# Think this will work?



## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

That's a 8" Oscar in there. This is the overall tank:










The inhabitants are:

4x 6" silver dollars
Various small plecos
2x 9" Chocolate Cichlids
20+ 2" Cories (mostly Agassisiz)
3x SAE's 3 - 4"
6" Regular JD
and the 8" O"

Tank is CO2 injected and dosed DI style, hence the heavy planting.

Filtered by FX5 and Eheim 2028


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Anything is possible. I've had plenty of oscars that never looked twice at bite sized fish...


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## twohuskies (Mar 1, 2008)

How big is the tank? Those EBJD's look very small, compared to your O. How big are they? Those ARE EBJD's I see in the first photo, aren't they?

Lovely tank, BTW! :thumb:


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

Yeah, they're EBJD's. They're 2 inches. The Oscar isn't interested in them at all. Iwas mostly worried about the O and the regular, but so far everything has been great, but it's been only 24 hours.


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## Soadown (Jul 14, 2009)

bum, bum, bum... man do I hate that waiting period. Every so often, hmm wonder if the fish are still alive lol. Good times.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

I am 99% sure the waiting period is over. They all had a nice meal of Hikari bloodworms and the little EBJD's were so full, I thought they were going to explode! They remind so much of little Oscars and how much character they have.

Next up, I am going to the LFS to look for a small Lutino or Albino to keep them company.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

just so you know, your tank is really one of my favorites i have seen on the forum. i love the scape and you have a great stock list. any more pics would be awesome!


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

HONDO said:


> just so you know, your tank is really one of my favorites i have seen on the forum. i love the scape and you have a great stock list. any more pics would be awesome!


Thanks. This tank really started out as a lightly planted SA biotope where the technology when out of control. I am now injecting CO2 at each end of the tank and regularly have to prune out 1/2 lb or more of plants per week.

Here are some pics of when I started vs. recent:

Beginning:










Injecting CO2:










Oscar, Chocolate and JD:










Another overall shot:


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## ~Pandora~ (Nov 3, 2009)

I have a mixture of different sized fish in my Oscar tank. The only ones that they attack are the feeder fish. I have 8 Oscars ranging in size from 13 inches down to 4 inches, 4 corydoras, 1 cichlid and 4 red devils ranging in size as well.

They all live happily and comfortably together with no issues as yet - touch wood!


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

jeez, how big is your tank?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

125 gallon. It's actually not that big. I'm wanting a 210.


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## Strohs58 (Aug 3, 2009)

I think he was asking Pandora how big her tank is. :wink:

Because it would have to be huge with that number of large fish to not be overcrowded.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

Strohs58 said:


> I think he was asking Pandora how big her tank is. :wink:
> 
> Because it would have to be huge with that number of large fish to not be overcrowded.


True that. 8 O's would be very crowded in a 125.  Hopefully Pandora has a 240 or 300.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Strohs58 said:
> 
> 
> > I think he was asking Pandora how big her tank is. :wink:
> ...


more like 1000 when you factor in the 4 red devils...

Awesome tank! love the stock list to, overall great!


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

The little guys are doing well and the O has not bothered them at all. I am thinking it has to do with the planted setup giving everyone lots of hiding places and territories. Plus having 2 shoals of Cories and the Silver Dollars and other plecos spreads out the aggression quite a bit. Here are some pics from 3 days ago:


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

Just thought I would put an update:

The two little EBJD's have gained about 1/2" and are fat:









And here is the O, steadfastly ignoring them:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I'm glad there's others out there who can tell my story of a passive oscar


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

TheFishGuy said:


> I'm glad there's others out there who can tell my story of a passive oscar


Absolutely. They are relatively passive cichlids. Certainly tame compared to Terrors, Devils, or Africans. It has everything to do with the individual fish's personality.

However, reading thru the thread, I would like to respond to the keeping of Corys with an Oscar. Not a good choice, as anyone who has had to perform a "Coryectomy" can testify.

The Cory's pectoral fins are spines, when an Oscar attempts to eat them the Cory sticks its spines out in defense, usually lodging in either the gills or the throat. Removal is difficult and may cause death, involving hemostats and scissors to cut the cory out. Doing nothing may cause death because in many cases, the Oscar is simply unable to dislodge the fish itself. If the spines damage the gill tissue in the process, the troubles just get worse.

The fact that Corys are small enough to be considered a meal by an Oscar is what causes such an incompatibility between them. The same problems also occur with Pictus catfish, although to a lesser extent.

I would highly recommend that anyone keeping Corys with an Oscar reconsider.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

kmuda said:


> The fact that Corys are small enough to be considered a meal by an Oscar is what causes such an incompatibility between them. The same problems also occur with Pictus catfish, although to a lesser extent.
> 
> I would highly recommend that anyone keeping Corys with an Oscar reconsider.


I was very worried about it in the beginning, but the first Cories were already in the tank with my 9" chocolates and the original owner was desperate to get rid of the O (his featherfin catfish chewed a hole in the O's head - you can still see the scar in that pic) and you could see down to bone through a thin layer of flesh! I guess he was so weak in the beginning he didn't consider the fish food. Now I actually have over 30 Cories in the tank, and a dozen different plecos (all smaller species) and everyone gets along fine. The only problems I've had is with Albino species. My Chocolates seem not to tolerate that and kill anything albino. I've had a number of albino BNP's in there and they were all killed (not eaten, just killed).


