Oscar and other cichlids, tank mates or not?

Question

I have a 30 gallon tank with 3 small oscars, a green terror and 2 convicts. I know already that after a while the size will be inadequite but my question is has anyone ever tried any of these combo's as tank mates. The seem to be doing fine but i dont want to loose any of them.

Just for refrence, I have a 90 gal tank in the process of being built that the oscars will be transfered into, the others will stay in the 30 gal. The other cichlids are my main concern, the oscars are about 4-5 inches so are able to defend themselves during the wait.

Answer 1

Oscars potential tank mates include Large Plecostomus and other large Neotropical Cichlids such as Texas Cichlids, Jack Dempseys, and Salvini. White Tip Sharks, Tinfoil Barbs, Black Barred Tiger Fish, Large Clown Loaches, and some large Eels. With some Oscars its best to them only with other Oscars, and put the other fish somewhere else.

The convicts would/should be ok with the Oscars, but the green terror if its bigger in size, may attack the Oscars, so you should keep an eye on it, as I have bad experience with Oscars and Green Terror combo.

Your tank is already too small for 3 Oscars, so you must make sure your tank is big enough. I recommend at the very least 20 gallons for each juvenile fish growing up. At adulthood you should have at least 50 gallons per adult oscar.

Answer 2

By nature all of the cichlids you are keeping are territorial and prefer not to have the company of other cichlids. People often manage to make mixes work for a time, but eventually the s--- almost always hits the fan if they are kept long enough. If you want to see the best behavior and health out of cichlids they should not be lumped together like this. You are far from the first person who prematurely thought they succeeded, because of no understanding of the relationship between cichlid age and aggression - it always works at first and people always seem to have to learn the hard way.

Your fish are doing fine because they are all very young - if they weren't they wouldn't even fit in that tank. The older these fish get the more aggressive and territorial they get. Eventually if two of your Oscars pair up they will go after the third. If none of the Oscars pair up they'll start to go after each other. The Green Terror is unpredictable, it could go after none of the fish, some of them, or all of them. The convicts are small enough not to worry about, but if those two were a pair and ended up breeding they will do their best to clear the tank of all other fish - and they can be extremely nasty for their size when they want to be.

The only fish that are suitable for your tank at this point are the two convicts. To keep what you have now you are looking at a tank of about 120 gallons or larger, and even still you would find problems and need to juggle the stocking.

Answer 3

I have an oscar a chichlid and a gourami and two frogs and they have lived about a year. Oscars are a type of cichlids.