Compatible bottom feeder with oscars?
- Thread starter ahfu25
- Start date
220G tank is huge for just 2 Oscars and a bottom feeder! You could add a Aro or some more larger cichlids to make it a more active tank! I would get a Golden Nugget pleco and/or a catfish of some kind as a bottom feeder.
I would NOT put a gold nugget pleco in with oscars. GN's growth rate isn't near that of an oscar, and it may be one day either become food or worse, a choking hazard for the oscar. Gold nuggets are too much money to mix with them. I would stick with rhino or common plecos if you want to have full grown oscars.
I kept some Oscars for a couple of years with a large Firemouth Cichlid. He started off little, living under a flat rock in the middle of the tank. He was excellant at cleaning up all the fish scales and goldfish parts that the Oscars created at feeding time. He grew very fast and after a year became the boss of the tank!
I agree about the golden nugget pleco, they don't grow fast enough to deal with your oscars, my common pleco does just fine with my oscar.
The only trouble i am finding having the common pleco in with my Oscars in the 125 gal.. is that i feel like the pleco may not be getting enough to eat..Oscars eat everything in sight.. and they love the Algie wafers that my pleco use to enjoy before i put him in with the Oscars.. so anyway unless i see the pleco getting a little more aggressive about eating i will be taking him out again,
If you can find them large enough, Clown Loaches make a colorful and practical bottom feeder for an Oscar tank. With 220 gallons only housing two Oscars, you could fit a small school of them without problem.
I like synodontis sp., such as angelicus or eupteris, also another thing that worked for me is a huge 4-lined pim (13") but I think anything over about 6" would work out good.