Nick Goody

Are there any compatible tank mates for 2 tiger Oscars? They're only 4 inchs at the moment. They're in a 75 gallon tank running an oversize extenal filter. Theres a Pleco in there too, they seem to get along ok.

soldieroffortune1974

WELCOME to Fishlore!!!!!!!! Glad to see you here

The Pleco and the Oscars should do fine together,both species grow fairly rapidly. As far as tankmates,I would say you are about done. When the Oscars get to be 6 inches and the Pleco gets to 12 inches,I doubt they will tolerate anything else (and eat anything else)

In 75 gallons,I would say that's it.

Nick Goody

Yeah I see what you mean. Had 6 Danio's and 4 Neons in the tank until the Oscars arrived, just to keep it cycling ok. I put 5 of the Danio's and 2 of the Neons back into their normal tank but couldn't catch the others! It took the Oscars about 5 mins to do the job for me. The wife wasn't happy as they're hers! Or they were.

Fish_wise_man

Yay more of my favourite questions!!

When I kept Oscars in my old 80 gallon tank. I did a bit of experimenting, like taking risks to other fishes.

So I found out that Oscars can stay with many different types of community fishes that are a lot bigger than they are.

Like for instance I had a fairly large Black Skirt tetra I kept in with my Oscars, and I was impressed on how well they worked together.

I kept Buenos Aires Tetras, a fantail goldfish, red eyed tetras, giant pleco, and some bala sharks.

About 8 of each species I kept in with the two 4" Oscars.

Nothing bad happened.

Just when I bought in new smaller fishes, the Oscars wanted to eat the two small phantom tetras.. so I had to put my tetras in quarantine.

I tried putting angels in, but it seems to be like dinner for the Oscars.. so I took out the angels.

Just to tell you, I had kept goldfishes with tropical fishes before, the one that I put in first was the black skirt tetra. Nothing bad happened, and it was a success.

Although goldfishes release a massive amount of ammonia, and chemicals... it is a big risk to put them in with tropical fishes, unless you have a high quality filter.

I have an aqua clear 100 for my 80 gallon, and I did water changes every wednesday, and siphon the tank every friday.

I did about 10 - 25% a day.

Be sure to put in all of the fishes in the tank first before you put in Oscars, because when Oscars are already in the tank first, and then you add in new fishes... the Oscars will go after your new fishes and probably stress them out to a point that they will die.

Oh, and my key to getting your fishes to survive is...

Lots of love, and care

That's how humans survive with care and love, so I tried the same thing for my fishes and everything worked out

Oh and live plants are the best for removing nitrite in your water, and ammonia too

Good Luck!!!!

sgould

Welcome, Fish_Wise_Man. I'm glad that those combinations worked out for you, but if I am understanding you correctly there are a number of potential problems in there that newcomers to the hobby should know about and not try.

Goldfish really should not be mixed with tropical fish, and not just because of the high waste production. Goldfish are a coolwater species and have different overall needs than tropicals, including nutrition and temperature. Best to keep them separate.

Also, 80 gallons is a really nice sized tank, but if you had all those fish in there at the same time, it would be massively overstocked if the fish were all full grown, which we would not recommend doing.

Sounds like you have good maintenance routines, and you are so right on the key to success being lots of care and love.

sirdarksol

Agreed with what sgould said here.
Goldfish, whose lives are around 25 years if kept properly, suffer if kept at a steady tropical temperature, and have their life span cut to a small handful of years.

Nick Goody

I've only had my Oscars for 2 days but they're really friendly already and will take pellets from my hand. They're great fish and to be honest I don't think i'd add any others even if I had room!

Attached Images

oscars 4.jpg (244.6 KB, 9 views)

Shawnie

great job nick! thats best for them ...they have great coloring!