Trimac with tankmates a realistic possibility?

[CTU2fan]

Right now I've got mostly larger peaceful fish in a 170G. I've got a couple of plans in the works, one is most of the mellow guys in a new tank (something at least 2' wide for my gar) and the other is an outdoor pond for the gar. If the bigger tank happens my 170 will be freed up (6' x 18" x 30" high) and I'd like to get a trimac. What I'm wondering is will tankmates work with him? I've got an oscar and a JD that I'd like to go in that tank, and I've always wanted a jag...is oscar, JD, trimac, jag a possibility? My feeling is the oscar might end up beaten down but he'd most likely be the biggest fish in there until the new ones caught up.

If I end up doing the pond then I'll probably leave what I have in the 170 and get something like a 125, so then I'd be looking at a pair of trimacs and just forgetting the tankmates. Curious to hear about anyone's success/failure mixing in trimacs.

 

[Mad About Cichlids]

Will you be getting them all at small size besides the Oscar so they can work out their pecking orders?

Haven't kept that combo before but I don't really see much of a problem unless you happen to get a psycho Trimac.

 

[Aphilophus]

yeah every thing but the oscar trimacs are pretty aggressive he will be boss of the tank you could through a reddevile in the mix

 

[CTU2fan]

My oscar isn't really aggressive but he can definitely hold his own...I got him from somebody who had him with blood parrots, and while the BP's beat him up some he didn't go all timid and sulky like a lot of beat-up oscars do.

I was sort of under the impression that trimacs were totally evil and wouldn't work with tankmates, glad to hear otherwise. Maybe if the oscar doesn't work I could try a Midas/RD or a texas?

 

[Mad About Cichlids]

The one thing I like about most Oscars is that while they maybe bigger than other fishes they're usually pretty mellow. So if the Oscar is biggest he/she'll keep the rest of the smaller cichlids in check without doing much damage to them.

 

[Aphilophus]

Go RD/ midas or jag thats what i keep mine with and i have a pair its worked for year

 

[mbunafishkeeper]

hmm i could see the trimac and oscar possibility working better then with the trimac and carpinte or RD/midas because IME in the 150G we have a 13" RD/midas 11-12" oscar 11" jag 11-12" buttikoferi.

the RD could kill anything in the tank when ever it wanted, and we have tried to put in carpinte, we had 9-10" carpinte that went in there and that was killed because it wouldnt back down to the RD. he will kill anything that will stand up to it. occasionally something will try to stand up to it. the jag has lip locked with it but when the RD put him in his place he didnt fight back. this is why the jag is still alive.

thing with the carpinte is, he did fight back but that was his mistake the carpinte was killed. and recently we lost salvini to jamaican lip disease after fighting with the RD..

what i am trying to say is if u put the trimac and RD or carpinte in together if you end up with a trimac or RD or carpinte like our RD then there will likely be deaths.

the oscar is the RD's punch bag if you like. he bites it occasionally but hasnt killedit yet. (touch wood)

although i do think it is possible to do either of the combinations you have picked.

 

[CrystalizedHairs]

That mix should work. I've had those exact same fish mixed together. The biggest thing with mixed cichlid communities is to have other tanks to move the aggressors to if need be.

In this pic (without the lights on) you can see an oscar, a red devil(I had actually two devils in here), a red devil X trimac (they bred and raised the young in this tank, with tankmates), a jag(there was two of these too), an uro, a dempsey, and a couple lima cats. The trimac was also in the tank at the time, just not in this pic.

This pic shows the other devil(king of the tank and father of the devil X jag, also born and raised in this grouping), both jags, and three limas.

Here is the trimac and an istlanum.

These two pics are of the jag X devil at different ages in different setups, the first pic being in the mix I am talking about.

When talking about cichlid compatability, there are no rules. Try it, but be prepared to seperate.

 

[fishluvr12]

I would leave out the Oscar,and then it should work.

 

[CTU2fan]

What I was thinking was if I have a particular fish getting beaten up I can move it temporarily to the other tank...that one will have more peaceful fish that will be compatible with my gar but that will be good for the victim to recover.

Thanks for the input guys, I was really under the impression that I'd likely fail at this, glad to hear it can work.