ca cichlid behavior towards oscars in particular

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tlindsey said:
Tbh Oscar's should not be cohabiting with any CA Cichlids including Convicts especially a pair. Although the Oscar is intelligent they are not equipped to defend themselves against another species that's highly aggressive and has teeth. Now some have success and that is due to proper space. The Oscar can flee from the aggressor but with the Red Devil's range of territory the average home aquarium is too small. Have you ever been bitten by a Oscar? A female Convicts bite was worse lol
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whats strange is majority of ca's ive owned typically dont see the oscar as anything to worry about.its just mainly the highly aggressive ca's that seem to enjoy killing them.convicts,jack dempseys only seem to be triggered by other ca's or similar looking fish.like normally i cant keep a midas/red devil with jack dempseys even though sources claim that u can.just going based on research and my own experience.but makes sense why the oscar would end up dead in majority of cases.one thing ive also noticed is it seems the aggression level of the oscar plays a part in it as well..like the one i have is about 8 inches but hes really calm compared to ones ive seen/owned so the others leave him alone for the most part.most..really strange one he is..so far ive had him in a fully planted tank which he never bothered any of the plants (strange enough i know) until i removed all the substrate to opt for barebottom setup which makes it much easier to clean.'ive also never seen him sulk or go pale like ive seen other ones do when u mess with their habitat
 
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Gourami Swami said:
I think this is the root of the problem- the tank is not really big enough to keep Oscars with large growing CA cichlids. You are right that there is a trade-off between aggression and bioload. More fish will spread the aggression around and lead to less casualties. But a 125 can only handle so much bioload before it has bad effects on the health of the fish. The only thing I would keep in a 125 with an adult red devil male would be perhaps some convicts. If the red devil were female perhaps some similarly tough 8"ish CA cichlids would work. Certainly would not recommend an Oscar for this setup.
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yea the 125 hasnt had any casualties yet and fish currently in there prolly get moved around or sold/traded once large enough.i have other large tanks.as for convicts with midas,my midevil kills anything that isnt his mate or the large pleco kept with him.they in their own tank cause all attempts at keeping him with others have failed.i have put some convict fry in there to give him something to beat up on instead of the female.the times that ive had an oscar get killed by ca is when they are 2-4 inches and ca is same size in like a 75 gallon or so
 
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