new tank, want oscars-possible?

kelly82

kelly82

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Jun 1, 2007
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Lincolnshire, UK
ive just bought a tank measuring 48" long, 18" wide, 27" high. i hope it would be fine for a single oscar, but would i be able to house 2 in there for life? i really want 2 different coloured oscars, but if it isnt big enough for 2, what other fish would be ok sharing this tank with a single oscar for life? i will be running a fluval fx5 on this tank.
 
I would house two in it, but many folks here will recommend not to. It will also be dependent on the two you get..their attitudes/personality always come into play, and often changes as they age.
 
fronts are more of a colony fish..large groups..big tank as they grow out...
 
I would think that 2 would work in a tank that size. Just get them as small as possible so they can grow up together, this will help to reduce any problems. As stated , it will depend on the individuals. They can be a rather mellow cichlid with alot of personality. Excellent filtration will be needed as oscars are pretty messy and have a high bioload. As far as tankmates my old roomate's 12" oscar got along just fine with convicts, jd's, and firemouths that i donated to him. All fish I gave him were only 2" at the time and it never ate one of them and pretty much leaves them alone now. Any plecos and cats should be fine also. If your oscar trys to eat one of them it will be only once. They will remember how unpleasant the barbs feel in their mouth and would leave them alone. Oscars will rearrange their tank alot so I'd go with gravel substrate and don't even think plants. If you wanted some fake plants, silicone the base to the bottom of the tank or to a flat rock, otherwise the plants will never stay put.Hope this helps.
 
wow, thanks for the info. i would be getting 2 babies, at around 2" each, and let them grow out together. i was thinking large rounded rocks for the bottom of the tank, and a couple of large pieces of bogwood. i figured they would rip out any plant life, and i thought if i got large rounded rocks for the bottom 1-they would struggle to move them (hopefully) and 2- i could just take them out and syphon over the bottom to remove any debris during the weekly water change. if i used gravel, would they dig it out like a pair of giant convicts :rofl:?
 
More like a backhoe, larger is better for grave/rockl. My old roomate now has landscape rock( rounded at @ 1" size and yeah they don't rearrange them. If the rock was big enough shrimp could even live down in the rock and help do cleanup.Or just enough to cover the bottom would enable you to clean pretty effectively.
 
I personally wouldn't do two plus other fish. 2 and no other fish would work provided you do large weekly to twice a week water changes. You also will need a compatible pair as RBishop pointed out. That is very difficult to find as sexing them is nearly impossible until they hit sexual maturity and even then about all you can do is watch for signs of mating.

I have a single Oscar in a 90 gallon tank that will not pair up with any other fish. I have 4 others of which 2 paired up.
 
well im now thinking a single tiger oscar, with a couple of larger catfish in the 380L. im not sure how the stocking would work out though. im going to be getting a small young oscar still, the ones ive seen are around 2-3", maybe less. do they keep the same colouring and patterns through to adulthood or doesnt it make a difference as they change colours as they age?

any good recommendations for any catfish to live with the oscar?
 
kelly82 said:
well im now thinking a single tiger oscar, with a couple of larger catfish in the 380L. im not sure how the stocking would work out though. im going to be getting a small young oscar still, the ones ive seen are around 2-3", maybe less. do they keep the same colouring and patterns through to adulthood or doesnt it make a difference as they change colours as they age?

any good recommendations for any catfish to live with the oscar?
Click to expand...

A large enough synodontis could work.
 
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