CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Well!  Cut right to the chase!  First, congrats on the tank find! To take your questions in order, I'll give my opinions, but I won't claim any of them are "final answers":

Tankmates:  If you added those fish today as youngsters with your O, there is a chance that it might work out.  When you're dealing with cichlids, a lot depends on the personality of the individual fish.  It also seriously might not work out.  Oscars can go through very aggressive stages.  Jauguars and 5-star Generals are usually quite aggressive, and depending on their sex, might not want any other living beings sharing a 48" tank with them.  If they do become aggressive, they are better equipped tooth-wise than your Oscar, and are quite capable of doing serious or fatal damage.  It's a crap shoot, with the odds somewhat against you.  I'll just say from experience that it sucks to lose a fish that way.  A 72" tank would move the odds somewhat more in your favor, but even then it would be iffy.  Cichlids are territorial, and will stake out and defend specific areas.  A longer tank makes dividing into territories somewhat easier.  I haven't tried that particular combination of fish, but even if I had, my results might differ from yours.  I can't really recommend angels with an Oscar -- just too much difference in mass.  Yellow labs are pretty, but have a whole different life style than Oscars.  You might consider a second Oscar.  If they hit it off, it's a nice combo.  Maybe a different color than the one you have.  There are quite a few possibilities.

As to food, the Hikari pellets are excellent, as are the bloodworms and brine shrimp.  As your O puts on some size, the bloodworms and brine shrimp might not be so practical.  There are freeze-dried crickets available, as well as freeze-dried krill. F-D plankton is also good, and maybe a better choice while he's small.  IMO the main attraction of feeder fish is to entertain the fish keeper, though I've had a few fish (not oscars) that I just about had to give feeders for awhile.  I like steak, but it would get boring after awhile, and is not nutritionally complete.  I don't think any food maker has all the answers, so I don't use any one commercial fish food exclusively.  There are lots of good quality pellets.  Live or freeze-dried foods, like mealworms, crickets & other bugs, shrimp, etc are nice occasionally as treats.  I'm not as adamantly against feeders as some are, but you have to recognize the risks (bringing diseases such as ich into the tank), and decide whether it's worth it.  As you gain experience and knowledge, food for your fish, as for ourselves, can be a fun area to use some creativity.

Good luck, and let us know how things progress.

I very rarely disagree with DanRad, but the Jaguar/Oscar mix will never work. Jaguar is a ferocious, predatory Nicaraguan lake cichlid that, once large enough, will kill the Oscar. They will rarely tolerate any other critter in their aquarium, and because of their speed and dominant nature I think the 140 is too small. You will find him trying to attack your friends and pets through the glass. I do agree with DanRad that the time to introduce tankmates into your Oscar aquaria is now while the Oscar is small; I would suggest other similarly sized species like Silver Dollars, or even one or two additional Oscars. If done carefully, it's also possible to introduce smaller, community-oriented species at this time (but not later). Here's a cut/paste from my website:

Oscars have a tendency to build attachments to other fish as time passes. No one really knows why, but when they are with a particular fish for a long period of time, they leave them alone and can actually protect them from other aggressors. Many Oscar keepers use this interesting facet to plan their aquarium, especially when they start with juvi Oscars. I'll use a personal experience as an example.:

    I went over to an LFS and purchased a baby Oscar, about 1 inch in length, and brought him home and put him in a 50 gallon tank that was already occupied by a Blue Gourami, who was, at that time, about 1-1/2 inches in length. Of course, over the next 12 month period, the Oscar grew to about 5 inches and the Gourami stayed about the same size. The Oscar never bothered the Gourami, nor did he act aggressively at all. I assumed, then, that Blue Gouramis were ideal tankmates for Oscars. Filled with confidence, I went down to the LFS and got another Blue Gourami, brought him home, put him in the aquarium, and -- ten minutes later he was being digested by the grateful Oscar. But then, to my amazement, he continued to leave the first Gourami alone!

--Mark

No disagreement, Mark.  I've heard of it working -- for instance with a female jag, but I sure wouldn't try it myself.

Think about one Severum, the golden ones are just neat.. A Jack Dempsey for the bottom of the tank,  AND or a Green terror would work here too.. The Silver dollars are more of a dither fish, meaning they scatter if one of the more aggressive ones comes after them, as they are so fast, they are never caught.. A ONE male convict/OR firemouths would be ok and eat under the Oscar, as they are messy eaters when they get some size on them.. ANY SHARKS ARE OUT!! they will eat them FAST!!  ANY kind of LONG slinder fish is just a meal to an Oscar at any size... Just don't get two convicts /firemouths and have a bunch of fry in the tank, making everyones lifes miserable..
IF you get them all small NOW, they all grow up together and do great, IF you add them in later, then the aggression of the others may seriousely main the newcomer..
I Have had most of these together in a 125 gal and they did fine..
Make cave structures here and their so the smaller guys can hide, the JD and cons like caves, the GT is a swimmer IF you get a male..

