oscars and cockatoos...

[Jennifer]

I am in the process of setting up a large tank (I think its 75 gallon but I have to double check the measurements) and would like to put an a baby oscar in it. I have a male/female pair of cockatoo cichlids in the 32G tank and was wondering if I could put them with the oscar. (They are docile fish but the female can be a bit of a bitch to the other fish, especially the bottom feeders so I'd like to take her out). They are small though which could pose a problem... The male is about 3.5" (quite wide) but the female is a small 1.5" (maybe less). Will they get eaten? or beat up?

thanks,

Jenn

 

[FroggyFox]

Chances are good that the oscar will leave them alone for awhile...but there's really no telling once he gets larger than the male. The male might run him out now while he's the biggest fish in the tank....or the oscar might just bide his time until he's bigger...which wont be very long Couple months maybe. If the question is eaten OR beat up...chances are good that either will happen, but probably beat up moreso than eaten.

 

[Jennifer]

so i guess I could give it a shot and keep a close eye...the oscar I have my in mind is no more than 4" at the moment. If they have problems I could easily take them out...

Thanks.

 

[FroggyFox]

Yeah you could always give it a try....Some oscars are MEAN but most are just hungry They wont necessarily be aggressive, but they'll eat what they can fit in their mouths...

Just as long as you can fix it if you see them having problems...

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Is there any reason why you want to move them? Just curious.

If it were me i'd let them stay in the 32gal. Once the oscar gets larger chances are if it will fit in his mouth it will go in his mouth. Dwarf Cichlids being the size of feeder fish don't have the odds on their side.

 

[wayne]

Apistogramma are a natural food for oscars so forget it, they'll be eaten in a matter of weeks. Oscars have big mouths for their size.

This is a very bad idea

 

[Jennifer]

I definitely don't want to lose my cockatoos. I only wanted to take them out because the female is harassing all my other fish (I think she is in breeding mode). She always goes after the bottom feeders, especially the bronchis corys. She is too small to do harm I think but still...When I put my bushy nose pleco in she wouldn't leave him alone. She hovered over him for days poking at him. It was actually funny because he is 5x the size of her and just sat there sucking on a rock.

I just got a bunch of used tanks, they are in rough shape but after a cleaning and a leak check hopefully they will be usable...I wanted to spread out my fish population and I am trying to figure out what to put where. I may have a tank left over where the cockatoos can have their own tank, or I can weed out the 32 gallon so there's more room. I have a 10G that's far too crowded (I took on some friend's fish, big mistake) so that's my main priority. In the bunch is a big tank so I thought I could get the oscar I always wanted...since the cockatoos are also cichlids I wondered if they'd get on...that's all. At this point I think the big tank is going to leak , so none of this will matter....

 

[Nightswimmer]

IMO I would put the cock's on their own. Set up the largest tank you have for the Oscars you've always wanted. Just remember they will grow to over 12" so they should have at least 100G per Oscar to be happy when fullly grown. I had Oscars for years and they are "big puppies", but they can get aggressive in pairs. As Froggy said....."they will eat what fits in their mouth"