Can Oscars be safe tankmates for Channa micropeltes? (After bad experience with Pacu).

[BigFishBoy1429]

Hi guys, Has anyone here successfully kept Oscars with Channa micropeltes (Toman)? I'm not asking about pleuros since they're hard to find here in my country (PHI) and most posts in FB that is for sale seems outdated or sold out and unavailable the most recent post from all is already outdated and are also sold out already when I tried to chat all petshop or stores and owners for availability and price in my FB account they said the only available is channa micropeltes which around 3 to 4" in length BTW I dont have an Oscar yet unlike before so I still need to earn money to buy both species together in the future. — Oscars and Toman are much more common and can be seen legally in petshops or stores especially when they are farmed locally or during breeding seasons in the wild my opinion. And also I've seen some YouTube videos where areas they were raised together and seemed to work, especially when same or similar size.



But I had 4 times different types of bad experience and incidents before with the toman especially when I bought it juveniles. — my latest outdated bad experience or incident is my mature 10" Albino Pacu have may have or killed my semi mature 9.4" Toman. I found the Toman dead early in the morning by surviving a little a bit overnight it didn't floated and but it sinked and it was interchange when I first see it in the morning when feeding time already, and I think its skull might have been crushed by the pacu or maybe it just jumped and didn’t survive the body and head injury or they are just really weak fish by nature...and the rest of all. Either way, I don’t want to risk that again. (Apologies that I forgot to say this in my previous thread.)



— are Oscars any safer bet in your experience, or can they also cause serious damage like Pacus do? Looking for real experiences and advice from fellow hobbyists. Thanks.

 

[GaryE]

Pacus are large herbivores.

Oscars are large predators.

Which is more likely to harm an annoying tankmate?

I really think your interest in fish leaves you with single species tanks. If you want both, two tanks are probably a better bet.

 

[OMG_FL]

Every single snakehead species should be kept alone at least without any that have the same diet
Even for C.micropelts I don't recommend keeping oscars with them since they're snakeheads they'll eat until they pop open so it's most likely to be overfed when keeping with other fish
There are few fish that fills out the space of the tank pacus, angels, some barb species
Pacus are fine but since they're schooling species keeping at least 5 of them need a lot of tank space also pacus are omnivores so don't think keeping that big of a pacu with the SH is a great idea since they could get aggressive
Best possible tank mates for them are angels cuz they are peaceful & slow moving unlike pacus
Also any barb species that's large enough to not to get eaten by the snakehead is fine too
But at the end it all comes down to the fish's personality
Some tend to be aggressive towards any tank mates and some don't even care that they're there
I'd personally recommend getting a large species of angelfish Zebra or Mancapuru (my preference) if your fish isn't much aggressive if not just keep him alone and he'll do just fine since snakeheads are solitary fish in the wild

 

[BigFishBoy1429]

ok I get it I won’t recommend keep Oscars with snakehead in the future thanks for the advice

 

[BigFishBoy1429]

Btw I bought an 11 inch channa micropeltes to live with my red tail catfish and silver arowana and paroon shark the silver arowana is my worry since it’s 16 inches long but will it be able to coexist fine with the channa micropeltes unless it’s fully fed? Here is the pic and video any ideas?

 

[BigFishBoy1429]

The seller is packing it I’ll get back to you once it’s done thanks.

 

[simonas]

I visited a large fishkeeper at the weekend and he had a giant snakehead in his pond with about 8 large oscars no issues. The snakehead was about 3ft long. Saying they the pond was large so plenty of space but the micropeltes he has at this stage is a pussycat and doesnt bother any of the fish
As I always say though with big predatory fish you get nice and bad personalities and they also have the capacity to just switch for no reason as I found with my old asian arowana

 

[BigFishBoy1429]

btw I saw my snakehead jumped multiple times the first jump I saw it from the window for few seconds and its plapping and the slime seems to be fine but still active idk if gonna survive but still healthy will get back to you tom once my snakehead will survived the jump among other fish btw is this normal is lower water quality can prevent jumping? for the snakehead

 

[OMG_FL]

Btw I bought an 11 inch channa micropeltes to live with my red tail catfish and silver arowana and paroon shark the silver arowana is my worry since it’s 16 inches long but will it be able to coexist fine with the channa micropeltes unless it’s fully fed? Here is the pic and video any ideas?

I really don't recommend putting him into that tank
Rtc is a bottom feeder so in order to feed him you'll definitely have to overfeed the SH
Also arowanas and paroon sharks aren't really aggressive eaters it's the same scenario again
Oscars are much better compared to these options since they at least are heavy eaters themselves so you wouldn't have to overfeed the tank in order to feed everything

 

[Magnum Man]

Big fish

 

[simonas]

I really don't recommend putting him into that tank
Rtc is a bottom feeder so in order to feed him you'll definitely have to overfeed the SH
Also arowanas and paroon sharks aren't really aggressive eaters it's the same scenario again
Oscars are much better compared to these options since they at least are heavy eaters themselves so you wouldn't have to overfeed the tank in order to feed everything

Have you kept an arowana? Mine and the one I had before it are possibly the most aggressive feeders I have ever had

RTC generally come to the surface to feed as well so I wouldnt be concerned about that

I'd be concerned how big the RTC, Aro, Parron and giant snakehead are going to end up though

 

[OMG_FL]

Have you kept an arowana? Mine and the one I had before it are possibly the most aggressive feeders I have ever had

RTC generally come to the surface to feed as well so I wouldnt be concerned about that

I'd be concerned how big the RTC, Aro, Parron and giant snakehead are going to end up though

Have you kept a snakehead???
When it comes to eating snakeheads are much more aggressive and violent much more than arowanas
Even though arowanas get the chance to grab first since they're top water predators
Decent sized snakehead can easily grab food before arowanas and also sometimes they bully the other fish for food so much so that others are too scared to come up to the food
Most monster fish types are somewhat aggressive feeders but snakeheads are at the top
When you put them together they gonna come at top easily
Just look up some videos of snakeheads in community tanks with arowanas
Almost all of them are clearly overfed and way too fat which lowers their lifespan and also make them weak

 

[simonas]

Have you kept a snakehead???
When it comes to eating snakeheads are much more aggressive and violent much more than arowanas
Even though arowanas get the chance to grab first since they're top water predators
Decent sized snakehead can easily grab food before arowanas and also sometimes they bully the other fish for food so much so that others are too scared to come up to the food
Most monster fish types are somewhat aggressive feeders but snakeheads are at the top
When you put them together they gonna come at top easily
Just look up some videos of snakeheads in community tanks with arowanas
Almost all of them are clearly overfed and way too fat which lowers their lifespan and also make them weak

yes mate kept plenty and bred a few of them over the last 15 or so years and I disagree hence my post
Peacock bass and aro's for me are a more aggressive feeder but we'll have to agree to disagree on that

 

[BigFishBoy1429]

Here is my snakehead...

 

[OMG_FL]

yes mate kept plenty and bred a few of them over the last 15 or so years and I disagree hence my post
Peacock bass and aro's for me are a more aggressive feeder but we'll have to agree to disagree on that

Idk then
I guess yours was different then
What species was it that you kept ?
SH spcices like C.micropelts, C.marulius & C.marulioides (any variation),C.striata, C.diplogrmama are the ones that I'm referring to not dwarf snakeheads
Don't trust me ?? just look up a care guide for them it'll only take a minute
Snakehead species aren't recommended to keep in community tanks but arowanas aren't