DID U use a "cycle helper" for this tank?? or are you just going to add fish and HOPE they dont' die as the tank cycles??  As U got this tank so fast, set it up, added in fish, I hope you used most of the water from the first home to where you have it now, so it wil not go through a hard cycle... THAT is what I meant in the other post.. 

Hi, dken!  "Cycling" a tank refers to getting the bacteria established and in balance that take care of processing the various nitrogen compounds that are produced by fish in their normal metabolid processes.  Here's a thread that gives a good explanation:

http://oscarsfishtank.com/discuss/index ... ic=16962.0

A severum is another South American cichlid.  Very nice fish.  I have a pair of them, and have kept them with my Oscars, though not doing so at the moment for reasons not their fault.  They're fairly mild-mannered, but tough enough to be good tankmates for a number of other cichlids.  Come in various colors, some regional variations, some, such as the gold one in the picture below, are selectively bred.  Great suggestion by Barb!

Cycling your tank is VERY IMPORTANT BUT if U didnt' really clean the tank BEFORE you set it up then you might not have a bad recycle..
SO WAS THE TANK SET-UP AND RUNNING  BEFORE YOU GOT IT?? AND if it was, did you scrubb the tank down and really clean the gravel with tap water BEFORE YOU REFILLED IT UP??
FILTER?? DID YOU CLEAN IT OR ADD IN NEW FILTER PADS?? Yes I know you did, but had to ask....

It as been long enough now so you need to get some test kits OR have your fish store (ug here) do a test for you.. MAKE THEM RIGHT DOWN  the readings, NOT TELL YOU everything is fine..
what you are looking for is a AMMONIA OR NITRITE reading..  AS I know they use the test stripes , get your pH and hardness too while they are doing it..

Here is what happens when a tank cycles.. At the bottom of the page is another link to a chart that shows WHAT happens when.. This is a NEW TANK CYCLE so yours may not do a hard cycle depending on how much you cleaned this tank..

http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html


ALSO get some cheap fish, tiger barbs are good to jump start your good bio..
Small goldfish are best as they do put out a lot of ammonia.. So up to you..  YOUR small Oscar is not going to make it for 3 weeks in the breeder net  DEPENDING on the readings U get from this tank.. Unsure on what to tell you here on what to do with him.. Another friend with a bigger tank maybe??  Yes he did fine in the tank, but not enougth time has  gone by for the ammonia OR nitrite to register.. These wil kill a fish fast if you dont' know what to do..  NO your chlorine water conditioner is fine and should work right away.. THAT is not the problem.. Ammonia and Nitrite are... these have to peak at dangerous levels before a tank is cycled..  READ that link and it wil explain a lot and what you need to do.. 

Congrats on the new setup!  Glad to hear all is going well so far!  As to the air pump, I just reviewed this thread to see what sort of filtration you're using, and don't find it.  Maybe it was in another post?  The air pump may or may not be necessary, depending on the filtration and how it's set up.  What are you using?

Yes, that is a tiger shovelnose.  I loved having him, and he wasn't difficult to care for, but I recommend against.  These guys get to be over three feet long, and are massive and powerful.  Sort of like keeping a racehorse in your back yard.  Just not fair to the animal.  I knew that I'd have to part with him eventually, and was fortunate enough to find a good home for him.  He's now on display at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.  If you look around the different forums on the Web, someone is always trying to get rid of one of these, or a red-tailed cat (beautiful, but they get even bigger) that has grown too large to adequately care for.  If you're looking for that type fish, a Lima shovelnose is a better choice, as they generally will stay under a foot and a half.

With that filtration I don't thinkk you should need adding bubbles.  Should be enough.  Main purpose would be to create some surface turbulence to facilitate gas exchange. 

I have exact tank dimensions U do. I raised my 4 7 inch oscars from  babies. Pleco a good idea. you will need another one to keep up on algae. snails are excellent. Geophagus are really good cleaner uppers for oscars. many varieties available. phone around. also silver dollars (usually only avail. small. ok now cause your tiger is small). Pacu are ok though they will end up bigger than the oscar. stay away from flowerhorn, red devil, terrors to name a few. oscars are opportnistic. not neccessarily aggressive. Ususally aggressive when food in shortage. No shortage, no aggression.  flowerhorn, etc. are just aggressive. You could always get another oscar. better now than later. (less fighting). For tank that big 1 inch of fish per gallon [(full grown size) minus about 20 gallons for gravel, etc. first.] i also have 4 other oscars. i really looked into tank mate options for my guys. Those seem to be the best options. good luck!