have extensively researched Maximum size and recommended housing for Oscars.
The IGFA world record for oscars is 1.58 kilos, or three pounds, eleven ounces.
If your fish were to reach what is considered Trophy weight, or 75% of that, it would weigh 1.19 kg, or two pounds, nine ounces.
https://www.igfa.org/species/170-oscar.aspx?CommonName=170-oscar.aspx
IGFA also states a maximum length for wild fish of 18 inches, or 45.7centimeters, and fishbase states a common length of 24 centimeters, or about ten inches, meaning that they very frequently get this size in the wild.
http://www.fishbase.org/summary/3612
Additionally Seriously fish states that Oscar's reach a maximum length of 35 centimeters (14") in an aquarium.
https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/astronotus-ocellatus/
All of this is to state that Oscar's are seriously big fish whose maximum size is often underestimated.

I would personally give an Oscar a bare minimum of 75-85 gallons to itself to grow into for bioload purposes, before factoring in any other fish.

If we take the six times the length rule of thumb to provide swimming room for large moderately active large non schooling fish, that comes to:
14"x6= 84", or seven feet.
Since the majority of tanks are not that large, if we go down to the largest common standard aquarium length, we have a foot tank.
The smallest commonly available aquarium at that length is 125 gallons, which with a front to back width of 17 inches, which I think would give an exceptionally large Oscar a bit of difficulty turning around.

Bottom line is that IMHO, 125 gallons is the smallest reasonably sized tank for an Oscar that has been allowed to reach it's full potential.
 
The smallest commonly available aquarium at that length is 125 gallons, which with a front to back width of 17 inches, which I think would give an exceptionally large Oscar a bit of difficulty turning around.

A 75 gal at 4 foot long, 18inch wide 21 inch tall, I think would be the minimum for me.
 
A 75 gal at 4 foot long, 18inch wide 21 inch tall, I think would be the minimum for me.


With the aforementioned potential weight of oscars, a 75 gallon has no room for tank mates, as one would end up struggling to keep good water quality with a good sized Oscar alone, and a tank less than four times a fish's length can lead to muscle atrophy problems unless it is either a very inactive fish that rarely moves in nature, or a very agile one like some of the eel shaped fish.
 
With the aforementioned potential weight of oscars, a 75 gallon has no room for tank mates, as one would end up struggling to keep good water quality with a good sized Oscar alone, and a tank less than four times a fish's length can lead to muscle atrophy problems unless it is either a very inactive fish that rarely moves in nature, or a very agile one like some of the eel shaped fish.

See my comment in post #2--
I think Oscars are a single species tank fish.....but personally I recommend just an Oscar.
 
I agree with what has been posted to date. Admittedly the two are slightly at variance, but this is reasoned. So you certainly do not have space for more than one Oscar.

The Cuban, presumably Nandopsis tetracanthus, is also solitary in this tank.

Rhino pleco, Pterygoplichthys scrophus, attains close to a foot in length and will have a big impact on water quality. Though it might work, depending upon your maintenance, I would recommend a much larger tank for this fish. And not with either of the above fish.
 
What if I ditch the single species idea and went with this stocking?
1 Severum
1Texas Cichlid
1 Jack Dempsey
3-5 Pictus Catfish
Maybe a blood parrot or school of livebearers and some bn and river lip


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What if I ditch the single species idea and went with this stocking?
1 Severum
1Texas Cichlid
1 Jack Dempsey
3-5 Pictus Catfish
Maybe a blood parrot or school of livebearers and some bn and river lip


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do you mean rubber lip pleco instead of river lip?
Rubber lip plecos and pictus catfish are a little bit more fragile than the average fish and i would recommend one pleco species, not two. I would do the BN pleco with the cichlids, but the live bearers would most likely be come a snack for the cichlids.
 
What if I ditch the single species idea and went with this stocking?
1 Severum
1Texas Cichlid
1 Jack Dempsey
3-5 Pictus Catfish
Maybe a blood parrot or school of livebearers and some bn and river lip

The tank being considered (75 gallon) is not large enough for these cichlids to be together.

The Blood Parrot cannot go with other boisterous fish as it will likely refuse to eat.
 
