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Post by Crazy4Fish on Nov 30, 2008 7:10:32 GMT -5
At Pets at Home, I was told that oscars are community fish! I know that this is not true but, I have a 4 inch Tiger Oscar at home with a Parrot Fish, a Pink Kissing Gourami, and a Red tailed Black Shark, and they all seem fine? At another pet store (andys aquatics) they said you have to have oscars with other oscars or they wont mix with other fish. So if you use that logic you shoud be able to mix them with fish such as other big cichlids, and large catfish (i.e Sharks) What do you think?  |
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Post by Carl on Nov 30, 2008 10:47:12 GMT -5
I have kept Oscar with LOTS of other fish over the years, basically I have often found them to be "big babies", meaning that they will not hassle any other fish that will fight back too much (of coarse there are certainly exceptions with Oscars).
I have also found that they often will not bother any fish they cannot fit in their mouth.
One aspect I have enjoyed with Oscars is that have great personalities and ere very intelligent IMO.
A negative is that they are messy fish.
I have kept them with many South American and some Central American Fish (no Red Devils though). In particular with Severums, Uaru, Dempseys, Blue Acara and even many gourmais until the Oscars got too big.
I also have kept the Oscars with the Giant Gourami which grew larger than the Oscar and with Pacus (in VERY large tanks such as a 300 gallon at the Bahooka retaurant)
Carl
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Post by brenda on Nov 30, 2008 13:09:08 GMT -5
Now I had the opposite experience. When I first started keeping a bigger tank I wanted an Oscar...I put a little 3" Oscar in with some Tinfoil Barbs that were quite a bit bigger then he was...they were 5-6". They had scrape marks all over their scales from him. He also killed other small fish even though they couldn't fit in his mouth. I ended up getting ris of him. He was cool and very friendly but he was definitely gonna be a very aggressive one. It just depends on the individual fishes personality. How big a tank our they in? They may end up fine together.
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Post by Carl on Nov 30, 2008 14:49:17 GMT -5
I think size of the tank plays a very important role as you noted Brenda, and of coarse the individual fish.
I had several Oscars with lg. tinfoil barbs myself, but these were generally large tanks from my recollection. One that I had these fish together in was an 8 foot long 200 gallon aquarium at the Bahooka Restaurant.
Carl
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Post by Crazy4Fish on Nov 30, 2008 15:22:48 GMT -5
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Post by Carl on Nov 30, 2008 18:30:08 GMT -5
I too have kept Oscars with Blood Parrots, what makes a difference in my experience is whether or not the fish grow up together or not.
Carl
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Post by bikeguy33 on Nov 30, 2008 18:39:28 GMT -5
oscars are alot like a tank when compared to most other fish. alot of times fish that you wouldn`t expect to be in with oscars co-exist well. one large reason is they just cant catch anything....as long as the tank is at least a 4 footer. they also tend to just give up as well. i have even seen a school of cardinals in with a foot long oscar. btw...is it just me or do oscars remind anyone else of those two grumpy guys on the balcony in the muppets? |
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Post by brenda on Nov 30, 2008 18:53:30 GMT -5
I think Carl is right...It may have a better chance of working if they all grow up together. Mine was just plain mean even at 3" I don't think I would've been able to keep anybody with him. He just killed to kill. I still think they are beautiful fish though.
Yes, Bill you are right...they do!!!
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Post by Carl on Nov 30, 2008 18:55:15 GMT -5
btw...is it just me or do oscars remind anyone else of those two grumpy guys on the balcony in the muppets? Yes, I never thought of this, but they do. Also I would not be surprised to see some older oscar with a cigar in their mouth as well ;D Carl |
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Post by kagome on Nov 30, 2008 19:44:48 GMT -5
My grandfather put his guppie fry in with his giant oscars to raise them up to size. It was so funny to see itty bitty tiny fish swimming around gigantic fish with huge gaping mouths. It reminded me of the schools of little fish that swim right in front of a shark. I guess the fry were just too small for the oscars to pay any attention to. But man, when he put a feeder fish that was the right size in there it lasted all of five seconds.
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theoden
Full Member
"They say the sea is cold, but the sea contains the hottest blood of all."
Posts: 86
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Post by theoden on Nov 30, 2008 21:55:57 GMT -5
I bought a bunch of feeder fish for my albino oscars (which I sold at the end of school last summer), and after seeing them catch a few, I netted the remaining feeders and put them in my community tank. I've found out since that they are rosy reds, and they are really great fish. Very active and long lived (and cheap!).  I buy them occasionally. I like them a lot better than the oscars (I fed the oscars worms from Wal-Mart until I sold the oscars). [img src="www.gapofrohan.com/forum/images/graemlins/shrug.gif"]
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Post by jonv on Nov 30, 2008 22:29:32 GMT -5
I would have to be on the side that an Oscar isn't going to be my first choice if I were looking for a community fish. As most everyone else has mentioned and noted, you always can have exceptions, but take 1000 Oscars and keep them all in the exact same setting and fish types, probably 800 or more times, those other fish, if they can fit in it's mouth, will find their way there at some point in time. It's not that an Oscar is a predator/hunter/stalker type just so much as I see an Oscar as the Abomindable snowman shown on Bugs Bunny many times. "Oh I found a rabbit, just what I always wanted. I will love him and hold him and squeeze him and pet him and I will call him George" All the while, bugs bunny's head is about to fall off from being squeezed. A gentle giant that just doesn't seem to know how to leave the little ones be.
I would always opt to keep an Oscar with something like Silver Dollars, Red Hooks, Pleco's, Synodontis or Pictus Cats, Tin Foil Barbs, Severums, even some of the Acara's out there too. Bigger sizes usually give the best odds of them not becomming a meal. I will agree that putting them in with an Oscar when the Oscar is young really increases your odds also.
I think Oscars are a great fish but require much space and consideration. They are very much like the "dog" of the fish world in many regards. It's a great choice of a fish if you give the right care. I think it would almost always do better in a cichild only tank but you can also use others listed. Things I wouldn't think to try would be neon tetra's, danio's, glofish, white clouds etc...
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