Oscar Aggression

[Emissary of Pain]

Hey all ...

I have been gone a while and now come back bearing news ... lol ... not all good though.

As per advice on my oscar thread you guys suggested that I get a 75g for the oscar, well, I moved and don't have space for all my tanks, so I did 1 better and got a single 140g tank. (just over but anyway)(takes up half my apartment, lol . )

I know the question I am going to ask next will get me into trouble (mixing fish ) but the only other option is 2 donate\sell them.

Is there a way I can move the Convict, Brichardi, Yellow lab(from another tank) and a still unknown mbuna along with the chinese algae eater and pleco onto my new tank and then the oscar but in such a way as 2 "curb" my oscars aggression.

The last thing I want is to have my oscar see everything as food and the pleco as a play thing.


I am keeping the natural look for the new tank with driftwood and plants (which i will replace monthly cause of the oscar).


Kind Regards,
Richard.


Ps. I am going to squeeze another question here mainly cause I just thought of it.

I have 2 internal resun filters (not the best but they work) that state they are for 500L tanks so I am more than doubling what I need, I was thinking of custom building a spray\slow bar so that I can put the filters to max without creating a wirlpool ... Anyone got ideas on how I can do this ?? (number of holes and how big, which way the bar should face <width or length of tank> etc etc etc.

All info appreciated.

 

[england]

Hello mate, what size is this oscar?

Ive kept algae eaters with my oscars before and pleco,but these were all big, algae eater was 8inch and pleco was 19inch....oscars never had a problem with them, again alot of people mix convicts with oscars without problems,one of my lfs has a breeding colony of cons in with the oscars,now thats funny to see...

However if you can get away with the africans in the tank,then people will go for me,but i managed fine before with some africans when they needed rehoming, but for a long term id rehome the africans, they can become aggressive compared with oscar and attack,again ive seen evidence before of this, oscars usually are mild mannered just clumsy and silly, if it fits in there mouths then it will...lol

 

[Emissary of Pain]

what size is this oscar?

The oscar is over 10in, the last time I checked he\she was 9.8in ... My pleco is around 11in but seems to be growing along slowly now ...

apart from the yellow lab ... the oscar hasnt tried eating the brichardi and convict that he is homed with at the moment .. he will chase them but that is it ... the rest are 2 big 2 fit in his mouth but that neva stopped my oscar killing jackeys, green terror and a venustus that were all bigger than him ... lol

I have seen ppl keep bala sharks with oscars that is why i was wondering if I can mix malawis\mbuna's with a killer oscar ... lol


Any suggestions 4 my flow bar idea ??


Thanks for the info !!

Regards,
Richard.

 

[england]

Have you placed the filters both into the tank and see what they do when they work, i have the fx5 on my tank, people said oh it will blow the sides of the tank, lol its fine,i have three filters, some people use two or three fx5's on five foot tanks without issues...try it and see.if it does crete maybe force then yes a good idea....

I have bala's with my oscars, i had until recently a third oscar two are 14 and 12inchs...the third was 3-4inchs, no issues, maybe you have hitler himself, lol..

 

[Emissary of Pain]

Hey nelly,

Yeah hitler himself is a good bet ... I posted pix of him about 3 to 4 pages ago in the new world cichlid forum ... BOB The Destroyer ... lol ...


If I put both filters on full my fish don't enjoy it at all ... they get blown around ... if both filters point the same direction 2 get 1 flow angle ... they unhappy, if they both point 4ward at the front panel there isnt very good circulation but there is less "current" ... that is why i thought of 1 full with a flow bar and 1 normal.

I am not sure how strong a current oscars like ...


Regards,
Richard.

 

[england]

They dont like gales if that helps, mine has two currents from one way and one from the oppersite end, which also has a mid flow, but tanks big enough to distribute it,

Yes really only you can work whats good and whats not, can you angle your flows so they go down the back wall of the tank? and one across?

thats how my snakehead tanks set up,going down the back wall, if i aim flow into the tank,they hate it...

 

[ChilliPepper]

Not sure about the Africans as it's frowned upon by most, but from my short experience with my little Con, he has been fine with my Oscar. This is despite a size difference of about 4" not including tail


I have an FX5 on my 168g - awesome filter - and it handles my fish's load fine, coupled with large weekly waterchanges. I will be adding a large powerhead or two once they get bigger, to increase litres per hour through the filter. The filter itself has certainly enough surface area to support enough bacteria for my stock.

With the FX5 you don't get a spray bar, but a sort of two-way thing which directs the output. Creates a nice current, but not enough to disturb. The fish seem to enjoy swimming past it and getting 'blown' slightly. Maybe that's just my weirdos though?

 

[Emissary of Pain]

I have an FX5 on my 168g - awesome filter -

Hey ChilliPepper,

I notice a lot of ppl using this filter on smaller (sub 200g) tanks, the problem is that if I were to buy that filter in South Africa I would be looking at anything from R2000-00 - R3000-00 fot the filter ... which as much as I wish I could spend ... I can't ...


I have made a flow bar that seems to work using a piece of clear flexi pipe 1in thick so my filter problems have been solved ... now just the rehoming when my tank is delivered.

My unknown mbuna (literally no one can identify it) loves the filter .. It will swim full speed into it and then slow down and speed up so that it's nose is almost touching the outlet ... then it gets bored and swims away only to come back 10min later and do it again ... lol

Thanks for the info so far,

Regards,
Richard