Oscar with Buenos Aires tetra?

[Osha]

I was wondering if it would be possible to keep a school of Buenos Aires tetra with a Oscar. I have a school of 9 tetras around 2.5-3.5 inches in a 90 gallon. I currently have a 3 inch jack Dempsey, a 2 inch electric blue acara, and a spotted rapheal catfish in the tank as well and the ciclids dont bother the tetras. Would an oscar be able to eat them when hes grown or be too big in a 90 gallon. Anything would help thankyou.

 

[Byron]

This from my profile of this species:

Compatibility/Temperament: While fish are gregarious at the juvenile stage, they will eat fishes smaller than themselves as they mature and are often intolerant of tankmates as adults. Should be maintained singly or as a mated pair. Additional fish require very much larger tanks. This is not a community fish for most home aquaria.

 

[Mint]

Yeah, I’d say no. If the Oscar is big enough to swallow them, sooner or later it will. If you love schooling fish, I’d suggest maybe getting a truly massive tank (Over 100 gallons, most likely over 200 with this setup) and looking into getting tinfoil barbs. They’re big, fat fish, about a foot long, and probably too big for a Oscar.

 

[Osha]

Yeah, I’d say no. If the Oscar is big enough to swallow them, sooner or later it will. If you love schooling fish, I’d suggest maybe getting a truly massive tank (Over 100 gallons, most likely over 200 with this setup) and looking into getting tinfoil barbs. They’re big, fat fish, about a foot long, and probably too big for a Oscar.

thank you I may think about a firemouth or severum instead

 

[Wills]

I agree, BA Tetras would be dinner one day.

I'd be careful mixing South and Central American Cichlids - although quite closely related they are quite distinct groups with different kinds of behaviour and water requirements. I'd probably be led by your tap water as to which route to take - if you have harder water go Centrals or softer go Souths. Centrals also take it a bit cooler than Souths and temperature is an often overlooked parameter that has a big impact on our fish.

In a 90 gallon tank I'd personally be looking at doing 2 Blue Acaras and a smaller Severum species like Rotkiel or a Liberifer and thats it (I'd also be crossing my fingers for all males or all females to avoid breeding). I had a Liberifer for 8 years and she was a great fish strongly recommended! The great thing about American Cichlids is you need to mix them with a community of fish to replicate their habitat. And there are so many interesting choices, Wood Catfish, Armoured Cats, Headstanders, Hatchet Fish, Pencil Fish, Plecs, Whiptails - the variety of Tetras and Characins around now is incredible. I saw a photo of a group of Annostomus Ternetzi with a group of Synaptolaemus Latofasciatus (google them) and it looked amazing!

I always cringe when I see people with a tank of just American Cichlids, its not natural for them at all. It's taken me about 20 years to realise but if you want a tank full of cichlids, loads of colours and shapes and temperaments, go African Rift Lakes - Mbuna, Peacocks, Tropheus, Tanganyikan. They can seem a bit daunting (they really aren't) but so many people that squeeze in Americans really want a Rift Lake tank and they just don't know it yet...

Wills

 

[Osha]

I agree, BA Tetras would be dinner one day.

I'd be careful mixing South and Central American Cichlids - although quite closely related they are quite distinct groups with different kinds of behaviour and water requirements. I'd probably be led by your tap water as to which route to take - if you have harder water go Centrals or softer go Souths. Centrals also take it a bit cooler than Souths and temperature is an often overlooked parameter that has a big impact on our fish.

In a 90 gallon tank I'd personally be looking at doing 2 Blue Acaras and a smaller Severum species like Rotkiel or a Liberifer and thats it (I'd also be crossing my fingers for all males or all females to avoid breeding). I had a Liberifer for 8 years and she was a great fish strongly recommended! The great thing about American Cichlids is you need to mix them with a community of fish to replicate their habitat. And there are so many interesting choices, Wood Catfish, Armoured Cats, Headstanders, Hatchet Fish, Pencil Fish, Plecs, Whiptails - the variety of Tetras and Characins around now is incredible. I saw a photo of a group of Annostomus Ternetzi with a group of Synaptolaemus Latofasciatus (google them) and it looked amazing!

