# Going to keep a pair of oscars just need some advise pls



## Javed (Apr 25, 2007)

Hi, just a quick brief first of all!
My tank size L:72",W:18",H:22" = 103 uk gallons & my sump size is L:48",W:12",H:12" (water level) = 25 uk gallons, TOTAL OF = 128 uk gallons,

I was keeping wc mbuna cichlids but now I have decided to move onto SA cichlids 
and I want the main attraction to be a pair of oscars, and tanks mates a pair of green terror With or without a group of silver dollers, I know green terrors can be very aggressive but I think I can solve this by having the oscars alot bigger in size ?

My main question realy is : what size do the oscars start to sexually mature?
by Reading various articles on them it's very difficult to tell male and female so I was thinking to buy 4 oscars around 2-4" in size and grow them on in my tank and when I have a pair I can return the other two to the shop and then introduce the green terrors, or can I introduce the green terrors with the 4 oscars?

If a pair of oscars with a pair of green terrors is not suitable for my tank size then how about a pair of green terror with a single oscar and a few silver dollers?

I just need some advise from u oscar experts , I want to do it correct the first time round
Thanks


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

ismalj said:


> I was keeping wc mbuna cichlids but now I have decided to move onto SA cichlids
> and I want the main attraction to be a pair of oscars, and tanks mates a pair of green terror With or without a group of silver dollers, I know green terrors can be very aggressive but I think I can solve this by having the oscars alot bigger in size ?


No you can't solve gt's aggression like that. Oscar can't defense against a GT, period. I know for sure that GT will kill tiger oscar. There might be a chance for the albino oscar.


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## Javed (Apr 25, 2007)

How would an albino oscar might survive ? On reading about oscars the albinos are the most placid ones compare to red oscar, and tiger oscar,tiger oscar are the most aggresive ?

So green terrors are defo a no no? 
How about a single gt male with a pair of red oscars?

In the past my dad kept a breeding pair of gt which were about 5" in size with a single oscar around 7" they were fine apart from the odd days they tried to liplock each other,

I'm thinking on keeping the red oscars

thanks


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

For some reason GT have a thing against tiger oscar so it will kill it. Oscar's aggression don't match GTs (Tiger or not).


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## cage623 (Feb 2, 2008)

A lot of the time albino oscars are left alone because they look so much different, being mostly white and all. It is like the other fish feel sorry for them :lol: . But I agree, GT are much more aggressive in general. Good matches for Oscars are guys like chocolate cichlids and a lot of people have success with JDs. Of course what ever you go with has a much better chance of starting as young fish together.


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## johncl (Mar 10, 2010)

Tho I do agree that a gt is more aggressive than an O and I probably wouldn't try them together I wouldn't say that the gt will absolutely kill the tiger O. It all depends on the personality of the particular fish. I've also never heard that an albino will be left alone.

:-? :-?

I do agree however that it's a good idea to start young fish together but remember that an O and a gt of the same size are not going to be the same age the gt will be older.

O's mature sexually at about 9"


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## adam79 (Jun 27, 2007)

johncl said:


> Tho I do agree that a gt is more aggressive than an O and I probably wouldn't try them together I wouldn't say that the gt will absolutely kill the tiger O. It all depends on the personality of the particular fish. I've also never heard that an albino will be left alone.
> 
> :-? :-?
> 
> ...


Agreed. My experience with acaras, from goldsaum down to curviceps, has proven them to be either docile or mean S.O.B's. I've seen GT's living in peace in communities and I've seen others alone that will attack the glass when people walk by.


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## mok3t (Nov 28, 2008)

Female GT might be alright IMO


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## Javed (Apr 25, 2007)

Oscars sexually mature at 9" 8-/ wow, they mature very late

Then I don't think I will be able to buy a small group of them and wait for them to pair up 
my lfe will never take in 2 oscars at 9" let alone my tank being well over crowded, or even dead buy then cus of the fighting!!

Surley there must be other ways on finding male and female
venting at 2-3"?
Is venting on oscars the same as on mbuna cichlids (I.e) 2 small openings same size on the fish indicates it's a male and 2 opening 1 is much bigger than the other and kinda close together is possibly a female!
Is this the same with oscars ?

