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i think well im trying to sell my tigers and corys are u guys interesed?

Ok, I've never kept Silver Dollars myself, but I have seen a nice school of adult ones. I'm going to say in a 120 gallon (if standard this tank is 4'x2'x2' right?) you could have a school of at least 6. YOu could probably add one more cichlid if the oscar isn't too big. Chocolate cichlids (Hypselecara temporalis) and Severums (Heros spp.) are good South American cichlids to keep with oscars. Just make sure you have excellent filtration and keep up with the water changes to keep the params in check.

Jason

how many silver dollars could i put in a 120usg with a lone tiger oscar?

I would stay away from the Tin Barbs. I had 3 with my Oscar and he stressed them out during feeding time and eventually they all died. Tin's are very high strung.

By rule you cannot keep any fish that the oscar can fit in it's mouth.. But I broke the rule a few times..

The sulpherhead cichlid is less than 3 inch, not as aggressive as your typical malawi cichlid, but the speed is there, it can escape oscar when chased. I did have a 2nd sulphurhear that disappeared..

I did try more aggresive, small malawi africans such as electric blue johannii and something...tropheus.. Way smaller than oscar but to violent and stressed the oscars and ended up nipping the oscars fins and such, don't recommend this mix.. Good thing I got those africans for free.. Gave them away.. If I had more tanks I would have kept the Johannii, a few months later, I found a 29 gal..darnit !

Scarlet Kribensis, larger than regular Kribs, some may get along, some may be lunch.. Good mix if it works..

Four line pictus cat - Great scavenger for an oscar tank, gets those large bits of pellets, live foods and flakes the oscar spits out, also goes nuts for shrimp pellets. Also this breed seems less problematic than regular pictus cats.. More hardy.

Firemouths - a great tankmate for an oscar...

It's really up to the oscar, if it's not meant to be a tankmate, you'll find out soon enough..



The Amazon Nut...

But i thought that oscars could only go with bigish fish sutch as tinfoil barbs will the he not eat the giant danios?

Sulphurhead maylandi maylandi or something like that..Auloncura of some type (I know I spelled that wrong) Got 2 of them free sometime ago. One was eaten by oscar some time ago but it doesn't go after the remaining one as it's used to it. About 2 inches, very peaceful for an african cichlid. Light brown body, with darker brown stripes up, down the middle. Yellow-orange distinctive edging on the top fin and also from 'nose' to 'forehead'.

The cat is a Four Line Pictus cat. Similar to pictus cat but max size about 6 inches. Silver with 4 black lines from gills to just before the tail.

Other tankmate is a male Scarlet Kribensis, max size about 5 inches.

The way my oscar is, he'll either eat the fish right away, or leave it alone.. I can add feeders at the same time to distract it and this works quite well. It's used to different fish being introduced, and they have a 50-50 chance, higher chance if it cannot easily fit into the oscars mouth.. The snakeskin gouramis at the store are between 4 and 5 inches long and I don't think oscar would swallow it.. Please continue to add your thoughts or send a pm so I don't hog this thread. Thanks !

The Amazon Nut...

DaFishMan, what kind of catfish is it? Also, I don't know what a sulphurhead cichlid is. Do you know any other names for it? The scientific name would be best if you happen to know it. I'm asking because depending on these answers, there may not be enough room for another fish in a 90 gallon tank.

Also, it will most likely be difficult to add any new fish to the tank seeing as the oscar is 10". Once past maturity, it can be extremely difficult to add new tankmates with most CA/SA cichlids.

Jason

Guys, would a snakeskin gourami be ok with my oscar ? They grow to at least 8 inches. (90 gal tank with 10 inch oscar, 4 inch catfish, 4 inch Scarlet Krib, 3 inch sulphurhead cichlid)

Good point Bryce


[span class="edited"][Edited by DaFishMan 2004-06-27 00:34][/span]

The Amazon Nut...

my filters do 2000 liters per hour. and i can turn it down if i have to, but i think the oscar likes to swim against the current alot. Im might just make him a loner and the only fish i'll put in there is for his dinner.

DAve

he could also have congo tetrass. get around 4-6 inches so they should be fine. they would look great in an aquarium with a large oscar. but if u go with a 90 gallon than u should definately get a few clownloaches instead

Here is the challenge as I see it. General consensus is that a 55-Gallon tank is the absolute minimum for housing one Oscar. Many people feel that you should really have a 75-Gallon tank for one Oscar alone. I currently have a 55 with one Oscar in it but am running two canister filters that provide a water turnover rate of 10 times per hour. Most folks wouldnt run that type of filtration on a 55-Gallon but it works for me.

Lets say you get the 90-Gallon tank. Here is what to consider. Oscars have a voracious appetite and will eat anything they can fit into their mouth. Even at 6 to 7 inches the size of things that they can fit into their mouth amazes me. This being said, a large school of small fish just wont work due to the fact that your large school of fish will soon be a very small or missing school of small fish as the Oscar eats them.

I personally like Balla Sharks as a schooling fish with Oscars because they tend to graze food from the bottom of the tank and being as Oscars are messy eaters the Ballas do a nice job of cleaning up after them. Unfortunately in your scenario with a 90-Gallon tank coupled with the fact that the Ballas reach about 12 inches in length and for a school you need 3 to 5 of them to be happy, you wont have adequate space.

Silver Dollars would work well with your space restrictions. They are going to be big enough to not get eaten, yet stay small enough to not overcrowd your tank or bio-load. The only downside is they dont clean the bottom of the tank that much.

One option you might consider that works well for me is Clown Loaches. They are fun to watch, play around in the tank a lot and are bottom feeders and graze the bottom of the tank constantly. There is one problem to overcome however. Clown Loaches grow rather slowly and it is almost impossible to find larger Clown Loaches at a LFS unless you get lucky and find some trade ins. They grow to an average of 8 inches or so in aquaria, which is large enough not to be an Oscar Lunch, plus they do a bang up job at cleaning the bottom. But I wouldnt consider putting any smaller than say 5-inches in a tank with an Oscar. A group of five of 5-inches or more would work nice.

Regards,

Bryce

almost but not quite.

its 55 i'll be getting a bigger one when he reaches 6 or 7 inches.

the size i hope to upgrade to is a 75g or 90g

Dave

I cant believe people are making suggestions without finding out what size tank is going to be used. The question has been asked two times without an answer.

Suggesting schooling or dither fish to be kept with an Oscar without knowing the tank size is almost irresponsible.

Regards,

Bryce

what about some rainbow fish? will they get munched? i have two cribs and an albino unidetified malawii, both will be moved out when my oscar begans to trust me. he has been scared of me for a while as my brother and i have been sorted out which fish are going in which tanks, and have moved fish in and out of tanks several times, sorry fishies.

Thanks
DAve

hey again guys,
Im getting an oscar off my brother later today and i was wondering what fish could i have with it that wouldn't get eaten, also a schooling fish.

Thanks in Advance.

David.

But imagine when the oscar is a foot long, and constantly hungry.

i have a baby oscar with 2 tigers and no one has tried to eat anyone

depends on the size of the tank to wether he can have a school of silver dollars

6x2x2 - Firemouth and Oscar Tank
30+ royal pythons.

Back in the game after 4 years out ..

You will have to go big if you are keeping them with an oscar. He may not eat them right now, but the oscar will grow very fast and eventually smaller fish will look like a good snack to it.