Can You Mix Oscars and African Cichlids?

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lmartelli77;2449857; said:
I agree with Miguel. No way should you do this. If you don't keep oscars in soft, acidic water they can develop many problems, including HITH.
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I disagree, oscars can thrive, breed, and live long lives in water that is not acidic. Most oscars in the hobby now, like those bred in FL fish farms are most likely not coming from similar water to those in the Amazon. HITH is more likely to occur due to dietary/nutriotional deficiency and high nitrates more than whether they are in lowe pH, soft water. The problem will be diet, because the mbuna will end up getting bloat from the high protein diet the more carnivorous oscar prefers. Either way, the mbuna should definitely not be mixed with oscars as you said!
 
I had oscars with convicts before and the convicts started attacking the oscars. There were 7 convicts and one 3" oscar and one 4" oscar. I separated them after one night.
 
Cichlaholics Anonymous;2450007; said:
I disagree, oscars can thrive, breed, and live long lives in water that is not acidic. Most oscars in the hobby now, like those bred in FL fish farms are most likely not coming from similar water to those in the Amazon. HITH is more likely to occur due to dietary/nutriotional deficiency and high nitrates more than whether they are in lowe pH, soft water. The problem will be diet, because the mbuna will end up getting bloat from the high protein diet the more carnivorous oscar prefers. Either way, the mbuna should definitely not be mixed with oscars as you said!
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I will back up the post above as its not true that oscars and mbuna need special water as nearly of them come from fish farms and not wild caught as all fish farm have same PH in the water where the fish raised in.
 
The African should be alright in my experience. The thing you will have to watch is the two Oscars. Once they get a little bigger they may nog get along anymore. They don't tend to handle puberty with much grace at all.
 
thats a big misconception with pet store fish these days, everybody thinks that african cichlids come from africa and south american oscars come from south america. the thing is that there usually born and raised in the southern states(florida for example) of the good US of A, and are in very large breeding tanks that dont really keep to the every specific need of every fish they breed.

anyway what i'm saying is for a temp. fix the water conditions should be fine, and the cichlids will hold there own as will the oscars. you should be ok until the oscars reach 5-6 in.

p.s. with the money you made from selling your other house buy another 55gal. or maybe somthing bigger.
 
Your tapwater is your tapwater, and you're stuck with it no matter what fish you keep unless you want to spend lots of money for a RO/DI setup and deal with that every time you change your water.

Consider only species compatibility and temps in whether or not to mix them, water is the least of your concern.
 
i agree that most common mbuna are farm raised and oscars as well. aggression-wise..it may even be ok as long as the mbuna aren't bite-sized.

the main factor that no one mentioned was DIET.

central/south amerians have a high animal protein diet while african cichlds are mostly plant/algae based.

too much meat for your african is a no no
 
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