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

In my humble opinion, it's only a matter of time before the Oscar (at least) decides one of those Corys resembles a Big Mac. At a minimum, I would consider it a significant risk.

Having participated in the fish "advice" arena for quite a while, it's something I've seen occur quite frequently. All to often I am responding to someone whose Oscar has attempted to eat a Cory (or Pictus cat, or small Pleco) only to have it get lodged in its throat or gills. Sometimes, after several hours (or even days) the fish is able to work through it. Sometimes, the Aquarist is too fearful to to take action and the Oscar dies. Sometimes the aquarist can be walked through cutting the fish out..... and this, sometimes, also results in death.

Certainly, at least, it is not a recommended pairing of fish. Not something anyone else reading this thread should consider doing.


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## mok3t (Nov 28, 2008)

our baby oscar recently chewed the face off a black ghost knife we had him in with, the ghost knife was bigger than him but he didnt seem to care. I think we have ourselves a monster hehe.


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

I wouldn't have put either the corys or the EBJD's in with an oscar that size. I've had many personal experiences with predatory fish including oscars attempt to eat tankmates that I thought would have been ok. If you succeed----consider yourself extremely lucky.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

oldcatfish said:


> I wouldn't have put either the corys or the EBJD's in with an oscar that size. I've had many personal experiences with predatory fish including oscars attempt to eat tankmates that I thought would have been ok. If you succeed----consider yourself extremely lucky.


I don't really Oscars predatory fish, but I understand your point. Oscars are ominvores and not piscivores. They certainly are not the same as Birchirs or Aros or Pirahnas. Once again, I'm not arguing that I took a chance, but the fact is, I didn't throw in my JD"s with a pirahna, which would have zero chance of success.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Wanna ha an teory... I think these passive "oscars" are all female. My albino female would have never eaten a fish. he wskept n a grow out tank wit a buc of SA/CA cichids around an inch. ot asigle on was even considered to be a snack. She wold even come over and brea up squabbles that occoured in the tank with the young fish. She was also rased with angels andwas neveroffered live food... Since her, I've had other feals that were the sae way. I curretly have 14 oscars. I would trst atleast 8 of them with any othe fish I have... The other six... No way...


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

I believe that Oscars are primarily insectivores, but will take other prey if available. Though they may occasionally nibble on plant material, it doesn't make up a very large percentage of the diet...so I wouldn't consider them omnivores. Most fish will take other food items too. Red Tail Catfish from South America are extremely predatory and often consume very large prey items....but they also will eat other things as well. And even piranhas will on occasion consume plant material.

As far as female oscars being less predatory than males----I can't really give a fair comment on that. I've only ever owned a few oscars, and only the first one got a chance to try smaller fish---after that, I learned my lesson.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

According to a lot of stuff I've read (caveat emptor, of course, since it's the internet), Oscars eat a lot of rotten fruit that have fallen off trees etc., too. Basically they are opportunistic feeders. A big sign, to me anyway, of the O's omnivore tendencies is the high incidence of HITH with feeder fish fed O's, and the cure of providing Vitamin C.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

I believe the relationship between feeders and HITH is that people use goldfish as feeders. Goldfish flesh (or the flesh of any coldwater fish) is high in thiaminase. When ingested, thiaminase prevents the proper metabolization of vitamin B1 (thiamine).

Thiamanese in high quanatities is know to cause neurological disorders in humans and animals. It's also know to cause "anorexia, cardiac enlargement, and muscular weakness."


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

kmuda said:


> I believe the relationship between feeders and HITH is that people use goldfish as feeders. Goldfish flesh (or the flesh of any coldwater fish) is high in thiaminase. When ingested, thiaminase prevents the proper metabolization of vitamin B1 (thiamine).
> 
> Thiamanese in high quanatities is know to cause neurological disorders in humans and animals. It's also know to cause "anorexia, cardiac enlargement, and muscular weakness."


That could certainly a contributor, but this is about the 12th or 14th O I've had and one of several that have not had HITH (currently). When I got my first O, I naively fed it feeder goldfish and it got HITH, and after that, I learned that O's were not piscivores and fed the subsequent fish a variety of foods, but some still got HITH. I think the subsequent cases were all related to water parameters and they tanks were not heavily planted like this one and the fish load was too high. I've since then learned a thing or two about water parameters and gotten into planted tanks and I'm hoping never to see HITH again.

I'm still a huge fan of O's, but unfortunately, not as big a fan of the limitations of what I can do with the tank (plants, other fish) that comes with having an O, so unless I can convince my wife to do an O dedicated tank, this is likely the last O I'll have in a while.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

WOW!


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## jaybuc (Dec 15, 2005)

My 8" Red oscar doesn't even look at my 1.5" corey cats  at least not yet, however my oscar has never tasted live food...its been all pellets, flakes and dry shrimp.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Dec 7, 2005)

Interesting you say that. My O won't eat bloodworms and will only eat HBH shrimp pellets and NLS. I recently tried Dainichi XL pro and all my other fish love it, but my O won't touch it.


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