Oscar personallity question

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cacti

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May 31, 2001
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Hi, I was wondering and wanted opinions on how just one big oscar would do with other non-Cichlid fish like tinfoils, bala shark, 1 ft. catfish, 2 silver dollars, leporinus fasciatus, Distichodus? I know Cichlids can be aggressive when in pairs especially some Cichlids. Since Oscars are not generally excessivly aggressive I was wondering since there will be only one if it could get along with these others? Thanks
 

hairbag

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Nov 30, 2002
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I used to keep 2 or 3 big goldfish with my 2 Oscars to help keep the bottom clean and they all got along fine. The goldfish were big enough that the Oscars couldn't eat them. The first few days after introducing the goldfish to the tank both Oscars chased them around, but shorlty after that they didn't seem to have any interest in them anymore. I have also had other non-cichlids with my Oscars and it was the same scenario. Chase them around for a few days and then leave them alone. As long as you have enough space in your tank you should be ok.
 

jilo

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Nov 27, 2002
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hi, the chasing new fish around for a few days isn't always the case, i have a single tiger oscar ~8" in a 90 with a common pl*co ~6". no matter what i do my oscar won't let me put any other fish in with him, he kills them all. i even used some of that eggcrate stuff to seperate them, with holes only the new fish, another oscar ~3-4", could fit through. my big oscar managed to get on the other side one night while i was out and beat him beyond recovery. so i would definatly say its all about how your particular fish deals with new tankmates. i would say its up to you to decide if its worth trying or not.
k
 

Arkady

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Dec 2, 2002
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Murderers!

Oscars will murder your other fish! My two Oscars killed my Clown Knifefish within the hour I introduced him to them, they killed my Tinfoil Barb the very next day [when they finally caught up to him], and they even killed one of their own brothers. [i think they are a pair, that's why they killed the spare tire]. But I agree, it all depends on your fish. Long-tail Oscars are supposed to less agressive, but mine are killers. The store owner I bought him from is afraid to put near full grown, 8'-10' Red Tiger Oscars [normal short tailed] in the same tank with my still very young, 6' Long-tail Tiger Oscars.
 

Frameshift

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Oct 22, 2001
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I had a 12" veil-tailed oscar which was fine for 6+ months with a 2-3" firemouth, a 4-5" JD, and a 4-5" oscar in a 100 gallon. He never bugged anyone, just swam around waiting to be fed. My other oscar though, now 10", dominates my 7" JD, but never tries to harm any of the other fish in the tank.

Just like people oscars have different attitudes, some are mean and others mellow. You're just gonna have to roll the dice and see what kind of oscar you pick up.
 

goldfries

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Oct 11, 2001
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my oscar(6inch then) would kill anything i put in the tank. except for my convicts(1.5 - 2inch) which i placed recently.

he did tried to attack and i saw him bit one of the convict the moment i placed them into the tank. so i seperated them for a while with a transparent plastic partition.

after a while, when the convs got the hang of the tank, i took out the partition and they quickly got their territories marked. hehe.

there's 1 night i came back to see a few missing scales on my oscar and teeth(torn skin) marks on 1 of my convs head. hehe, short brawl i guess, no serious injuries. looked like the convs head was in my 'o's mouth for a while.

but anyway, all in all everyone of them are happy living together now.

it was bad enough to have a fierce(but easily spooked) oscar in the tank, now with the 2 convs around, i doubt any other fish can survive if i placed them in there. :p
 
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