CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

What would people sugest as tankmates for an Oscar and  female JD in a 100 gallon tank ? Both are in a 30 gallon and about to be moved up. xxx Thanks. 

Hi, Wizzy!  Good move to the new tank!  As to tankmates, well -- your tank, your call.  I like all the fish you mentioned in your intro.  Just keep looking for fish that "call out" to you, then research their needs to see if they're likely to fit in.  With cichlids, territory is important, so square inches of floor space is a somewhat bigger deal than total water volume.  As a start, I'd suggest testing your water to see what kind of pH is coming out of the tap.  That'll influence your chopices somewhat.  Other than that, it's a matter of personal taste, and whther they'll get along -- not always a sure thing with cichlids.  You could also consider some non-cichlids as tankmates as well.  Do you have anyhing you're leaning toward?

Thanks for your reply Dan. The PH is running around the 7.2 mark here, and I know not to mix Africans with Central/South Americans .
I also realise it depends a lot on the personality of the fish .
At the momment, the Oscar and the JD get on really well and I'm hoping not to upset that balance ( fingers crossed ) .
Let me tell you my thoughts .......
I could possibly add another Oscar, but then I may get opposite sexes hence problems breeding/territory with others in there.
I dont want another JD for the same reason.
I toyed with the idea of putting the Convict pair in the new tank BUT  they are an estalished pair and the two of them work like velocaraptors ( off jurassic park ) with anything else I have ever tried to put in their tank and my gut reaction is that despite having a much bigger territory in the new tank, they would still do that and make life a misery for the others. The Oscar is so gentle and the Cons are such little gits lol.
I may grow one of their fry out and add that later....thats a possibilty for the future.
I,m definatly going to add a catfish/plec. Any thoughts on which ?
I'm pondering along the lines of a Zebra or Raphael or try to find a reasonable sized Bristlenose.I need to research more 'L' numbers.
Which are the more gentler cichlids ? ( is there such a thing lolll ) 
What about Blue Acaras ? Severums ? Texas ? ( is there enough footprint ?)Geophagus ? herotilapia multis ?
You mention non cichlids ....PERKS....such as what ? That sounds good. ( bear in mind however I have been feeding the guppy fry and convict fry to the Oscar and JD so the pair of them are well used to the 'hunt/eat' pattern) so what ever they are, its going to have to be a reasonable size . Did I see Rainbows mentioned ? They are something I have no experience with but sound good.) School of tetras ? loll just a thought. The Black Skirts I had seemed to bump everything else off ...
I do realise I am set for fun and games with this tank and that I'm likely to loose a few along the way  so any thoughts are really appreciated.
Sorry this is such a long post and you may loose the will to live before you have read through it xxxxx Wizzy

Wizzy-go with yer gut!
Sounds like you got it under control......
And I have 2 gouramis in one of my tanks.......they pretty much are top feeders that look cool and hang out in the plants.....quite pretty actually, but I adopted mine so he had no choice but to go in with Oscar......now they are buddies!

My O likes to go shoaling now and again with the Rainbowfish that share the tank with him, quite funny really, but it depends on the mood.  Other days he chases them to the other half of the tank.

Animal....hello << waves. Gouramis ! blimey. Are they the 2 that are in the pics in another thread... a dwarf and a powder blue one ? Hows it working out.
Alt.. yes ive heard of a school of rainbows in with them before.  Dont they get eaten ?

wizzy wrote:Alt.. yes ive heard of a school of rainbows in with them before.  Dont they get eaten ?

No, at full size they themselves are 4-5 inches and the shape of the fish is not conducive to being eaten easily by an O.  They can also be very fast when they want to be.

not sure on that thread pic.....but my BIG Oscar (he's like 4-5 lbs.) has never messed with my gouramis.....in fact they stay on opposite sides of the tank usually, on occassion my blue gourami thinks he's a "big fish" and goes to Oscars' side and swims thru his plants, I think he's playing "chicken" with Oscar....lol but all in all that tank is a "happy tank".....I did have a couple sharks in there, but they jumped out when I went to work one day so no more sharks!

I wouldn't add anything in. If I was adding ANY other fish, I would get a bigger tank. I would just put 1 O in that 100 gallon tank, because they need so much room themselves, but that's just me I guess.

Thanks folks for your replys and advice.
Lolll Amy....this is my first tentative steps into the world of 'big' fish and I am guessing that I haven't got the experience yet of how big is big , if you know what I mean 
Once again .. thank you x

Only my opinion, but, I think an Oscar is too intelligent to have to reside in a tank all by himself.  My O is in a 180g, with 5 catfish, 2 plecs, 8 rainbows, a Blue Acara, a Firemouth and a pair of Altum Angels.  All get along fine, almost forgot 5 gouramies as well whilst I sort their tank out but they seem to be loving it so much as well, I'll probably leave them there.

I've actually kept Oscars with Blue Gouramis before. It ended up in being a demonstration of an odd quirk in Oscar personality, that being that if an Oscar grows up with a small fish, even though the tankmate stays small he rarely gets eaten. Here's the quote from my website:

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!

The first Oscar I ever saw (in a wonderful fish store in Tampa back in the late 50's) was a big one with that velvety look to it's skin.  He was in a tank of (I would estimate) about 30 gallons, along with a pearl gourami and a red-tail black shark.  It was beautifully lit, and the three of them just sort of hung out, looking gorgeous.  Like Mark says though, O's can be very selective about their freinds. One of mine took an instant dislike to silver Colombian catfish.  No "aggressive" behavior -- just stalked it, killed it, and then ignored it. 

Oh Mark and Dan, I'm laughing at these stories. They are great . Thanks for sharing them . I really really can't wait . The tank is arriving next Friday so its going to keep us good sorting it out over Christmas. I have a tetratec ex1200 canister filter seeding itself in another tank. They are an impressive filter . The tank will have that and the inbuilt juwel filter . Can you tell i'm excited lol ?

Sounds great!