Can any one post a venting picture to show what a male and female underside looks like? 
This would help alot of people

Keeping White oscars (albino) with green terrors does this actually work? Has any one succeeded in this or is it just a mith?


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## firetiger (Mar 3, 2010)

from everything I have gathered you cannot reliably vent an oscar at any age. you must wait for a pair to form. that could be wrong, but seems to be the general opinion.


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## johncl (Mar 10, 2010)

You could try buying a proven breeding pair.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

adam79 said:


> johncl said:
> 
> 
> > Tho I do agree that a gt is more aggressive than an O and I probably wouldn't try them together I wouldn't say that the gt will absolutely kill the tiger O. It all depends on the personality of the particular fish. I've also never heard that an albino will be left alone.
> ...


Mine attack the glass and flare when people walk by.


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## Dook (May 13, 2009)

My GT and Oscar coexist with no problems. Of course, neither is sexually mature as of yet.


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## Javed (Apr 25, 2007)

johncl said:


> You could try buying a proven breeding pair.


I could but that means there more or less fully grown and don't know how long they will have left to survive !!!

I'm also quite dubios about private sellers on like aquarium classified saying breeding pair oscar for sale!!!! - I'm not saying every one does it but there are some naughty people out there , that would say things like this to sell them off , and waiting for lfe to get breeding pair of oscars are very slim, 
1, there tanks are too small to put to big oscars In them so they split them up
2, large oscars comming through in uk here lfe is quite rare as American cichlids are not that popular so they don't really buy them in ,lfe are just given to them as the owners need to shift the American cichlids

Just a little confused on how to go on about buying a pair of oscars that would live happily together


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## Javed (Apr 25, 2007)

Dook said:


> My GT and Oscar coexist with no problems. Of course, neither is sexually mature as of yet.


what size are your gt and oscars?
What ratio have u got in your tank ?

Please let us know how they get on with each other as they are growin on


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## johncl (Mar 10, 2010)

LSBoost said:


> adam79 said:
> 
> 
> > johncl said:
> ...


Sounds like very aggressive fish.


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## Dook (May 13, 2009)

ismalj said:


> Dook said:
> 
> 
> > My GT and Oscar coexist with no problems. Of course, neither is sexually mature as of yet.
> ...


right now I have 4 GTs, all 4-4.5 inches. 2 Tiger Oscars, both 3.5-4 inches. The plans has been to raise them and keep 1 of each that displays the best color, but they get along so well, I may reevaluate that plan. Of course, I can't keep 4 adult GTs and 2 adult Tiger Os in a 90g at adulthood however.

Of course, all these fish were purchased at a local fish joint, so it's hard to tell how far removed from the wild they are. I am a firm believer, the further away from wild caught you get, the more the instincts are diminished. Now, you will have some primal instincts that will come out regardless of circumstances, but I've honestly seen ZERO issues thus far. I am watching closely however knowing how quickly the Os could be taken out by the GTs. In the end, I am unsure how I will proceed.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

I forgot to mention that my GT was a wimp when it was growing up. Once it reached 5-6inches it got super aggressive after I did a water change and try to beat up the JD but failed (GT almost got killed). It only failed because the JD was bigger (8 inches at the time). I now have a divider in the tank. I tried removing the divider but they were at it in just seconds. So I won't try to let them be together again. Did I mention that both the JD and GT were in the same tank since they were very small. JD grew a little quicker. Both my JD and GT are super aggressive and I would not try to put them with my oscar.


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## Javed (Apr 25, 2007)

I just bought some oscars I personally think they are both females 
red oscar very nice size roughly 10-11" and a albino tiger oscar 8-9" 
the previous owner sad he had them both together for about 8 months or so and they have never really fight apart the odd squibel once a week for a bout 1 minute and then there back to normal and they allways hang around together,

I had a look at there genatels!! and they both looked the same, 1 small hole and 1 large hole,


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## Javed (Apr 25, 2007)

Can any suggest a type of plec that dosent really grown more than 5-6" max to eat all algea ?
I don't really like the looks of plec but I need some thing that does a good job at eatng algea and stays happy with my oscar

I also need a bottom feeder/s, some sort of corydoras? Red tail black shark is more I'm thinking on, ?

Can u suggest anything ?


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## johncl (Mar 10, 2010)

Answered your other post.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... highlight=


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