Oscar And Dither Fish?

[cinderblock]

my oscar is about 8" now (hes under a year old) hes kept with other cichlids that are smaller than him and hes pretty mellow.
id like to get some dither fish but im not sure if the oscar will eat them. hes been raised on pellets only, no live fish.
would 12 giant danios out swim the oscar in a 220 gallon tank? the tank is 72x24x30

 

[Nim]

Sorry I may be getting wrong but is your oscar hiding and not comming out? Suitable dither fish for oscars are other similar sized fish probably the likes of similar less aggressive cichlids or silver dollars etc. Anything small enough to fit an oscars very large mouth will be food no matter how fast they are.

You must only keep fish large enough to survive with an oscar... its a predator.

Nim

 

[cinderblock]

no hes not hiding hes very sociable. its pretty much for my other cichlids in the tank, they spook easy like from shadows and i find they dont spook when other small schooling fish are in the tank.
i had a dozen diamond tetras but after about 6 months they were slowly picked off by team work between my featherfin catfish and the oscar. the catfish would chase them right into the oscars mouth no joke lol
so i figured since danios are larger and always on the move maybe they would stand a better chance.
i was gonna go with 3 or 4 tinfoil barbs but they get so huge and add alot of bio load to the tank. ive also done this before and the tinfoils do get into dominance battles with cichlids, ive had a tinfoil and jack dempsey get into mouthing battles.
ive heard alot of people use silver dollars, ive never had them before but after reading about them it seems they are prone to spooking and scare easy, and i want dithers to be out and bold not to spook and trigger a panic attack with all my fish lol

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Giant Danios would probably get picked off slowly just like your Diamond Tetras (and those guys are FAST!)

You're going to need something abit bigger, or atleast chunkier. I've know people to use decent sized Golden and Opaline Gouramis, maybe you could try those. Spanner Barbs might also be another possible candidate provided you can get them at a good size 4"+

 

[cinderblock]

gourami's would be nice
i have some big ones in my community tank but id be afraid to risk their lives even though the opaline chases all his tank mates and deserves a beatin' lol
but if i buy new ones i wont be attached to them so its worth a shot.
they have some large gold and blue ones at the petstore, they are about 4-5"
do you think they would be ok with the same sized other cichlids, like jack dempsey, texas etc? i know gourami's dont move much they kinda just hang out
maybe even kissing fish would work?...guess ill learn through trial and error

 

[Morquinn]

I have a giant danio with my oscar, hasnt been eaten yet!

 

[cinderblock]

thats good to know
well im gonna try this...
12 giant danios
4 pink kissing fish
6 spanner barbs

if they last for at least 6 months i feel i got my moneys worth lol
then if and when these get picked off ill then try silver dollars as a last resort