My plan with my 75 was going to be my Oscar and my convict . It didn't last long while they were the same size the con bullied and stressed the O almost to death so I took the con out for a couple months and just tried again this week and my O is now 3 x the cons size and started the same stuff. O stopped eating and wouldn't interact so I removed the con for good this time. He will have a new home soon. Any suggestions? This is my display tank I'm the living room so I really wanted at least something else in there.
oscar not aggressive at all
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Jmunroe
Aquarium Advice FINatic
75 gallons is only really big enough for a full grown oscar. The 55 gallon minimum rule is a little small in my opinion. Leave it be with just the o in there. I'm guessing the oscar is still small and young. The bioload in a 75 with just the adult o will be a lot and need a couple 50% water changes a week to keep nitrates below 20ppm as it is. I had a 2 inch female convict that picked on my two 8 inch oscars in my 125. Cons are vicious.
Plecos4596
Aquarium Advice Freak
Fire mouth maybe? A pair?
Ya he's about 7 inches right now. He's my centerpeice but the first go around the con picked on him and one day I came home and all his fins had fell off his scales were starting to and somehow he survived but he looks different now some of his fins kinda fused together when they grew back. Poor Guy looks rough lol but ill leave it alone until I upgrade my tank. I like him too much to see him stressed.
I think any other cichlid would be too much for him really. Esp a pair. I've heard they can be as bad as cons.
Plecos4596
Aquarium Advice Freak
Oh ok I tried to put a fire mouth pair in my tank one time and they were dead when I came back from my buddies house): they were beautiful
I guess it's always up in the air with cichlids on how they will act. I'd compare my Oscar to a goldfish lol it took three tries to get him to eat a worm because he was scared of them.
HUKIT
Aquarium Advice Addict
Two things to note here, first the Central American cichlids are far more aggressive than their South American cousins. Secondly aggression peaks when the fish reaches sexual maturity which for Amatitlania nigrofasciata is around 2" or a few months and for Astronotus ocellatus that's around 14-18 months so that's like throwing a child into prison and wondering why he's being trounced.
That's all fine and good but my question was never why...it was quite obvious to me the con was more aggressive so I removed him. I wouldn't go so far as to say its like throwing a child in a prison... more like throwing an aggressive fish in with a passive one.
Fishy Smell
Aquarium Advice Freak
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My female con is pretty well behaved, she's taken out a couple of swords in the past and started picking on an Angel recently that i introduced and then had to move, but otherwise fine. Had lots of passive fish in with her too. She's a little over 2.5 inches. The male con that i bred her with originally was a different story though. In fairness he started beating her up and i had to trade him at a lfs. In terms of ideas for your tank, i'd go with relatively peaceful types of similar size like a severum for example. It might pay you to put in a shoal of giant danios and some largeish catfish so that they are not all alone, although you would need to crank up the filtration i'd say.
I'm pretty sure mines a male that may be why. I know the O would not be fast enough to catch any danios. I may try that. He's officially at the slow clumsy stage.
Fishy Smell
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Yeah, giant danios are a good choice because they get to quite a good size and are fast. I have an EBJD which is over 5 inches, i put some GD's in which were about 1.5 inches at the time and he did try to get them to start with but soon gave up. They have grown now to 2.5 inches and he doesn't bother them at all.
What about a pictus cat? Just saw someone in my area has one free on craigslist... don't know anything about them though.
Fishy Smell
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Not owned them, but considered them a few times before. I ended up getting synodontis petricola which are prettier but way more expensive. They are also smaller, so you may be better having pictus with Oscar anyway. What ive heard about Pictus is that they will readily eat small fish, are active and can hold their own. Probably a good choice for you, although i'd go for 3-4 min really. Also read in one of my better books that they are a little prone to whitespot, not sure how accurate that is though.
Ive read the thing about white spot too. Ill do some more research. Thank you for the suggestions!
Pictus cats are not a good mix with an Oscar. When the O reaches about 12 inches a 4 inch pictus will be eaten. The problem is they have those barbs and they will kill the Oscar if swallowed. If you want a single bottom feeder look into Featherfin catfish.
Ya I thought I heard that somewhere before wasn't sure if I was thinking of the same fish though. Thanks!
I have a 36 gallon set up but that's it right now besides the 75 but the guy already gave it away anyway
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