i have heard though of java fern being able to be used, but thats a long shot
This is true.
But you have to be more tricky, clever, patient and tenatious than the Oscars are to keep the plants plants in any kind of order.
Your choices will be limited to very tough varieties, such as Java Fern, Java Moss and hornwort, until you become an expert, which I am not.
However, I do have plants with full-grown adult EBJB, who have contractor licenses and excavate the aquarium at all times to suit their own needs, not mine.
Fortunately, java fern, java moss and hornwort are inexpensive plants, commonly available and will grow under lowlight. But you have to have to be more determined to keep the plants going than the Oscars are to shape the environment to their needsl
Especially with five. You will probably have to rehome at least three of them eventually, if not sooner, even with 125 gallons.
With java moss and hornwort, the plants have no actual root system, so you can try tying down parts of the plants with fishing line (thread is not tough enough for Oscars) to an anchor at the bottom of the substrate, such as a piece of slate. Some have had success by carefully pulling the leaves of java fern throught the bottom holes on clay pots, thus keeping the corm in the water and allowing the leaves to grow. I tried this with my Dempeys, but as they are full grown, they overturn even large clay pots. But I know some people are successful with this.
Another option is to use the aquarium as a media to grow the root systems of really tough terrestrial plants while the leafs grow on the outside.
Most of the plant people on this site will scream and yell at this, but I grow several feet of Pathos Ivy in my tank with an adult male Dempsey named Screwhead that is almost 11 inches long. Most of the actual leafs are grown outside the tank, but the entire root system is inside with the fish.
He messes with the roots all the time, but they are tough enough to take it, and the vines with leafs growing outside the tank surround it to act as a background. I've done this for several years with great success.
All these can survive the Oscars' constant uprooting.
