Oscar tankmates

[Intravenous]

This has kind of been covered in the general discussion forum but I thought I'd pose the question to cichlid owners:

What is the minimum size these fish would have to be to be safe from an adult oscar:

red tailed shark
clown loach
vampire pleco

Can they be mixed with any other cichlids, and if so which?

What would the minimum tank size be for two adult oscars?

 

[wayne]

If you saw a pir in a 90 gallon tank, you'd say straight away that you wouldn't want to go smaller than that.

have you actually seen a 10 inch plus oscar - there's usually plenty returned to shops ...

 

[Intravenous]

...I live in Scotland, the number of fish keepers here is significantly smaller than it is in the US so nope I'm afraid I've never seen an adult oscar (I've only ever seen one oscar in the shops here and it was a baby).

The tank I have is a 100 gallon so from what I've heard that is ok for one oscar, but probably too small for two.

I've heard of people keeping clown loaches, red tailed sharks and plecos happily enough with oscars but I don't know if it is common for them to get on, and what size they should be to be considered safe.

Edit: you said "pir" in your post and I at first assumed you meant pirahna, to do a size comparison with I guess, but reading back it would make (more) sense for it to read "pair", is that what you meant?

 

[dbacksrat]

Yeah he meant pair. As long as the loaches and sharks are bigger than the oscar's mouth, you should be fine.

 

[Pure]

A 90 would be bare min for one Oscar with those fish. Yeah it has the same foot print as a 75, but it is also a lot taller, giving those other fish (all bottom dwellers BTW) a place they can call their own without getting in the Oscars way. Of course a 90 isn't big enough for 6 (shouldn't have less than 6 EVER) clown loaches.

 

[Intravenous]

Ok, so you think if I do get an oscar I should just stick to one? I'm sure thats manageable, from what I've heard even one would have enough character to keep me occupied.

Wouldn't the red tailed shark gang up with the clown loaches and count as a sixth member? Or should I go with 6 clown loaches and 1 red tailed black shark? And if so would I have enough room for all this?

Also everyone keeps saying "as long as they're too big to fit in the mouth" but how big exactly is an adult oscars mouth ?