Tank Mates For Oscar

[Les Isaacs]

Hello All

I am setting up a 5 x 1.5 x 2 foot tank for one oscar, plus 2 or 3 other fish: for these others I have in mind a plecs and/or catfish, and would be grateful if someone could suggest suitable types of each. Obviously with only a 5 foot tank the max size of any of the fish can be no more than 12 inches: but I would like to get up towards that maximum!

Bearing that in mind, other qualities I'm looking for are: tough (remember oscar will be in there!), pretty, good tank-cleaner (remember oscar will be in there!).

Hope someone can suggest suitable type/s. Alternatively, if anyone knows of any other fish - apart from plecs or catfish - that would meet the above criteria, again I would be grateful for the suggestions.

Thanks
Les

 

[jollysue]

I have a general rule. Oscar gets to keep the whole tank to himself. Ours even terrorized the Apples.

Our oscar would torment until the cat's whiskers were gone. He kept an equal sized front in a corner (Don't ask how the front got in there); tormented fresh water bass until he ate their noses; killed two crayfish by eating their antenna.... Oscars have earned the right to have a tank of their own--Oh! correction, the Malasian trumpets prosper!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Oscar's are very individual, one will be happy with anyone as a companion, another may not tolerate anyone at all.

You need to try and match the temprement to the Oscars, companions should be relativley agressive so they can stand up for themselves if the O turns nasty, but not so agressive that the O will get picked on or bullied cos although they're big brutes, sometimes they're soft as anything!

Don't rely on plec's to clean up the tank! Most of them are just as messy if not more than an Oscar, be wanred if you want to keep both your gonna need shed loads of filtration.

any tank mates should be 6-8" minimum (adult size)

get them all at the same time as babies and they're most likely to get on, but always have a divider handy so you can seperate them if they do fight, and you should always have a back up plan for re-homing them if they don't get on.

my oscar lives with a parrot fish a common synodontis and an albino plec.

 

[pacuboy]

For,tankmates I would suggest large silver dollars (redhooks,black bared,spotted),pacus. And for catfish I would suggest pictus,fourline,lima shovelnose,or other lager.


Alex.

 

[jollysue]

Is the tank about a hundred usg?

 

[CFC]

I love it when people think oscars are aggressive, the truth of it is they are just big lumbering bullies that will pick on easy targets but soon end up hiding in the corner the moment a truely aggressive fish comes their way. I personally have used oscars as target fish for more aggressive species as they are big enough to take some punishment and dumb enough to sit there and take it.

I've successfully kept oscars with larger members of the Bagridae and Pimelodidae groups over the years and of course the ever faithfull common plecs work well.

 

[jollysue]

 

[sallymander_1]

From my experience with oscars I would suggest buying all the fish young so they can 'grow up together'. Even then every oscar is different and there temperment can change. I had an 11" red oscar that could tolerate any tankmate i gave him. Then one day he just turned NASTY and killed my gold severum and pleco (which was attacked from the underside ). From then on I could only keep the oscar by its self.