tankmate for oscar?

Question

does anyone know of a good tankmate for an oscar. i've got 3 plecostomus in with him and i was thinking of getting him an oscar friend but his pretty big and oscars of the same size at pet shops are really expensive. i was thinking of getting a smaller one and letting it grow up in a different tank, would Pugsley (oscars name) pick on another oscar or should i get a different kind of fish or is he happy by himself?

Answer 1

Now you have got your Oscar, you may like to consider putting some other fish in with your Oscar/. Please don't go out and buy the first fish you see. Careful consideration has to be taken when choosing tankmates for an Oscar.

There is one very important factor you have got to bear in mind. You may just not have enough room for any tankmates. Oscars need an absolute minimum of 55 gallons all to themselves. So if you have got a fairly small tank, don't even consider adding any more fish. I know that a small 3 inch Oscar looks very small In a 4 foot tank. Try and imagine what a 12 inch fish would look like.

Whatever you put in with them, make sure they are at least 4 in. long. Silver Dollar's, tinfoil barbs (not too many as these do get quite big) some species of cichlid are all suitable for a large Oscar Tank. I have got a jade cichlid and I have no problems whatsoever, it is a beautiful peaceful little fish.

If you do want tankmates for your Oscars, don't buy them as babies. Try and find tankmates that have already grown quite a bit. The reason I say this is because an Oscars growth rate is a lot faster than most fish so if you get a very small 1 inch fish that doesn't grow very quickly, it could be a potential meal for the very fast-growing Oscar in only a few months.

Answer 2

I had in a 70 gallon aquarium 3 oscars. I find that each oscar is different. But realisticly you will need oscars of the same size. If your aquarium is big enough I would suggest 3 oscars. They get a pecking order and more than likely learn what each is thinking and leave each other alone.

Having just 2 oscars can be risky becuase usually you will have one bully and one submisive.

A tank divider is nice to have just to get everything started. Put all 3 same size oscars in a tank. If they continually will not stop attacking each other seperate multiple times using the divider and they will eventually only do love pecks to each other.

Have places for them to play. Keep them fed and they should be fine.

A large enough equarium is a must.

A trick to make your oscars the same size would be to put the smaller oscars in a larger aquarium and the larger "pugsley" in the one he is currently in or a size smaller.

Almost all fish grow larger in a larger aquarium then grow slower once they reach a peak size for that aquarium. But eventually you will need atleast a 60gallon to house them in.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I dont know what size your aquarium is but you need room. Oscars are territorial and adding a new oscar may result in bad things for the new fish. I had two oscars in a tank that was a little too small I put them in there because they were scaring my tinfoil barbs which were almost 3 times the size of the oscars. When I put them in the smaller tank one chewed the flesh off the others ribs overnight. I would find a large fish to put with with him and not go with a smaller one, unless you have lots of hiding places in the tank.
I would look for irredescent sharks or giant danios (because they are fast). Or maybe a large texas cichlid or jack dempsey. A large green or gold severum would possibly be a nice addition. And try to get bigger fish if you can.

Answer 4

Obviously, no fish small enough to fit in jolly ol' Oscar's mouth. But...many times they can go with clown loaches or even silver dollars. Oscars are hungry...not so much "mean". They aren't as territorial as the red/green terrors, Jack Dempseys, etc.
Sometimes if you get a fish with a much more different shape to them (ie the loaches / dollars / tinfoils / plecos), the Oscar will leave it alone. It is not the same "shape" as he is, he doesn't recognize it as another cichlid in which he needs to keep his territory.
Another piece of advice: when you put the new fish in the tank, rearrange the decor. The established landmarks Pugsley has already figure out his territory within, will change and he'll go looking for a new one instead of defending the old one.

Answer 5

Oscars get along very well. I've had oscar fish all my life, and never have I had only one at a time. I've always had two in the tank together...so they can have a friend :) Just make sure the tank is large enough to allow both of them to grow. Also, you should get a sucker fish. They do fine with oscar fish as well, and plus, they keep your tank clean.

Answer 6

How large is the tank? Are the Plecostamus all 1 specie?If your tank is large enough some of the medium sized Pike Cichlids might make an appealing display.If the Plecos are all the same specie there will be a murder or two when they reach sexual maturity. You could also grow-out a smaller Oscar if the new-comer was large enough to fend for itself. If you have enough tank space two or three new Oscars, that would be OK also.-------Good luck.----PeeTee

Answer 7

the in elementary words imagine Ive ever considered in a tank with a large oscar is a fairly large pleco, or some form of loach. My LFS has a large oscar in a 150gallon with an 8-10 inch pleco, 4 yoyo loaches, and a kuhli loach, yet there are quite a few hiding places for the loaches (truly, you are able to hardly ever see the kuhli, he buries himself). From my personal adventure, Ive in no way had an oscar, notwithstanding the single on the keep is brilliant. His call is Bruce and in case you position your hand contained in the tank, he rolls over because he needs abdomen rubs. also, i'm prepared on yoyos. they're the funniest little fish. They dance and play and are in basic terms a delight to computer screen. inspite of in case you cant placed them in a tank with the oscar, identity get a smaller tank and in basic terms have some loaches in it;)

Answer 8

A silver Arrowana thats a good size can make a decent tank mate for an Oscar, they do start off really small and you will need to keep it until its grown up.


I'd recomend a 100g tank for Oscars and friends.

Answer 9

In the right environment, almost all fish can be kept with oscars. As long as it isn't too small. Here's some more information about it:

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/4054/tankmates.html

Answer 10

http://youtu.be/sUHPCVEMpJ0