pleco with oscars?
- Thread starter nateobs
- Start date
To be honest, my Uncle has 2 common plecos in his Oscar tank and they seem to co-exist without any problem i.e. no pieces missing, no apparent stress, proper growth. You should always research it of course, but there are always exceptions to the rule and unfortunately, it's a case of trial and error.
My Gold Gourami is supposed to be an aggressive bully when he's probably the most mellow fish I've owned aside from my catfish.
My Gold Gourami is supposed to be an aggressive bully when he's probably the most mellow fish I've owned aside from my catfish.
As much as I love plecos (I have a 9" one), they seem to cause more wast than any other fish I have kept. Also, when they get larger, they don't eat very much algea at all.
Your tank is already overstocked (37 gallons). You will need to upgrade sooner rather than later to a 100+ gallon aquarium and adding in more fish just complicates it IMO. Especially when not all oscars will coexist with plecs. Most of the time it seems to work out but as mentioned you don't need an algae eater at all. Proper maintenance and a little elbow grease goes a long way.
As long as the pleco is larger then the oscar there shouldn't be any problems. You might run into problems if the pleco is really small.
Plecos can do well with just about any fish that cant swallow them up whole. Heck, I've seen plecos with piranhas!
You really do need a tank bigger than 75 gallons (and thats an EXTREME miniumum) for 2 oscars. PLecos WILL co-exist with oscars, but add tons of waste to your tank. I would reccomend upgrading ASAP. You can find great deals on big tanks through craigslist...
As said before you need a larger tank, and soon, oscars grow very fast, and you don't want to stunt them. As far as compatability, I keep a "14" Pleco with a "13" oscar with no problems...the pleco actually chases the Oscar away sometimes :lol: