Oscar with bristlenose pleco

[Rakeboy]

I have an oscar in 75 gallon tank. Since he is a messy eater there are a lot of pulverize food in my tank. I am planning to add a bristlenose pleco to eat the left over food. Will the bristlenose pleco safe? Will it be a chocking hazzard to my oscar?

 

[Jexnell]

I wouldn't do it, not a bristlenose they stay to small and the O will out grow it and one day will try it for dinner and could be really bad for both. I suggest if you must add something to crumb snatch an Ornatus catfish. Get a bigger one as the grow slower than the O. But a 75 is a tight fit for a Oscar to begin with. Plans to upgrade later?
I had an Ornatus with my Oscar in a 125 no issues

 

[Jexnell]

My Oscar lived with these Roseline sharks for months.
And then his mouth finally grew big enough and turned one into dinner
It's only a matter of time before your O does the same to the bristlenose.

That's the thing about Ornatus they grow out to a foot. So start with a good sized one and should be good. So long as you upgrade the tank to a 125, before your o gets too big.

 

[newworld]

Try it…I’ve had bristlenose w various fish, Dovii, Oscar’s, managuense, umbees etc, never had an issue…

 

[RedRaven]

It is a risk and not something I'd recommend, buying a very large one could work but even a medium one would likely get eaten at some point when the Oscar outgrows the Ancistrus.

 

[Fallen_Leaves16]

Unless you snag one of those giant 30cm+ L181s that pop up every few years or so, the oscar will likely outgrow and consume the pleco.
I've had issues with large cichlids consuming plecos and other tankmates and dying to risk it- lost a female managuense after it choked on a smallish L129, juvenile festae to a particularly large corydoras, oscars to choking on misc. characins and catfish, etc. Think I might have pictures of some of the deaths somewhere.

 

[celebrist]

Snails maybe?

 

[duanes]

A 75 is not enough space for 1 semi-adult oscar, much less another tank mate.

 

[scottts210]

I don't disagree with any of the opinions here regarding tank size or the possibility that the O will try to eat the BN, which could be deadly for both fish, I did do this for a couple of years with two Os in a 210g tank with a BN. One O was 12"+, the other a juvenile.

If you insist on doing it, the key is to have many hiding places, like crags between rocks, for the BN that the O cannot access. My BN stayed in these crags during the day and came out at night when the O was sleeping. The BN is nocturnal anyway so that's not really unusual for it. Just recently I've had to remove my O's to hospital tanks so the situation has ended for me at this point.

 

[puffers4puffers]

were you really surprised when the Oscar ate the roseline?
if you leave the remaining roselines, I hope oscar eats them too!
you probably paid handsomely for that meal