Oscar And Bristle Nose

[community begginer]

hay all. before you go wtf!! i must say that i have a rather placid oscar in my 200lt tank. (i know this is too small but my bro had to get rid of it or put it down so i took it in.
he is there by himself and i thaught of maybe adding 1 or 2 bristle nose plecs or so to keep him company. hes only 5 inches long and mouth isnt that big. so i though a few 3-5 inch long plecs would go well. what do you think.

before you critisize just remember it was either put the oscar in a 200ltr tank or put him down. i just saved a fishes life. i feel proud.
he is perfectly healthy and likes to "play dead" in the bottom left hand corner of the tank.

any recomendations of plecs i could put in would be greatly appreciated.
regards, community

 

[idlefingers]

It's after they get past 8" that they tend to become more aggressive (or so I've read). As you're aware, 200ltr is too small for a single oscar when it gets big, but if you are going to try to push it, you shouldn't add any other tankmates as when they get larger, water quality and territory will become big issues even if they are not now.

 

[-germ-]

Do fish play dead? How does that work? Sounds interesting....

 

[community begginer]

well if i recall correctly. oscars in the wild float mid water or lay motionless on the bottom waiting for smaller potential prey. if you see an oscar on the bottom and he is perfectly healthy you will see him remain motionless but his eyes will dart side to side looking arround him, waiting.
eventually whjen a smaller fish gets close enough and inspects the oscar will quickly turn and eat the fishy.
they use a sort of sucking motion produced by the fast opening of the mouth that sucks water in as well as prey and the exess water in the mouthful is pushed back out via there gill rackers.

of coarse i may be wrong. hay what do i know right. lol
if anyone noes better please pic me up on anything i have missed.
if im right let me know as well so i know and am sure im letting people know the truth.
kindest regards, community

P.S. sorry for the long post. hehe..

 

[-germ-]

Long post much appreciated, i know nothing about oscars.
Cheers, interesting info.
Oh... IMHO saving a fish is always a good thing as long as you care for it well, i'm slightly overstocked due to the same thing. As long as you can and will re-home it suitably if it outgrows and/or appears the tank is having negative effects.
Then again i'm talking about gourami, so a bit different....

 

[idlefingers]

well if i recall correctly. oscars in the wild float mid water or lay motionless on the bottom waiting for smaller potential prey. if you see an oscar on the bottom and he is perfectly healthy you will see him remain motionless but his eyes will dart side to side looking arround him, waiting.
eventually whjen a smaller fish gets close enough and inspects the oscar will quickly turn and eat the fishy.
they use a sort of sucking motion produced by the fast opening of the mouth that sucks water in as well as prey and the exess water in the mouthful is pushed back out via there gill rackers.

of coarse i may be wrong. hay what do i know right. lol
if anyone noes better please pic me up on anything i have missed.
if im right let me know as well so i know and am sure im letting people know the truth.
kindest regards, community

P.S. sorry for the long post. hehe..

Yeah, I've read that, too. Apparently they spend a lot of the time resting at the surface of the water waiting for a fly to land in the water to eat. Their tail then becomes a prime target for piranhas which is why the have the occelli (the round spot on the tail). This looks like an eye to fish which are thinking about taking a nip at the oscar's tail, which apparently scares them into not biting!