Oscars and Texas cichlids

C

cuticom

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Dec 8, 2006
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Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia
I'm trying to work out a tankmate for my baby O, before he grows too big to accept anything.

I really like the Texas cichlids, and ahve read what I could on them and it seems its split 50/50 over whether or not they'll live with Oscars, if the O ends up being a whimp it can be beaten up by the Texas and vice versa.

But would it work? Merlin (the O) is 6 cm long now, and the Texas that are sold at my LFS are 3 maybe 4 cm long. By having the Texas much smaller then the O could that sort of even out the aggression?

Or will this just not work full stop? LOL I'm happy to try it and if it dosnt work, rehome the Texas, but their such nice fish I'd love it if it did work.

As for tank size, I'm upgrading as Merlin grows and he's about to move into a 55g at the moment hence why I'm looking for tankmates so it'll be a whole new tank for both of them. By the time he reaches 8-10 inches he'll be in a tank at least 125g, preferably 150g.

If anyone can suggest any other cichlid tankmates I'd appreciate it. I only really want to get one fish to go with him. The other cichlids I'm looking at are
a single convict
a blue acara
a rusty cichlid
a red forest jewel

Obviously only wanting one, though the Texas cichlids are by far the nicest I've come across.
 
Oscars grow very fast and arent very aggressive. Texans dont grow as fast but eventaully get 10"+ and can be very aggressive. In 6 months you may have a 6" oscar and a 2.5" texas. A long time ago I had a 5" red devil with a 10" oscar, figured the size differece would outway the devils aggression. It didnt, the devil had him so scared the oscar jumped out of the tank and slapped right on the floor. I put him in another tank-he was fine(for what he had been thru)
May I suggest a Vieja sp.,argentea,hartwegi, bifascatus, zonatus. They are less aggressive than most of the big NW cichlid and get about the same size as an oscar. All the cichlids you listed would probably work in a large tank, the acara would be my first choice.
Im suggesting cichlids that have (roughly) the same size, growth rate and temperment
Also a nicaraguense may be a good tankmate.
All cichlids (even same sp.) have different temperments
Getting back to the oscar and texan, once the texan is mature it will tear up the oscar, most likely. Texas cichlids can be the most aggessive cichlids out there (can be)
 
Lol you got common names for those? tis easier to explain to the LFS people if I ring up and ask if they stock them.

Thanks for that info.

Emma
 
I would go with the acara.
 
What about a blue acara, a giant danio, an albino rainbow shark and my O? The acaras at the LFS were at least a few cm smaller then my O, would that cause any probs?

Oh I know Giant Danios need schools, but long story short this guy was a redturn to the LFS when they no longer stock them, and they arent able to order more of them in for me.
 
Well just an update. I ended up coming home with an acara, and absolutely crazy albino rainbow shark and an opaline gourami (will explain in a min)

I seem to have the wimpiest oscar alive. Merlins 6cm long so I purposely chose a smaller acara for him (3.5cm) and as soon as he saw it he turned tail and ran.

The other two fish he's absolutely fascinated by following them around as the gourami goes to the surface and the shark does its job as a scavenger.

The gourami I got because I keep reading these reports of oscars bonding with odd fish and living with them for life. Currently the gouramis a few cm bigger then Merlin, and its basically an experiment, plus it adds to the number of new fish Merlin is introduced to. If it dosnt work or he shows any sign of aggression it has a place in my peaceful tank as a centerpiece fish.

So far no aggression, fingers crossed LOL.
 
Got any pics?
 
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