Best substrate for Tiger Oscar + Dempsey?

[SeriousDude5]

Well I have finally decided to sell my saltwater tank and come back to chiclids which are 100x cooler than saltwater fish.

Anyways, I plan on purchasing a 75gallon tank and housing a Tiger Oscar and a Jack Dempsey I was wondering what the best substrate would be on the bottom for them; should I go gravel or sand? By the way Im planing a simple setup of one large piece of drift wood in the middle with 2 caves on either side.

 

[Idealconcepts]

For a 75gal with those two Cichlids I would go with pool filter sand. The stuff is cheap about $8-$10 for a 50lb bag, you might need more than one but less than two, my guess about 1.5 bags. This will keep all the uneaten food and waste on top of the sand instead of on inbetween the gravel. This will save time in vac’ing and also keep your water cleaner. Just rinse the PFS before you put it in you tank, add a couple pieces of wood and black or rock back ground and you have Amazonian type tank.

 

[squawkbert]

Back when my JD was only about 2" long, he shredded the 3.5" TO I added to the tank (OK for 3 days - ea. hanging out at opposite ends, feeding together nicely on AM day 3, only to come home that night and see Oscar soup).

Provide lots of structure, get the TO several sizes larger than the JD (or introduce the TO 1st).

 

[Idealconcepts]

As squawkbert suggested make sure the Oscar is larger than the JD, but not so large the JD will fit in the mouth of the Oscar. If you get a JD around 2-3 inches and the Oscar around 4-5 inches and put the oscar in the tank before the JD, then a week or two later put the JD in, you should be fine, especially in a 4ft talk.