I guess I should have been a little clearer when I say oscars don't grow any faster than other cichlids. When you compare the final size of an oscar to a firemouth your looking at an 6" difference. Firemouths are not big fish. A full grown Jack Dempsey only reaches approx. 9" and sev's are more tall than they are long again another fish which only reaches approx 8" full grown. Oscars on the other hand grow to be well over 12" in length. Comparatively speaking Oscars don't grow any faster than any other cichlid. I've kept all of these fish and Oscars are big fish but they are by no means as aggressive as most "fish store experts" claim them to be. They definately don't even begin to compare to the aggression displayed by jags, trimacs and flowerhorns. In fact in my opinion your bully, if you have one, could be anyone of those fish including the smallest, the firemouth. The reason I suggested more dithers is simply to allow your cichlids to focus on other fish rather than beating up each other. The catfish tend to hold their own and clown loaches are surprisingly quick as are the silver dollars you intend on getting. The thing about cichlids is everyone has an opinion. Everyone has had different experiences and then there are those who just have no idea what they are talking about and are writing responses to threads just to write. The advice is out there but ultimately every experience with these amazing fish is different.
Approve my 135 stock list.
- Thread starter skillzdatkillz
- Start date
I'm sorry but you are just wrong. Final adult size has nothing to do with my statement, its the length of time one fish grows compared to the others mentioned and in this case the oscar would grow a lot faster. Not an opinion, "a fact". What you are saying is that if this guy bought all the cichlids that he listed at lets say 2.5" that they would all reach 6" in the same amount of time and thats false. Hell my green terror and jack dempsey have taken almost a year to hit 4.5-5" were my oscars are easily pushing around 10" in the same amount of time.
The key to my statement there was this "Comparatively speaking Oscars don't grow any faster than any other cichlid." What that statement means is a fish that will grow to 15" will be 10" at a years time when a fish that only grows to be 9" will be 6" in a years time. Again COMPARITAVELY SPEAKING Oscars don't grow any faster than J.D.'s, GT's or Thoricthys. However, I'm not going to hijack this thread anymore by arguing a moot point.
I personally think it would be a little overstocked when all those fish are adults, oscar=55 gallons on its own so your basicly stocking an 80 gallon with the rest of those fish.
Nore am I willing to argue over it. I have seen to many out grow just about everything. I'm going with REC this one. "You're just wrong".
My personal opinion, I would drop the oscar. Everything else sounds like a really cool display tank. Rock-On!!
As far as sevs being timid, it really all comes down to each individual fish, but from my experience, they do really well with larger, typically more aggressive cichlids. My green severum rules my 125 LOL and used to steal food literally out of my oscars' mouths. I think they make a great addition to any large cichlid community.
And just like I said about the severums, individual temperment is always highly variable. In general terms, I think the set-up you have in mind would be fine, but keep an eye on that texas.
And just like I said about the severums, individual temperment is always highly variable. In general terms, I think the set-up you have in mind would be fine, but keep an eye on that texas.
