225g Oscar Tank + ?

[Bearbear]

Finally made my final upgrade to 225 and need help with stocking ideas. It is 72"L and 30"W.

Trying to avoid the usual stuff at chain stores, will have my common pleco Bob and Oscars, but will probably go with a wild Oscar.
Clown loaches are also a good possibility, have a smaller grow out tank for them until they hit 5-6".

Was thinking maybe 2 O's, but can't imagine this will work long term unless I get super lucky buying 4 and get 2 females. Pair would be nice but dont want them to claim the tank for themselves if they breed.

A friend gave me 10 juvi Midas that are bred from a pair of F1 he bought from Jeff Rapps.
Have mixed reviews if they'll work or not, currently at 2-3". Parents look great, but dont want to be stuck with 300+ fry in a year like he is now, was hoping on keeping 1 male or 2 females.

With an Oscar tank should I just try for a pair and stock around that? What are some good mates for O pairs?
What are good mates with just one O?

Not in a rush so oddball fish would be fine, just want to keep it priced reasonably.
Dont care for silver dollars or dither fish.
Found some nice red severums that are an option.
Marble cons or ghost/pink cons.
Midas?
A nice looking Dempsey would be good, haven't found any locally. Good looking ones aren't common for me.
Clown loaches or similar fish that grows faster with personality.

This is about all my limited imagination can come up with so far.

 

[Sarah88]

yoou can do two Os, in that size tank it wont matter if they are paired or not they will most likely get along (there are of course exceptions to this) if your going wild i would definitely suggest the peruvian ones, they are gorgeous. a nice midas is hard to pass up as well but i think they are a bit aggressive for an oscar, and a single male can usually be kept in a community if raised with them but they have to be around his aggression level. you may be able to have it work with the O if they start out with the O being much larger and the midas growing up with the O being dominant but its risky. you could do the midas with the dempseys and cons for dithers, you could also do a jag with the midas and dempseys, if you go the oscar route then you could do the severums as well as they are on the same aggression level some people even have angels with severums and oscars but the angels have to start out larger

 

[importracer]

225g......A pair of Oscars and an Arowana.......PAck it with 60 Cradinal Tetra.......I understand the target fish situation, but having a school of small fish throws off the eye in a neat kind of way.....

 

[ktluvsfish]

I would do a pair of oscars and possibly add maybe one of each of the following.... severum (notatus or rotkeil), chocolate cichlid, true parrot, and a group of Uaru. You could also add clown loaches (though they grow slow, not fast, so you would have to try to find some larger ones. Also, I have kept larger Rainbowfish with SA cichlids. I'm not a fan of silver dollars or other typical dithers either, but the rainbows really added a lot to the tank.

Good luck with whatever you decide Sounds like a fun tank.

 

[Bearbear]

I like the idea of a group of Uaru, a Choc Cichlid, Rokteil Sev and the two O's. Would like to keep the Midas, but don't really want to deal with a lot of aggression issues.
Real parrot cichlids are a bit pricey, but are not as common and look nice as adults, going to look around some more for those. Would a Blue Acara work instead for more color? Or maybe both?
Looking at Orinoco or Oscars from Ecuador, both darker coloring although the guys/gals from Ecuador are on the lighter side.

Maybe
2 Oscars
2-3 Uaru? (says minimum of two, but no definite number)
1 Rokteil Sev
1 Choc Cichlid
1 Real Parrot
1 Blue Acara
1 Common Pleco
2 Pink Cons - already have these so a little attached.
6-8 Clown Loaches (maybe)

That would probably leave me doing twice a week water changes with Oscars, common Pleco and the others wanting pristine waters. Or is that too heavily stocked? Figured I'd start with a big list and whittle it down.

 

[ktluvsfish]

Would you consider cutting it down to...

1 Oscar
3 Uaru
1 Chocolate Cichlid
1 Parrot
1 Common Pleco
2 Convicts

I think the bioload of 1 oscar and a common pleco is quite heavy already if you are wanting to add other fish. With one oscar, you don't have to worry about a breeding pair anyways. You could add the blue acara, but in my experience, they aren't always that colorful once they mature. You could maybe add a few more convicts as dithers (try to get all one sex so you don't end up with a breeding pair).

 

[VRWC]

Clown loaches are also a good possibility, have a smaller grow out tank for them until they hit 5-6".

