Convicts with an Oscar

[brian1973]

I was at an LFS a few weeks ago and watched the interaction between a pr of cons and an oscar that were sharing a tank. The cons who were much smaller than the oscar, one of the cons kept the oscar away from his space with out any problems. So I was thinking I could add one of my breeding pair of cons into my 90G that houses my oscar. I figured I would get some input before proceeding with this, I figured this would reduce my need to house fry because it would give the Oscar a in tank supply but the cons are brutal when guarding their fry so I am actually more worried about the oscars safety.

 

[Chris_A]

Normally I shy away from compatibility threads, just too many variables and intangibles even for me . The only thing I will say 100% is the biggest factor for trying this is their present size difference. How big is everyone? That's the other thing, everyone focuses on the different forms of communication from Old World to New World Cichlids but I can say without a doubt at least some Centrals and South Americans "speak" different languages. When I first added my Honduran Red-points to a tank with my Uarus, they had to learn what the other was saying while defending territory. It got nasty there for a bit before the HRP's started "head twitching" just like the Uarus (took a few months if I remember correctly).

Either way I (ALMOST always) don't like saying definitives when it comes to compatibility.

Chris

 

[brian1973]

as for the size this wont take place until the cons are big enoughto not be a snack food..currently the cons are about 1/4 the size of the oscar, with everything this will just probably become another experiment see what happens and move the cons if needed.

 

[Chris_A]

*celebrate Cheers! I'm all for experiments . When (if) you do try it please do post what you find so far as behaviour.

Chris

 

[blockhead595]

They should be fine. I don't have a breeding pair but I do have 1 female convict in with my oscar and they are doing just fine. At first it was a temporary fix but they have been getting along so well that I decided to leave her in there until a problem occurs. It's bee 6 weeks now and they both seem happy. The convict actually swims with my SD's too which I thought was kinda weird.

 

[big54bob]

Just get them huge and throw them in.

 

[midmichman80]

I have friend that housed two albino oscars and a breeding pair of convicts in a 55g. The convicts continued to breed and the oscars held on the opposite side of the tank. The tank was awefully cramped, but they all got along, or didn't kill each other.

 

[khyle]

i hv 2 pairs of cons but they breed more crazier than rabbits! so i separated them. d fries are in my 12 gal where they continue to grow. i put d 2 fem in one of my 100 gal w/ other schools of tropicals. d funny thing is d 2 fem cons continue to lay eggs in d pot & funning them. there seems to be no problem w/ d other fishes. while i put d other 2 males in another 100 gal w/ my male oscar (6inch), 3 fem tinfoil barbs (8inch), & a red blood parrot (6inch) i don't know d gender. there also seems no problem w/ d agression, they are doing just fine. my blood parrot being d king of d tank, it doesn't bully anyone but nobody mess up w/ it. i guess b'coz all of my fishes are fairly big in sizes & they can defend themselves from any agression. well, it's a case to case basis. it's another case to look at if u put a breeding pair w/ ur oscar. as u said cons r nasty when they r breeding.