Stocking Question- what would you do?

[FINWIN]

I actually deleted a part of my post suggesting a vulture catfish, ultimately thought a 130g would be too small for an adult vulture. In my opinion it's a little tight for any suitably sized bottom dwellers+2 adult oscars. There are some midsized pims like ornatus or goldiella which could still potentially be eaten. Some of the larger growing synodontis cats could be good like angelicus, batensoda, or the commonly available eupterus as long as it is of substantial size when introducing and you provide a log or something for it to hunker under. I've actually seen this combo in action at a LFS demo tank for years now--large adult Oscar with a supersize batensoda 10"+ in a ~125g tank

Big issue will be temperament of the oscars. If one or both are particularly nasty or if they pair and start to breed there will be nowhere safe in that small tank for any bottom feeder. They might not kill it but it will not have a fun life being harassed, fins, whiskers, and eyeballs nipped, and chased around constantly when the Os are bored. Could work with sufficient space and hiding spots though.

This. My Oscar Brick destroyed a full sized synodontis catfish. Peeled off the skin, broken back, missing eye and fins. On the maintenance part, oscars are unbelievably messy, especially during growth spurts. As a teenager Brick put out his weight in turds daily, leading to brown algae blooms on a weekly basis. Just piles of the stuff.

 

[Backfromthedead]

This. My Oscar Brick destroyed a full sized synodontis catfish. Peeled off the skin, broken back, missing eye and fins. On the maintenance part, oscars are unbelievably messy, especially during growth spurts. As a teenager Brick put out his weight in turds daily, leading to brown algae blooms on a weekly basis. Just piles of the stuff.

Agreed, they are the messiest eaters (and poopers lol) for a fish of their size. Whereas most large cichlids seem to swallow many foods whole, ive noticed an Oscar will chomp and chew on it, even large pellets, shedding and scattering bits and pieces from their gills before swallowing. And of course they don't ever clean up the little bits--just come right back to the glass demanding more big foods lol.

 

[Tpriem21]

Well I think this answers my questions! Thank you everyone for your input. I am going to keep it as an Oscar only tank and see how manageable the tank is. Maybe set up the 150 for something else at some point but keep this as the main “display tank”

 

[FINWIN]

Well I think this answers my questions! Thank you everyone for your input. I am going to keep it as an Oscar only tank and see how manageable the tank is. Maybe set up the 150 for something else at some point but keep this as the main “display tank”

Sounds like a plan. I always knew what side of the tank my Oscar would hang out on because those filters stayed black when it was time to clean. Yuck!

 

[FINWIN]

Here's a tip that might help. Get some good powerheads to help blow debris into the filters. It saved me a lot of grief from constantly siphoning logs from the bottom. It's kinda trial and error for best flow but generally front to back is best. Some foods Brick ate made the turds too soft to siphon anyway so I found powerheads really made a difference. I just made sure to check the filters more often for gunk.

Plus your O's likely will love the flowing water. Mine did. he would sit in front of the powerheads for hours sometimes with his tail flapping.

 

[Tpriem21]

I actually have 2 nice power heads that came with the tank I have been experimenting with. Working on flows and the best way to move debris around without kicking up sand, etc. thank you for the tip!

 

[Arthur12]

Bass and Gar.