Oscar possible longterm tankmates?

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Death03

Death03

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 1, 2014
296
17
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Philippines
So after around ~4 years of hiatus from fish keeping I'm planning to go back again. I have found my old aquariums in the garage and will set it up again.

So I'll be setting up a 70g (48x18x18.5) main tank and will be having a 33g (30x16x16) sump filter.

I would like two have two oscars there for life but I'm pretty sure it won't be possible even if I have a 33g sump, right? I also think the tank would get boring pretty quick when you have a 3-4" oscar in a 70g all by himself (since I'll be purchasing a juvie).

What are some possible tankmates that I can put with my oscar longterm? Also something that would not get eaten after a year or so. I also live in a small city in the Philippines so uncommon fishes might be not a choice for me.

Thanks for anyone that can help!

Edit: If you guys think it's not a good idea to keep oscars with tankmates in my setup, I won't do it. I'm very open on keeping other cichlids too :cheers:
 
Last edited:
Death03 said:
So after around ~4 years of hiatus from fish keeping I'm planning to go back again. I have found my old aquariums in the garage and will set it up again.

So I'll be setting up a 70g (48x18x18.5) main tank and will be having a 33g (30x16x16) sump filter.

I would like two have two oscars there for life but I'm pretty sure it won't be possible even if I have a 33g sump, right? I also think the tank would get boring pretty quick when you have a 3-4" oscar in a 70g all by himself (since I'll be purchasing a juvie).

What are some possible tankmates that I can put with my oscar longterm? Also something that would not get eaten after a year or so. I also live in a small city in the Philippines so uncommon fishes might be not a choice for me.

Thanks for anyone that can help!

Edit: If you guys think it's not a good idea to keep oscars with tankmates in my setup, I won't do it. I'm very open on keeping other cichlids too :cheers:
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For the time being you have some options but at adult size it could get cramped... I’d just get a clean up crew since Oscars are pretty messy eaters, some tiger silver dollars or some geophagus tapajos.my crassipinnis went from 2” to 7-8” in 2 months got em March 13th and they’re the smallest growing of the genus
 
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I see, thanks for the reply. Yeah I'm also thinking about their growth rate since it's very fast so I might still consider housing just a lone oscar in the tank. Do you have any medium sized cichlids that you can suggest that I can house around for of them in my 70g?
 
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Death03 said:
I see, thanks for the reply. Yeah I'm also thinking about their growth rate since it's very fast so I might still consider housing just a lone oscar in the tank. Do you have any medium sized cichlids that you can suggest that I can house around for of them in my 70g?
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I would get silver dollars they school and look really nice cleaning after the oscar and keeping the tank active. I would recommend getting at least 5-6.
 
I wouldn't recommend SDs in a 4 foot tank. I did this when I first started in the hoby and it's just not enough room for them to swim... especially with any décor. They are also fin nippers and will start looking ragged and ugly over time. When I had this setup my friends would always ask and wonder why I kept those ugly things in my tank. They just sorta hovered in spot and never really stretched out and swam.

If your heart is set on Oscars I would recommend you do a single Oscar in that tank. Two wouldn't do well with that footprint and would leave zero or little room for missing a water change or any kind of bio failure would result in quick death. For tankmates I do female cons... males would be too aggressive and a pair will take over the tank. Get a single Juvi Oscar and 5 or so female cons. Wait 6 months and you'll have a really great setup and won't think you need more fish (in that tank at least).

If you want a pair of fish.... in that size maybe GTerrors or Severum perhaps...
 
I wouldn't even do tankmates with an oscar for a tank that size, having a sump doesn't mean that you are adding the total amount of gallons from the sump.

post # 7, oscar in a 75 gallon tank, which has outside dimension of about 18", so this guy looks to be anywhere from 15-16" TL easily, and it's body height is close to 40% of the water depth.

http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/forum/index.php?topic=31996.0

View attachment 1333635
 
Tank is a little small. For a 100gal + I'd say silver dollars and pleco. Also just be aware that 2 oscars may not end up getting along. Pecking order.
You would find that in a year and a half the tank (75) gal would be dominated by 2 large oscars and not much swimming room.
Plan on water changes 2 times a week min. Either way.
Good sump filters help but don't solve the tank size and need for water changes.
 
Oh. And I have silver dollars in a 4ft tank and they swim all over and breed. Great fish. They can be with many types of fish. Males will nip each others fins when they are younger but it doesn't deter me from liking them.
 
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