CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I presently have a female that is around 10 inches .I am planning to get a male for it .Will the male and female adjust and live in the same tank or will they fight . Is it true that the male can kill the female????

Impossible to tell. Oscar personalities, although a bit predictable, can change from specimen to specimen -- a new adult Oscar may attack your female, or your female may attack the newcomer -- or they may become best friends! There are a lot of variables, also, including tank size, water conditions, etc. For the purpose of pairing off/breeding in home aquariums, we recommend that you get 6 (or so) baby Oscars, allow them to grow together; when a mating pair forms, sell or donate the remaining fish (Zoos love Oscars for their South American aquatic exhibits). I'm curious what method you are using to identify the 10 incher as a female?

--Mark

ajit wrote:I presently have a female that is around 10 inches .I am planning to get a male for it .Will the male and female adjust and live in the same tank or will they fight . Is it true that the male can kill the female????

The fish already laid eggs once.thats how i came to know that its a female.

Finding a male for your female Oscar can be a very costly experience considering that it's almost impossible to sex Oscars! unless you know of someone who had a breeding pair and lost the female and is willing to sell his male... you would have to experience with different fish not only to eventually get them paired but also for the fact that Oscars do not pair up just with any other Oscar! they have to choose each other and that's why we call it pairing! now imagine buying a 10" Oscar which can be quite expensive!! bring it home put it in the tank where your female has been for a while and all hell breaks loose! then you have to remove the fish and take it back to fish store and find another one and go thru the same process till you end up with a fish that not only is a male but will actually pair up with your female! but there's a twist to this as two females will lay eggs together and guard them just as a real breeding pair would do. the only difference is that the eggs wont be fertile!

the best way to make sure you get a breading pair is to purchase 6 or 8 baby Os and let them grow together in a large tank about 150Gal till they reach about 6 or 7 inches long which is the size they start pairing up! then you keep the pair and return the others to your lfs!

And concerning the aggression of males towards females! Yes males can be very aggressive but i 've seen females serve quite a beating to there mates! Oscars are Oscars no matter what the gender !!

considering that it's almost impossible to sex Oscars!

Adult oscars can be visably vented easily with 99% acuracy

purchase 6 or 8 baby Os and let them grow

Thats the easyiest way to get a compatable pair,especially if you don't have much experiance breeding. 

Adult oscars can be visably vented easily with 99% acuracy

Also, if a bunch of Oscars (Herd? Flock?) are raised together so that they have the same diet, disease history, water quality, etc. then as adults normal Cichlid sexing guidelines apply. Males are larger, more colorful, have the more pointed Dorsal, and sometimes will have a small bump on their heads. However, this can only be done if you are 100% certain that the specimen's histories are identical, so it's really not a practical method unless you have raised the Oscars yourself.

stilllearnin wrote:

considering that it's almost impossible to sex Oscars!

Adult Oscars can be visably vented easily with 99% accuracy

Yes stilllearnin is absolutely right!    you can vent Oscars with a high percentage of accuracy... but to the untrained eye venting can be very puzzling! You have to know exactly what your looking for when venting. And that's why i didn't mention the venting technique! I vented both of my breeding pairs and was successful doing it...but like stilllearning stated there is a 1% chance to get it wrong and as i said to the untrained eye this 1% chance of being wrong could seem like it's a 90% chance!