Oscars and silver dollars

[mattybecks]

Hi guys

Thought I’d show you my oscars, I am impressed at their rate of growth.

The first photo is when I just got them on 5th of October, and the other photos are from last week. Well bigger than my hand now.


I got 9 Silver dollars (I love shiny schooling fish, and I needed some fish to eat the food the oscars spit out their gills) - picture is attached. The other fish are white tetras, they are just feeders I got my Os as Xmas treats. So Not permanent residents.


Tank is a 5footer (45cm width 60cm height) I have a 700lph canister filter, plus wet dry/ drip filter that runs full length along the top of the tank, with a power head filter + pothos and Lucky bamboo growing out the back.


Realistically speaking, can these guys all live happily together long term in here? Or does someone have to get rehomed?


I ask because I live in a small studio apartment building, and this is largest size tank I could get.

 

[PYRU]

Realistically only 1 Oscar and the syn cat. Oscars get fairly big roughly 13". Silvers dollars get a lot bigger than most think(like the size of you open palm) and are nervous darty fish. I had a group similar to yours in a 125 tall and everytime I came in the room the silver dollars would smash into everything.

 

[Jexnell]

I was thinking of silver dollars for my O as well. But learned they need a min of a 6ft tank, 8 being better. With that said I got Roseline sharks instead, and they eat up all of my O's mess while eating, also sounds gross, but they eat her poop as well. They do more tank cleaning then my catfish.

I got them all at th e same time, the O and sharks, she quickly learned that they are to fast to try and eat and leaves them be now.

 

[Bertie07]

Many people say that silver dollars need to be in a 6 foot tank but I have kept my group of silvers dollars in a 5ft tank and a 6ft tank. I noticed no difference in behaviour and they have never banged into the glass once. I think they should be fine in your tank but I would sell an Oscar for bio load reasons and get a smaller cichlid

 

[Gourami Swami]

Hi, Your tank is about 100 US gallons. You will be overstocked when the fish are fully grown, the fish will be a bit cramped and the water will get dirty too quickly. What you keep depends on what your priority is. I personally think a 5'x18" tank like yours is okay for silver dollars. 9 is just a bit much however. You also have a large senegal bichir and featherfin catfish, I see. Some possible stocking options would be as follows:

Option one: Two Oscars (re-home all other fish)

Option two: One Oscar, 5-6 silver dollars (re-home one Oscar, bichir, and catfish)

Option two: One Oscar, Senegal bichir, featherfin catfish (re-home one Oscar, Silver dollars)

 

[FreshyFresh]

Fellow oscar keeper here. That's a great looking setup you've got going. Nice looking stock.

The current stocking will become WAAY too much bio load. I wouldn't keep more than the group of SDs and one Oscar, or one oscar and one other compatible cichlid.

FWIW, I keep an oscar and a green sev in a 4ft 75g tank. I can keep nitrates <20ppm, but it's not enough tank for them.

I also would not recommend adding live fish to the tank for oscar food. #1, every time you plop fish in there, you run the risk of introducing parasites, disease, etc. #2 quality dry pellet foods offer better and more consistent nutrition.

 

[mattybecks]

Fellow oscar keeper here. That's a great looking setup you've got going. Nice looking stock.

The current stocking will become WAAY too much bio load. I wouldn't keep more than the group of SDs and one Oscar, or one oscar and one other compatible cichlid.

FWIW, I keep an oscar and a green sev in a 4ft 75g tank. I can keep nitrates <20ppm, but it's not enough tank for them.

I also would not recommend adding live fish to the tank for oscar food. #1, every time you plop fish in there, you run the risk of introducing parasites, disease, etc. #2 quality dry pellet foods offer better and more consistent nutrition.

Thanks!
Don’t worry, the feeders were a once a year treat. They usually get Hikari sticks with some little Hikari veggie pellets twice a day. Then pangasuis fillet or prawns twice a week. Made sure the feeders were from a trusted source, and I guy loaded them before hand with flake food.

 

[mattybecks]

Some solid advice here. Thanks for the input and feedback.

 

[Boomer1224]

nice tank set up

 

[mattybecks]

I managed to rehome one of the Oscars.
Now I can’t decide between keeping the other O or keeping the SDs.

It’s been a little less than a month now and the SD have almost doubled in size. I really can’t believe the growth rate.
I have attached a video and some pics.

I love the SDs because of the activity and schooling behavior. As well the way they eat and beg for food is second to none.
The O has now kind of lost his appetite and only eats everyone few days, and only a few pellets before he is full. Not as enthusiastic as he was when he was smaller. He is now About 9inches.

As your opinion, whom would you rather keep?
keep the O (they do have such character) with my syno and polys.

If I keep the 9 SDs, will the tank be considered at its max or overstocked?

Another option would be to rehome the Oscar and the SDs, and find similar fish that are suitable to my size tank to live with the syno and polys.
Maybe salvini or Severum? Schooling fish?