Any small oscars?!

[mjohnst]

My wife and I fell in love with Oscars in the pet store. I was wondering if there are any kind which do not grow to 11-14 inches? (eg: dwarf varieties?!)

I'd like to put one in my 40 gallon hex.

Thoughts?!

We bought a rusty chiclid which I am going to raise (it's tiny at the moment).. not sure what else to put in the 40G but would like to have only chiclids.. any suggestions? I would also need some kind of cleaner/bottom feeder.

 

[KB87]

There are no dwarf varites that I am aware of. But there pleanty of cichlids that are very pretty and/or friendly, depending on what it was about the oscars that you liked so much

 

[wayne]

No dwarf oscars.

Try googling rusty cichlid and see if you think it's suitable for a 40 gallon hex. Note that it will need higher pH waters, and as a type of fish called an mbuna, it's best only kept with other mbuna.

 

[mjohnst]

I purchased a rusty and a flowerhorn. They are both living together in my 5G for now.. I need to separate them once they grow but I'm guessing i'll have to sell the flowerhorn once he gets bigger as I hear they get the same size as oscars'.

What could I put in my 40G with my rusty once I remove the flowerhorn?

 

[wayne]

Yes they get big and they get nasty, and they are behaviourally incompatible.

With the rusty, other mbuna. Try googling mbuna, try looking at thecichlidrecipe.com. I don't like the stocking guides, but there's some good basic info.

I will give you some honest advice. When you start mucking around with cichlids, especially big ones, you need to change your definition of big tanks. With 10, 12 inch long fish that grow alarmingly quickly you need to realise that a 55 is a comparatively small tank, and when people talk about big tanks, they mean big, 75 and up. For very few fish. This is a price you pay if you want to be successful. Mbuna stay small, but again larger tanks than you'd imagine are used as they are terribly aggressive, and are overcrowded to control this, but also fussy, and do not like poor conditions, and typically respond by dying.
Also beware buying cheap, mixed cichlids. They're cheap because they're not premium, nor sellable to others. They typically are of poor quality, and also frequently contain some very, very aggressive (and very pretty species)

 

[mjohnst]

Ok,so we are looking at the Mbuna that are 4-5 inches in length as adults. After some research we have decided these are more for us. I keep seeing on cichlid sites to do a community tank with 15 fish MINIMUM in there to control agression. So what gallons are required here? I have read that you can go 50G for a one.

Any suggestions on shops that generally carry good specimins?

There is so much conflicting information that I am not quite sure where to go...a larger, different tank is fine with us, we are also liking the beautiful bowfronts out there as well. I am just getting lost with all the different opinions on all the different sites.

And yes, the Flowerhorn gets very large and is totally incompatible with ANY fish. That purchase was thanks to someone at our friendly neighborhood fishstore who completely misinformed us. A rookie mistake on our part that is not going to happen again! I have the receipt and am going back and returning him,poor little guy, as well as telling them, if their staff doesn't know the fish, don't say anything at all!!

Keep it coming, we aren't in a rush, we'd like to do this properly. So meanwhile my little Rusty can grow while we figure out where his real home will be one day LOL!