Yeesh idk. As I'm sure you know oscars are carnivorous, super carnivorous. In my very limited experience I'd say it would be better to forgo the oscar, however some may say I'm wrong. How big are your other fish? If they have reached sexual maturity you might be able to make it work. Also are any of the EBA bonded?
A pair of my eba are sexually mature around 3-4 inch the others can’t be far behind my convicts again just becoming mature developing a hump on the head around 3-4 inch , I have done my research on oscars and from what I read to what owners say is different I read they are aggressive and such but many owners say they are rather docile if kept fed , I would only buy small around 5 inches and grow him myself
I'm sure you could make it work with proper scaping such as things to break lines of sight, and lots of large plants, however in my opinion oscars are best kept alone or with large dither fish.
I think I’ve commented on a few posts of yours before and shown you my tank. I keep 2 fully grown Oscar in my 4ft tank along with a convict Red Devil snakehead Vieja and plec and it’s a super happy tank. Yes there is a lot of waste but I water changed weekly sometimes twice weekly just to compensate. The rule of thumb for tank size infuriates me to be completely honest. People have to much to say and have to many good ideas. Yeah In an ideal world you should have the biggest tank possible but its not a total MUST HAVE! The only thing I would say is oscars do better in groups I’ve never kept an Oscar solo and if it can’t fit in its mouth it’s dinner other than that there’s nothing to worry about maybe some digging or pulling plants about but hey we all like to have our room our way lol
Each to there own it works for me and plenty others without any problems what so ever in my experience the reason for unhappy unhealthy fish is lack of time and maintenance by the owner. Some people can’t afford loads of tanks or Massive tanks that shouldn’t mean they are limited to keeping smaller or typical pet shop fish as long as they aren’t kept Cruelly I.e an Oscar in a goldfish bowl. Everyone has an opinion I just feel to many people are forced into what they can keep because what they read. Also my devil will be moving out to my 4ft into a 5+ft tank in the next few weeks as it’s reaching maturity stage and want to remove before the battles start. If you can keep up with the work load and responsibilities then nothing is impossible.
I really don’t think I have the time for two tanks with work and kids n stuff I’m not so attached to my convicts to be honest , I like them but if they started causing trouble I would probably rehome them rather than make adjustments to suit them , if an opportunity came along where I could purchase a Cupid or a thread fin then I would probably go all in South American bio , I’m in the England and I haven’t saw any to buy other than online and I don’t buy fish online I find something immoral in shipping live animals so I’m limited to local breeders and swappers and of course pet shops , but from what I can see South America cichlids are not all that popular in comparison to say Africans I don’t know if anyone else finds this
I agree with you to an extent but I take the approach of finding the alternative so instead of your veija I would have had a theraps or an oscura same with your Channa there are loads of amazing dwarf Channa out there. Oscars are pretty unique so you’ve got me there but it’s just about risk for me and on balance I don’t think if ten people had your set up all ten would have your apparent success.
