Stocking Question- what would you do?

[Tpriem21]

Good morning!

I’ve recently gotten back into fish keeping and am looking for some advise on, “what would you do?”

I recent picked up this old 1993 Oceanic Glass aquarium. Completely resealed it and have it up and running now. It’s currently cycling but is at the tail end. It’s a 6’ long tank that equates to roughly 130 gallons. I drilled the tank and added a Fiji Cube 1600 external overflow and have they plumbed to a Fiji Cub 36 sump.

I have 2-250w heaters connected to an inkbird with a controllable return pump. I plan to run a section of Refugio with live plants, snails, shrimp etc.

This all started when we picked up 2 baby Oscars and I wanted to give them a nice big tank to live in.

Now, the to the main question, what else would you stock in this tank? There will be the 2 Oscars and they are currently living with a calico bristlenose pleco. I thought about looking at some kind of catfish (Lima, etc) but want some advice.

Thank you for looking!

 

[Tpriem21]

Here is the tank!

 

[RD.]

Well, seeing as you asked…..

I would leave as is. When those 2 baby Oscar’s mature, which will probably be sooner than you think, 130 gallon tank won’t seem so big, and you might find the bio load from their massive and regular turds to be too much as it is.

 

[Toby_H]

As always... well, it depends...

If your Oscars turn out to be a compatible pair, they'll love that 6' tank to themselves. If they turn out to be compatible tankmates, they'll be fine by themselves are likely accept a similar aggression tank mate, maybe two. If they decide they don't like each other, the weaker one will suffer greatly.

As mentioned, Oscar's generate significant waste. But if your willing to clean the first layer of media in your filter(s) regularly and do water changes weekly, it's easily manageable.

You asked what I would do... I'd add 2 moderate Cichlids. Severum-to-Dempsey range. And if it didn't work out long term I'd add another tank to house the trouble maker. And probably get him a girlfriend.

Your suggested route of a catfish is also an option. Though if your Oscars don't get along, other Cichlid(s) will help balance the aggression where a catfish won't.

 

[Tpriem21]

Well, seeing as you asked…..

I would leave as is. When those 2 baby Oscar’s mature, which will probably be sooner than you think, 130 gallon tank won’t seem so big, and you might find the bio load from their massive and regular turds to be too much as it is.

I'm definitely not opposed to making them the only ones in the tank- was just looking for suggestions. Again, wanted to get this up and running as soon as I could to give them as much space as possible early on.

 

[Tpriem21]

As always... well, it depends...

If your Oscars turn out to be a compatible pair, they'll love that 6' tank to themselves. If they turn out to be compatible tankmates, they'll be fine by themselves are likely accept a similar aggression tank mate, maybe two. If they decide they don't like each other, the weaker one will suffer greatly.

As mentioned, Oscar's generate significant waste. But if your willing to clean the first layer of media in your filter(s) regularly and do water changes weekly, it's easily manageable.

You asked what I would do... I'd add 2 moderate Cichlids. Severum-to-Dempsey range. And if it didn't work out long term I'd add another tank to house the trouble maker. And probably get him a girlfriend.

Your suggested route of a catfish is also an option. Though if your Oscars don't get along, other Cichlid(s) will help balance the aggression where a catfish won't.

Thank you for the information! The sump is easily accessible for cleaning and I have an easy way to do weekly water changes as well. Wanted to make this display as easy as possible in terms of maintenance etc.

 

[Cal Amari]

If you can keep up with the maintenance I would either leave them as is, or add a small group of 5 or 6 pictus cats at the bottom for activity. and less likely to be attacked by the O's than other cichlid shaped fish. Still I'd rather have a 180 for this combo once they're grown.

 

[Backfromthedead]

I like the idea of limiting this tank to the 2 Oscars. If you have problems with the two fighting then maybe separate them/keep your favorite with a few larger barbs like Bala sharks or tinfoil barbs. Just make sure they are not much smaller than the oscars or they will be Bala snacks and tinfoil bites!

If you have problems with water quality once theyre mature or maybe just want to cut down on maintenance just keep your favorite Oscar alone in the tank.

I have to disagree with the pictus cat suggestion. I suppose it could work with the right conditions, but I have tried this on two different occasions, only to have the Oscar eat all the pictus once it was big enough. The most recent time a 6-7" Oscar was capable of scarfing down 3-4" pictus. For a full grown Oscar, even a full grown pictus will be swallowed whole with little to no chewing required.

 

[Tpriem21]

If you can keep up with the maintenance I would either leave them as is, or add a small group of 5 or 6 pictus cats at the bottom for activity. and less likely to be attacked by the O's than other cichlid shaped fish. Still I'd rather have a 180 for this combo once they're grown.

While I would also opt for a 180, I couldn’t pass up this old oceanic for my first “build” knowing it was going to be an Oscar tank. Hoping the 130 was going to provide them with a big healthy environment.

 

[Tpriem21]

I like the idea of limiting this tank to the 2 Oscars. If you have problems with the two fighting then maybe separate them/keep your favorite with a few larger barbs like Bala sharks or tinfoil barbs. Just make sure they are not much smaller than the oscars or they will be Bala snacks and tinfoil bites!

If you have problems with water quality once theyre mature or maybe just want to cut down on maintenance just keep your favorite Oscar alone in the tank.

I have to disagree with the pictus cat suggestion. I suppose it could work with the right conditions, but I have tried this on two different occasions, only to have the Oscar eat all the pictus once it was big enough. The most recent time a 6-7" Oscar was capable of scarfing down 3-4" pictus. For a full grown Oscar, even a full grown pictus will be swallowed whole with little to no chewing required.

I hope the 2 “growing up together” makes them both viable options together. I’m also fully aware that’s not how this works but one can hope! They are both fully aware when we walk in the room etc. was mainly seeing what people would advise as possible tank mates and to see if there were any suggestions on “bottom feeders” per se.