Dolphin and Vanuatu’s with Oscar?

[Acorno]

I plan to do a 125 gallon tank with an Oscar. I’m wondering if I could put a venustus cichlid and a blue dolphin cichlid with it.

 

[Wills]

Nope

 

[Ichthys]

If you Google blue dolphins you’ll see they need to be kept in quite a sizeable group. Venustus is a big loner that can look after itself. I doubt it would tolerate an Oscar in its space. Oscars have no concept of territories or personal space outside of breeding. Also they both need hard water, which the Oscar might tolerate but it’s a soft water fish. It’s always best to do a little research into the fish you want.

 

[Acorno]

What about keyholes? They get 4 inches long and are a taller fish. Would they fit in an Oscar’s mouth? I know they’re peaceful, but would they work with enough cover at the bottom?

 

[Acorno]

And I mean a group not just one keyhole.

 

[BigJfish12]

Depends on you water parameters. But I think something like a pleco and a few convict cichlids would be better as convicts can stick up for themselves quite well if the oscar decides to pick on them. Whereas keyhole cichlids are a bit more shy and docile and may get bullied by the oscar.

 

[GaryE]

Keyholes would become food.

 

[Wills]

Sorry for my facetious response earlier - it was just the first thing that came to mind at that time of night.

On a more constructive note you are best keeping Oscars with other big South American Cichlids - Severums, Uaru, Chocolate Cichlids and big Geophagus (Winemilleri, Altifrons, Satanopercas etc) would be at the top of my list. I'd avoid Central American cichlids in here because the water is so different again and also their behaviour is different - in South American waterways life is so diverse other than cichlids where as when you get into Central America the Cichlids really fill a lot of niches and you don't get the diversity of the South American systems, over all number of species is a fraction, you don't get the schooling tetras and characins, you dont get the catfish that fill many evolutionary niches - its a fascinating comparison when you really get into it.

Just for completeness in terms of the Malawis you mentioned @Ichthys has covered the Dolphin and Venustus well but generally its a bad idea to mix them because they have very different water requirements for starters - Malawi is very hard, its essentially a dead, land locked ancient sea and the unique rapid evolution of cichlids has taken over the lake to the point the word Cichlid is really irrelevant there, its basically the same as saying fish, its that broad and diverse.

One thing just to add is - are you sure you want the Oscar and South Americans or do you really want a tank full of cichlids? Which is an itch better served by Tanganyikan or Malawi Cichlids because thats how they live, instead of algae eating catfish that live in rocks you get Mbuna, instead of schooling characins you get Acei etc but on the top level they are all very colourful, interesting behaviour and a decent size.

If you wanted to stick with an Oscar in a 125 I'd probably look to keep something like this.

1 Oscar
4x Geophagus or Satanoperca such as Winemilleri or Daemon
6x Spotted Silver Dollars
6x Hoplo Catfish (the big chunky species - regular and/or albino)
1-2x Medium/large pleco maybe a Panaque or Royal

If you wanted to go for the Malawi route a group of Blue Dolphins and some Venustus could be really cool though

Wills

 

[Acorno]

Could clown loaches work?

 

[Acorno]

I don’t want to get an earth eater yet. But could I do 1-3 threadfin acara?

 

[Acorno]

Sorry for my facetious response earlier - it was just the first thing that came to mind at that time of night.

On a more constructive note you are best keeping Oscars with other big South American Cichlids - Severums, Uaru, Chocolate Cichlids and big Geophagus (Winemilleri, Altifrons, Satanopercas etc) would be at the top of my list. I'd avoid Central American cichlids in here because the water is so different again and also their behaviour is different - in South American waterways life is so diverse other than cichlids where as when you get into Central America the Cichlids really fill a lot of niches and you don't get the diversity of the South American systems, over all number of species is a fraction, you don't get the schooling tetras and characins, you dont get the catfish that fill many evolutionary niches - its a fascinating comparison when you really get into it.

Just for completeness in terms of the Malawis you mentioned @Ichthys has covered the Dolphin and Venustus well but generally its a bad idea to mix them because they have very different water requirements for starters - Malawi is very hard, its essentially a dead, land locked ancient sea and the unique rapid evolution of cichlids has taken over the lake to the point the word Cichlid is really irrelevant there, its basically the same as saying fish, its that broad and diverse.

One thing just to add is - are you sure you want the Oscar and South Americans or do you really want a tank full of cichlids? Which is an itch better served by Tanganyikan or Malawi Cichlids because thats how they live, instead of algae eating catfish that live in rocks you get Mbuna, instead of schooling characins you get Acei etc but on the top level they are all very colourful, interesting behaviour and a decent size.

If you wanted to stick with an Oscar in a 125 I'd probably look to keep something like this.

1 Oscar
4x Geophagus or Satanoperca such as Winemilleri or Daemon
6x Spotted Silver Dollars
6x Hoplo Catfish (the big chunky species - regular and/or albino)
1-2x Medium/large pleco maybe a Panaque or Royal

If you wanted to go for the Malawi route a group of Blue Dolphins and some Venustus could be really cool though

Wills

Thanks for the advice. I wanted to do 1 Oscar and some tankmates you don’t usually see. That’s why I was looking into lake Malawi cichlids.

 

[Wills]

Thanks for the advice. I wanted to do 1 Oscar and some tankmates you don’t usually see. That’s why I was looking into lake Malawi cichlids.

Its hard because Oscars are so common - in all honesty there are a lot of them in with Malawi cichlids but they are not going to be living their best lives. Using an evidence based, animal welfare approach to keeping them does somewhat limit you as they are able to one bite eat so many other fish.

What about looking at some of the Pike Cichlids? I feel like some of the medium/large chill ones like Saxatilis or maybe Zebrina? Or you could keep the Oscar and some interesting Characins like a larger Annostomus or Leporinus species? If you wanted to go for something from Africa something from the Congo or any of the riverine habitats rather than the rift lakes might be an option. A trio of Synodontis Decorus maybe?

Usually with common fish, like Oscars, if you don't see certain mixes very often its usually because people have tried it and its failed and its worth learning from other peoples mistakes.

Wills