Oscar Compatibility

[nudenurd]

Due to my flatmate complaining about "those scary fish", I've got to get some new fish to live with my Oscars... I happen to have 5 guppies in another tank. Would the oscars eat those?
Also, I had 3 little plecos in my large tank. All of which have disappeared. Am I correct to assume that the oscars had them for dinner? I thought they were compatible!!

 

[ox5477]

Due to my flatmate complaining about "those scary fish", I've got to get some new fish to live with my Oscars... I happen to have 5 guppies in another tank. Would the oscars eat those?
Also, I had 3 little plecos in my large tank. All of which have disappeared. Am I correct to assume that the oscars had them for dinner? I thought they were compatible!!

Anything that can fit into the oscars mouth, will eventually end up there so thats how you gauge some tank mates.

Try tin foil barbs, bala shark, silver dollars, a Jack Dempsey, a Texas cichlid. These should all work good. The Bala's, tin foils and silver dollars are all shoaling for need group of 5 or 6 atleast so plan to your tank dimensions as these all get quite large

 

[black angel]

How big is your tank? You would need fish that didnt fit in the oscars mouth.

 

[bmcelfresh]

You can bet the oscar ate them! Tha only thing that will get along in a tank and not be dinner are larger meaner fish.

 

[draugrnz]

Plecs are compatible, well the common plec is. But you'd have to have a reasonably good sized one. Another problem with plecs and oscars are, is that oscars are very messy the same with plecs and are hard enough to keep clean as it is, its recommended to have 10-15x water turnover rate more than your tank for oscars as well as about 40%-50% water change a week for a great oscar tank.

ox5477: named a few great compatible fish that can live with your oscar, but 1 huge factor is the size of the tank.

 

[LisaLQ]

I wouldn't personally risk a texas either, they're notoriously mean and oscars can easily be bullied. I know that sounds odd considering they usually do their fair bit too - but on the oscar sites I used to go on, most texas and oscar tanks I read about ended up needing a divider or one of them rehoming. But then adding any cichlid is hit and miss.

As said previously, it depends on the size of the tank. For two oscars you're going to need a 100g - preferably more. If you want plecs too, you're going to need bigger. Common plecs reach an average 12-18", and grow very quickly and make more waste than oscars. Personally, unless you've got some seriously decent filtration, upwards of an FX5, I wouldn't bother with a plec too - unless you want to do tonnes of gravel vaccing and water changes.

If you've got a big big tank, clown loaches make a good clean up team in groups of 5 or more, but you'd have to get grown on ones (5" plus), as they grow so slowly they'd soon become dinner if you got youngsters. Sadly at that size, they're more pricey than other options, such as silver dollars. SDs are lovely, but they do get a bit over excited at feeding time, so if you have a timid oscar, he may be pushed out a bit.

And no, guppies and oscars dont mix, not at any size. If 3 plecs have gone missing in the oscar tank, I doubt guppies would stand a chance!

I wouldn't recommend balas at all, they'd need their own huge tank at adult size (which is humungus), and they're very skittish.

 

[willtang3000]

guppies are normally used for oscars as feeder fish so defo no no and for an oscar to go with I would reccomend shovelnoses not tiger tho as they can sometimes eat them or as said before jaguars or green terrors but as i have oscars and jaguars together make sure the oscar is bigger but only just as jaguars have a tendancy to attack those who are smaller

 

[Mako Man111]

Yesterday my 4 inch oscar, bit the head off of a senegal bichir who was larger then him, they had been together for over a month too. Just don't put anything in that is too small, looks like a worm (aka a bichir that isn't full grown), and anything to large/aggressive like a red devil. Firemouths would work, and so would a convict, as they don't get to large, but can hold thier own.

 

[juanveldez]

holly crap I have never in all my years here seen so many different cichlids thrown out there as possible tank mates for this oscar. show of hands how many of you can honestly say you have them now in your tanks or have had them in your tanks? I can with the exception of the Texas which is a definate no go on as a tank mate, and the fire mouth which depending on the size of this tank can actually work. I have a good friend of mine that has a group of F1 fire mouths that are breeding in a tank of 5 gold oscars.
now to the rest of cichlids that were thrown out there

Jag- NO WAY IN HADES would I ever put a jag in a tank with an oscar it would be one dead oscar.

convict- yeah it could work, if you get more than one get all females because a breeding pair while they wouldn't bother him too much I don' t think they would still nip and pester at him everytime that he is by them.

