CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hi there.  I've had a 2 foot and (shortly afterwards...so addictive!) a 4 foot tank for a while now but this is my first time posting.

Finally convinced my husband  that we should get an Oscar for our big tank (48*24*18) so we went round the local shops today.  We were told by two different shops that it's best to start off with 5 or 6 while they are still very small as they'll be much happier in a group.  Then when they're a bit bigger and a breeding pair have hopefully paired off, to sell the others back to the shop.  Apparently they're devoted partners and will bond for life.  On the back of this advice we bought two tiger O's today (about 1"-1.5") and are planning on buying a few more from different sources (so they're not all from the same brood).

Reading through the postings it seems most people just have one and I wondered if anyone had any comments on our plans and if it sounds like a good idea or not?

Hi, Snarly, and welcome to the forum, and to the world of Oscar servitude!  In this case, there isn't a clear right or wrong answer to your question.  It really depends on what you have in mind.  If your goal is to establish a mated pair, and watch them raise many broods of young over the years, then the folks at your lfs gave you excellent advice!  If you just want to have a great pair of Oscar pets, then you have a pretty decent shot at achieving that with your current two.  Only obstacle would be whether upon reaching maturity your duo decides they just don't like each other.  Most likely scenario for this would be if they're both males, and begin quarreling over territory, but even if they are both males this might not happen.  One of the fun things about keeping Oscars is that they aren't totally predictable.

Hope I've constructively not answered your question.  What other fish are you keeping in that tank?

We've got 2 silver sharks, and angel, a plec and a clown loach.  All except the clown loach are much bigger than the O's at the moment but I'm sure that won't be for long!
The other fish still have a bit of growing to do so we're hoping they'll all grow up together.

Undecided now about whether to get more O's.  I assumed that two of the same sex would definitely fight when they matured.  Hmmmm.

A lot of this comes down to personal preferance and specific experience.  You're probably fine with the 2 O's you have now.  I don't think Angels and Oscars mix well long-term.  The O's are just too large and boisterous, and the angels too slow.  Again from personal experience (your mileage may vary), I had a silver shark for about a day.  My Oscar took an immediate dislike to it, and killed it.  No foreplay, just, "bang! you're dead!".  BTW, I assume you're talking about the Columbian Silver Shark Catfish.  As they grow, they need a higher and higher salt content until they're at marine conditions, so long-term not a great choice for an Amazon-based population in a home aquarium.  The clown loaches should be fine if they are large enough not to fit in Oscar's mouth.  Trick here is that the O's grow MUCH faster, so keep a watchful eye on them.  I have to say that I like your taste in fish.

2 oscars sounds like a high risk problem.....from what i know oscars work well in a pack, six or more is good cos they establish a pecking order.

But your lfs did give you some good advice in a way, but if you are looking to buy 6 oscars make sure you have somewhere to sell the others back to once you get a pair ...most shops will say they will but they actually won't cos they actually dont have space for 4 nearly full size oscars. Unless you have a huge tank capable of housing six fully grown oscars

As for your other fish....if you do want to breed oscars and find a pair....once they pair and plan on breeding your oscars will kill anything else in the tank, cos they will view it as a threat to their fry and oscars are pretty damn good parents.

And another thing your angels are like snacks for oscars even if the o's are small they will pick them off pretty fast...as soon as they can,,,,and that won't be long.

sounds like u have a 90 to 100 gal tank, you will be hard pressed to keep the 2 Oscars and the plec. If I had it to do I would grow a school of clown loaches before I got the Oscars, the loaches do best in schools of 5 or more and take a VERY long time to grow. The Oscar will usually outgrow and eat clown loaches when both bought at the same time as juveniles. Then I would just stick with the loaches and the O's, but as u already have the O's, u might want to just start by getting rid of the sharks, definitely the angel (not a good chiclid companion) it will be at immediate risk from the pecking O's

sorry to say but the lfs that told yo uto get that many oscars.. they are brain dead...Oscars individually require 55 gallons.. EACH!to get more than one your in for a BIG tank.
tank mates? silver dollars, alot of people have firemouths, or green terrors.. please look more into oscars before yo ubuy them dont make the mistake we did.