Oscar Company

PRYSANTUS

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i have recently purchased a baby oscar he currently has a 6 foot tank to himself at on 3 cm long i have been thinking about a few other cichlid species to keep him conpany.
so far i would like 1 0r some of the following but am not too sure of compatabilty so any advice on these and any others would be greatly appreciated:

yellow lab
severum
blood parrot
jewel
triangle
firemouth
also i wil need to keep a plec as a sort of cleaner for them but want something a little more exotic than the regular sailfin
 
i have recently purchased a baby oscar he currently has a 6 foot tank to himself at on 3 cm long i have been thinking about a few other cichlid species to keep him conpany.
so far i would like 1 0r some of the following but am not too sure of compatabilty so any advice on these and any others would be greatly appreciated:

yellow lab
severum
blood parrot
jewel
triangle
firemouth
also i wil need to keep a plec as a sort of cleaner for them but want something a little more exotic than the regular sailfin


They all should work except maby the yellow lab, as they like harder water and are from a different part of the world as the others.
 
i agree that the yellow lab needs hard water but as it stands my water is fairly hard because thats how it comes from my tap so this should not be a problems am just not sure idf 9t will be overly aggresive as y oscar is rather shy
 
Hi,

Afraid I don't really know much about tankmates for Oscar's as I've never had one (although would love to), but I do know that I really wouldn't add any Yellow Labs as they'd be far too aggressive and, as I think Mako Man111 said, they're a totally different type of cichlid that should only be kept with their own type, the Africans, and not New World Cichlids.

I know that Miss Wiggle has an Oscar so she (as no doubt many others who have them) may be able to help more.

:good:
 
Yes, as everyone said, yellow labs are african and should not be kept with new worlds. If your water has a high pH then maybe consider getting africans instead. They would love the water as it comes and you wouldn't have to worry about messing with the pH (as it can run you into some big troubles). But this also depends on how high your pH is, because if its around 7.5 or lower than this is ok for the new worlds.

When you say 6 ft tank, this leaves a lot tank sizes to fill this in. What are its other dimensions or better yet, its volume. This will help determine compatibilty for other fish as some other new worlds grow upwards to the size of oscars and having too many of these could lead to serious tank health problems as well as your oscar possiblity getting beat up. Yes, I said, your oscar. They are quite timid, or i should say 'gentle giants' more than anything else. They are far from the most aggressive cichlid species and people think because they big, they can handle themselves. With faster moving or more aggressive fish, they can tend to get nervous and when startled will jolt in your tank and could possibly run into decorations or the glass (ask anyone who owns an oscar and they will tell you how clumbsy they can be).

The pleco too, will create more waste in your tank than it will to help keep it clean. This is the misconception that they are algae eaters and therefore can help keep the tank clean. Well, with any algae eater, ie plecos, snails, etc.... the more they eat, the more they poop. Soon your tank is overridden with poop. But it is still managible if you don't mind doing very thorough vacs of the substrate about every 5 to 7 days. Plus, some people believe keeping a plec with an oscar is bad just because they are both 'messy' fish and add alot of bioload to the tank and thereby increasing the amount of time for maintanence.
 
I would leave out the Triangle cichlid (I am assuming you are talking about Uarus), because they are quite timid and I would only keep them with the most gentle of species. Oscars are pretty territorial and robust and the Uarus like to keep to themselves.

Just my $.02
 
I think a Severum would be very good with an Oscar. Severums have the added bonus that they come in several different color morphs so you can offset your Oscar nicely. I would also consider a nice fleet of Silver Dollars.
 
i have recently purchased a baby oscar he currently has a 6 foot tank to himself at on 3 cm long i have been thinking about a few other cichlid species to keep him conpany.
so far i would like 1 0r some of the following but am not too sure of compatabilty so any advice on these and any others would be greatly appreciated:

yellow lab
severum
blood parrot
jewel
triangle
firemouth
also i wil need to keep a plec as a sort of cleaner for them but want something a little more exotic than the regular sailfin

I can tell you that I recently tried to add a good size oscar to my cichlid tank and had to remove him in the 1st 24 hours because nearly every other fish I have in the tank attacked him. Here is a list of fish that attacked the oscar, each one of these fish took multiple bites out of him:

Yellow Lab
Cobalt Blue
Jewel
Red Devil
Green Severum
Jack Dempsey

In conclusion, Oscar's are not as tough as I thought they were. Mine is currently healing up in an isolation tank, he looks like he just fought in a war and that was less that 24 hours. As for mixing africans with new world cichlids, many by the book hobbiests look down on those of us who successfully pull it off. It has been my experience that africans and new worlds can be very compatable personality wise, and reguarding the ph/hard/soft water debate, cichlids are among the best tropical fish at adapting to different water conditions and can do so extremly well and be just as healthy and colorful as they would be if you followed the direction of a pureist. Definantly agree with the above poster about pleco's, very messy fish, not worth the hassell or the mess in my opinion even if you do clean the tank once a week which I do. I clean alot of the inside glass myself but I also have a Chinese algie eater as well that Im very happy with, he is much more active than my last plec was and he dosent put out nearly as much waste, alot of people dont like CAE's because they are agressive, but in a cichlid tank he should be fine, I havent had any trouble with mine. RTBS picks on the CAE but the cichlids all leave him alone and he leaves them alone.
 
At my pet store we have a set up with Africans and a blue acara, and the acara rules the tank (The PH is about 8.0)! Garbage you really didn't add the fish right. You have to change or re-arrange the decor first, this way once the new fish comes in no one will have established territories so the Oscar will get a chance at making his while the others scramble around for theres.
 
At my pet store we have a set up with Africans and a blue acara, and the acara rules the tank (The PH is about 8.0)! Garbage you really didn't add the fish right. You have to change or re-arrange the decor first, this way once the new fish comes in no one will have established territories so the Oscar will get a chance at making his while the others scramble around for theres.

You are absolutly correct, I did consiter doing that, definantly would have given it a better chance of success.
 
Yea,moving around the decor will upset the fish but they will all establish a territory sooner or later (hopefully,if the tank is large enough) and calm down.You can't add an oscar (or any other fish) to a mature ,aggresive cichlid set up and hope all will go well :crazy:
 

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