GT another NO NO don't waste your money or time

a JD possibly a NO NO but if you happen to have a tank that is over 100 US gallons it just might work

that is all I can think of right now. but I will say that 90 percent of the recomendations for tank mates are proably under the assumption that the tank is of good size.

 

[vancouver]

I think everyone should be waiting to hear how big the tank is before they start throwing out these fish that are going to get enormous to go in his tank..

It could end up being a 29g tank.

 

[LisaLQ]

I think it's a bit unfair to claim that folks are suggesting tank mates that aren't suitable just with no experience.

Personally I've kept an oscar, a vieja intermedium, and convicts together, with plecs, clown loaches, silver dollars and tin foil barbs (not all at the same time!). From experience, the best combination was the intermedium, oscar, clown loaches and plec. The silver dollars were too frenzied at feeding time and scared my oscar, but he was a particularly shy one - although he held his own with other cichlids. But each cichlid is an individual, and may not enjoy the same companions.

GTs and JDs do make good tank mates for oscars in some cases - but as with ANY cichlid, each is individual and it's a case of trial and error. What works for some wont work for others, and what doesnt work for some might just be perfect for someone else's.

All I can suggest is that the OP posts tank size and then folks can offer more advice. Jags are a no no as they get way too big and aggressive for any companion, and should be in a species only tank. Other than that, here's some good sites who will be able to offer many different ideas based on experience.

As to "juanveldez", it might be wise to read more into oscar care, rather than base everything on purely your own experiences. While you may think JDs and GTs aren't suitable companions, there are many folks on these oscar boards who would disagree While many cichlids may be too aggressive for Os, there are some more feisty Os who love that kind of companion. Perhaps wise to learn a bit more before judging folks.

http/www.oscarfish.com/portal.php

http/www.theoscarspot.com/smf/

 

[draugrnz]

I think everyone should be waiting to hear how big the tank is before they start throwing out these fish that are going to get enormous to go in his tank..

It could end up being a 29g tank.

Exactley!!!!

 

[dwarfgourami]

I think everyone should be waiting to hear how big the tank is before they start throwing out these fish that are going to get enormous to go in his tank..

It could end up being a 29g tank.

Exactley!!!!

There's an easy way to find out, folks. Check his previous posts. It's a 350 ltr tank. Took me all of 30 seconds to look it up.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I think everyone should be waiting to hear how big the tank is before they start throwing out these fish that are going to get enormous to go in his tank..

It could end up being a 29g tank.

Exactley!!!!

There's an easy way to find out, folks. Check his previous posts. It's a 350 ltr tank. Took me all of 30 seconds to look it up.

ha ha good on you!

that's the same size tank I have, you'll probably be told you don't have room for anything more than 1 oscar in there, however if you plan carefully you can have a few other fish.

I have mine in with a parrotfish, they've grown up together and are inseperable so there's never any aggression issues and they don't mind sharing space. We tried to add a firemouth, but even at full size it's intimidated of the juvi Oscar. Although it's not been picked on it was always hiding and I think it was just scared so we've re-homed him this weekend. I think you've room for 1 other medium sized cichlid in your tank, providing your Oscar isn't fully grown and you add the cichlid at the same size as the O you should be OK. But you should always have a divider handy and be prepared to re-home fish if there's a problem.

So that should be it for 'free swimming' fish, ground crew is a little different as they won't take up the swimming space of the Oscar you can get 1/2 in. We have a common plec which we know we shouldn't have bought, we we're mis-advised in the shop and couldn't bear to part with him. Becuase we have such high waste producing fish we have mega filtration, we have 4 filters running on the tank, and still hope to upgrade. The plec's only about 5" at present, but we're still well aware that he might get too big for the tank and we'd have to deal with that when the time comes. So yeah although common's *can* work I wouldn't advise it. We also have a common syno in with him, he's about 6", boisturous enough to not be intimidated but not agressive so he won't pick on Oscar. A similar catfish would probably be a good bet for you.

So if you pick carefully and your Oscar is tolerant then you can have some companions for him, but you must always be prepared to re-home the fish if it doesn't work out.

 

[Xcric]

i've had a lot of luck with firemouthes, geophagus, silver dollars, severums, and even fully grown blue acara

he seems to get along the best with the geos, he chases the silver dollars when he gets hungry, and the acara/severums scare him off when he gets too close to their territory, he was with some tinfoil barbs for awhile too, but they ate all the food so fast he either got none or would have to bully them all at feeding time just to get his share, so i can't recommend them

i do have a very large tank however, and i wouldn't recommend keeping an oscar with any of those fish unless you have more than enough room to accomodate them all comfortably