I always cringe when I see people with a tank of just American Cichlids, its not natural for them at all. It's taken me about 20 years to realise but if you want a tank full of cichlids, loads of colours and shapes and temperaments, go African Rift Lakes - Mbuna, Peacocks, Tropheus, Tanganyikan. They can seem a bit daunting (they really aren't) but so many people that squeeze in Americans really want a Rift Lake tank and they just don't know it yet...

Wills

thank you

 

[Colin_T]

If the Jack Dempsey cichlid is a male, it will grow to 10-12 inches long and probably kill everything in the tank. These fish are not community fish.

 

[10 Tanks]

I was wondering if it would be possible to keep a school of Buenos Aires tetra with a Oscar. I have a school of 9 tetras around 2.5-3.5 inches in a 90 gallon. I currently have a 3 inch jack Dempsey, a 2 inch electric blue acara, and a spotted rapheal catfish in the tank as well and the ciclids dont bother the tetras. Would an oscar be able to eat them when hes grown or be too big in a 90 gallon. Anything would help thankyou.

Hello Osha. If the two species were raised together as fry, then it's very likely they'd be fine together. Otherwise, the Oscar will easily have the Tetras for lunch.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Back in the fold]

Cichlids and Tetras don’t mix. Any cichlid , any tetra. End of story.

 

[Ichthys]

Hello Osha. If the two species were raised together as fry, then it's very likely they'd be fine together. Otherwise, the Oscar will easily have the Tetras for lunch.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

They will not be fine together. You cannot keep small silvery fish with Oscars. The silver flashes as they move in the light trigger an Oscar’s feeding instincts. Raising small fish and Oscars together makes no difference at all.

 

[10 Tanks]

They will not be fine together. You cannot keep small silvery fish with Oscars. The silver flashes as they move in the light trigger an Oscar’s feeding instincts. Raising small fish and Oscars together makes no difference at all.

Hello. If the Oscar keeper has a tank large enough, so territories are established and feeds the Oscar a varied diet and doesn't under feed while raising all of them together as fry, the Buenos Aires Tetras would work. But, the tank would need to be a large one. Just my opinion.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Ichthys]

Hello. If the Oscar keeper has a tank large enough, so territories are established and feeds the Oscar a varied diet and doesn't under feed while raising all of them together as fry, the Buenos Aires Tetras would work. But, the tank would need to be a large one. Just my opinion.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

It would need to be a very large, public aquarium sized tank, and then the only reason it would work is because they wouldn’t be able to catch them. But they’d want to. Oscars are only territorial when they’re breeding.

 

[powerdyne6]

Way back when I had my very first tank I kept a single Oscar and a group of Bala Sharks together

They were introduced to the tank at the same time and at a very young age. They grew up together and I never had an issue. It was great until the Oscar grew to big and I had to rehome. The Bala Sharks were more slow growing and was able to keep them for a while after.

 

[10 Tanks]

It would need to be a very large, public aquarium sized tank, and then the only reason it would work is because they wouldn’t be able to catch them. But they’d want to. Oscars are only territorial when they’re breeding.

Hello again. Yes, I would recommend a tank roughly 120 gallons. If you liked Oscars and a larger, faster species of Tetra, it could absolutely work. Oscars are large adults, so you have two or three fry raised with some Buenos Aires Tetras. My BA Tetras are young, but some are in the two inch range and will grow to three inches plus. Very agile and fast swimmers. Provide a large enough area for the Oscars to establish their territory and plenty of hiding places with lots of plants and decorations for the Tetras. Whoa, picture a tank like that! Feeding predatory fish enough is a must if you're going to keep fast, fairly small fish with larger fish. I've raised Goldfish fry with female Guppies for years and the two live well together as adults. As long as the two grow up together and the fish are fed regularly, so the larger fish don't get hungry, I just don't see a problem provided you have a large tank.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Ichthys]

I kept and bred Oscars for 20 years, supplying half the shops in the north of England with young oscars. I’ve also kept them several times since.
They are the fish I know the most about. Your oscars will not live peacefully with tetras in 120 gallons, however well fed they are. Also it’s unethical to keep fish that are constantly stressed by being in a tank with fish that might eat them at any time. I’ve had Oscars that were peaceful with small fish… until the day they weren’t.
As I said previously, Oscars are not territorial unless they decide to breed.