Agree with Byron, parrot cichlids generally have difficulty competing for food.
It would be helpful if we knew whether your water tended towards the hard side or the soft side with making stocking recommendations.
Since you seem interested in cichlids, I will toss a few names out for review.
Softer water would be good for a lot of the smaller or less aggressive south American cichlids, such as:
Keyholes, Angelfish, Rams, preferably Bolivian Rams, Dwarf Flag Cichlid, Uaru Cichlids, nannacara anomala, aka golden dwarf cichlids, some of the easier apistogramma, like caucitoides, borelli, or Agassiz, Many of the smaller Geophagus, and dwarf acaras.
Obviously, there isn't enough room for all of the above in the tank, and there may be one or two combinations of the above that would be a bit risky.

With hard water, either African lake Malawi OR Tanjanyka cichlids, which I am no very familiar with, or Central American Cichlids tend to be a better option, again Leaning towards the less aggressive and smaller species if you want to keep multiple species, Most of the Herotilapia genus likely would work, but care may be needed to avoid the especially peaceful Rainbow Cichlid getting bullied.
Also Firemouths tend to be on the peaceful side for central American Cichlids.
Yellow Dwarf (formerly a cryproheros species, now amatitlania nanolutea) , Are aggressive toward their own kind, but relatively peaceful to other fish.
More aggressive CA cichlids that still might work are:
The T-bar Cichlid, Cryptoheros sajica, and also Cryptoheros Spilurus, also sold as Jade eyed Cichlid, and Cryptoheros cutteri, aka Cutter's or Blue-eyed Cichlid.
CA Cichlids in general tend to be more aggressive, are less likely to get along, and are best kept one to a species, as most tend to be even more aggressive to members of the same species, with the possible exception of Rainbows.
Orange chromides are another option for very hard water, and in fact do well in mildly brackish too, but these tend to do poorly with the central American species, being relatively peaceful.
 
Last edited:
Agree with Byron, parrot cichlids generally have difficulty competing for food.
It would be helpful if we knew whether your water tended towards the hard side or the soft side with making stocking recommendations.
Since you seem interested in cichlids, I will toss a few names out for review.
Softer water would be good for a lot of the smaller or less aggressive south American cichlids, such as:
Keyholes, Angelfish, Rams, preferably Bolivian Rams, Dwarf Flag Cichlid, Uaru Cichlids, nannacara anomala, aka golden dwarf cichlids, some of the easier apistogramma, like caucitoides, borelli, or Agassiz, Many of the smaller Geophagus, and dwarf acaras.
Obviously, there isn't enough room for all of the above in the tank, and there may be one or two combinations of the above that would be a bit risky.

With hard water, either African lake Malawi OR Tanjanyka cichlids, which I am no very familiar with, or Central American Cichlids tend to be a better option, again Leaning towards the less aggressive and smaller species if you want to keep multiple species, Most of the Herotilapia genus likely would work, but care may be needed to avoid the especially peaceful Rainbow Cichlid getting bullied.
Also Firemouths tend to be on the peaceful side for central American Cichlids.
Yellow Dwarf (formerly a cryproheros species, now amatitlania nanolutea) , Are aggressive toward their own kind, but relatively peaceful to other fish.
More aggressive CA cichlids that still might work are:
The T-bar Cichlid, Cryptoheros sajica, and also Cryptoheros Spilurus, also sold as Jade eyed Cichlid, and Cryptoheros cutteri, aka Cutter's or Blue-eyed Cichlid.
CA Cichlids in general tend to be more aggressive, are less likely to get along, and are best kept one to a species, as most tend to be even more aggressive to members of the same species, with the possible exception of Rainbows.
Orange chromides are another option for very hard water, and in fact do well in mildly brackish too, but these tend to do poorly with the central American species, being relatively peaceful.
the african cichlids are out of the discussion, only South and Central American species if the stocking stays along the lines of Texas cichlids, severums, and jack dempsy.
 
Indeed, furthermore it is a bad idea to mix cichlids from tanjanyka and Malawi, Lake cichlid livestock selection is a bit above my knowledge, I am afraid.
 

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