If you start with 1-2 inch ones, it would probably take you 2 yrs to grow out clown loaches to 6 inches, especially in a "smaller" growout tank (smaller than a 180, if they are by themselves). These guys take forever to get big!

2 Oscars
2-3 Uaru? (says minimum of two, but no definite number)
1 Rokteil Sev
1 Choc Cichlid
1 Real Parrot
1 Blue Acara
1 Common Pleco
2 Pink Cons - already have these so a little attached.
6-8 Clown Loaches (maybe).

For the first 6 months or so, it will all work if you get juveniles...eventually youll just find yourself having to take all the wood/rocks/plants etc out to catch the problem fish as they arise, and that is a HUGE PITA! Trust me, I did it yesterday.

While a 225 sounds bigger, youre going to find that once that many fish hit 4-6 inches, they will squabble over territory and youll have to end up getting rid of some of them. Plus its only 6 ft and youre making up for the space in height, which isnt necessarily a beneficial thing with cichlids. The would prefer a bigger footprint to more height.

Bioload alone, Id definitely stick to 1 oscar (if any even). That setup, minus the oscars (if you replace the common pleco with something that doesnt grow as big and put out the amount of waste a common does) would probably work well for a long time goal. If youre stuck on an oscar, Id say get 1 and ditch the chocolate.


I have a 265 (84x24x30) and started with the following:

6x Honduran Red Points (1M & 5F) ~ 4 inches
4x 'Red' Istlanum ~ 2.5 inches
4x Piebald Midas ~ 1.5 inches
3x Cyannoguttatus ~3.5 inches
2x Grammodes (pair) ~ 4 inches
2x Convicts (pair) ~ 3 inches
2x Neets ~ 1.5 inches
2x Carpintis 'Vontehillo' ~ 1.5 inches
2x trimaculatus ~ 2.5 inches
1x Salvini ~ 3 inches
1x JD ~ 3.5 inches
1x Argentea ~ 4 inches
5 clown loaches
1 pictus
1 synodontis
1 rafael cat

now in that same tank, 7 months later, Ive re-homed all but the following (only casualties being from the red istlanum killing all her siblings):

1 pair of red istlanum
1 convict
1 HRP
1 neet
5 clown loaches
a few various catfish.

thread HERE and update HERE and I plan on doing a current update this week sometime.

I know its a different temperament of cichlids, but same concept.

I cant tell you how many times Ive had to remove everything in the tank to get 1 a-hole fish, simply to avoid any casualties...and now its as perfect as its going to get I believe, but the neet might have to go if he continues his tantrums on the HRP & con.

Anyways, sorry for the long spiel...just some thoughts and considerations. Good luck with it whatever you do.

 

[Bearbear]

Would you consider cutting it down to...
1 Oscar
3 Uaru
1 Chocolate Cichlid
1 Parrot
1 Common Pleco
2 Convicts

This does look more manageable. The parrots reach up to 14" and choc cichlid was listed up to 12" supposedly. A lot of big bodies swimming around in there.

Bioload alone, Id definitely stick to 1 oscar (if any even). That setup, minus the oscars (if you replace the common pleco with something that doesnt grow as big and put out the amount of waste a common does) would probably work well for a long time goal. If youre stuck on an oscar, Id say get 1 and ditch the chocolate.

I was planning on holding out for an 8ft, but didn't quite have the patience. Maybe in another year or so.

1 Oscar
3 Uaru
1 Parrot
1 Common Pleco
2 Convicts
Uaru and Parrot are still debatable, they like the warmer temp and Uaru have a varying diet from the others. Still would be a nice change of pace and the extra heating isn't too bad with the house at 78deg most of the year.
If anything I'll move the Cons to their own tank and maybe try rainbowfish for dithers. Are Sevs a bad/better option over Cons/Rainbowfish?
Thanks for the ideas.

 

[Chrisplosion]

This does look more manageable. The parrots reach up to 14" and choc cichlid was listed up to 12" supposedly. A lot of big bodies swimming around in there

True parrot yes, blood parrot no. No Blood Parrot except MAYBE a King Kong parrot will reach anything more than 12 inches and thats even rare case. Most top out are 7-10 inches.

 

[Bearbear]

It's a Real Parrot.

Pic from Rockbass6 thread.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=309732&highlight=real+parrot