Compatability and Stocking Questions for Oscar Tank?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Shadowplec6

Shadowplec6

Exodon
MFK Member
Oct 14, 2019
75
40
26
31
Cato, NY
I am making plans for an oscar tank and I know want fish I want to stock as tankmate, but I am unsure on what order I should stock the tankmates in? I figured I would stock the oscar last since they are more aggressive. The tank will be 72"L x 24"W x 30"H (224 gl.)
Stocking List for 224gl. Oscar Tank
1 Tiger Oscars
1- Royal Pleco
1- Ornate Bichir
5 or 6- Clown Loach
5- Silver Dollars (possibly Red Hooks, but I haven't made a final choice on the specific species)

I heard that Clown loach grow pretty slow especially compared to Oscars so I figured I would stock the Clown loach and the Royal pleco and the Silver Dollars first. Then get the Bichir and the Oscar last, but I unsure rather I should get the bichir and the oscar at the same time or if I should get the bichir before the Oscar and give it time to grow; then get the Oscar?
 
Last edited:
Well none of those fish are insanely aggressive. Even Oscars are a more docile cichlid if you compared them all. The stocking order IMO should be based on growth rate not whos most territorial. In all honesty Id stock the clown loaches first and get them bigger because they grow so slowly. Next I'd go for the royal pleco. Then the red hooks and finally the ornate poly and oscar. Id also stock them in somewhat descending size with the clown loaches and Royal being at least 5.5-6", red hooks around 4"-5", and ornate bichir and oscar around 3"-4". That way youll have a bigger buffer in terms of size and predation between the fish. All those fish should be okay in the tank for life but they all have very different growth rates so the only issue I see coming about is predation down the road if a big enough advantage develops. I also can't think of the name but I believe there is a subspecies or cousin species of Oscar that tend to actually get a few inches smaller than the standard oscar strains we commonly see. Not sure if that intrigues you but its food for thought just as a way of keeping the size gaps smaller. Hope this helps, looking forward to seeing updates
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shadowplec6 and Justepic
I agree about the growth but the biggest issue I thought of is how will the Ornate get enough food to eat. Competeing with the Tiger Oscar alone will be rough and then you add the Redhooks into the scenario and food for the Bichir is worse. Also a risk adding slower growing Clown Loaches with a large Oscar with a large mouth. The Clown Loaches would need to be mature already prior to adding.
 
I have pretty much that exact stocking level Except no clown loaches! I added my royal pleco and p.delhezi first then bout 3 weeks later my oscars that was back last year! Only last week I added 2 silver dollars and 5 red hooks! Which meant I had to find them big enough not to be eaten by the 11” Oscar! If I were to do it from the start again I’d definitely start with silver dollars and the royal pleco then the poly then maybe a couple of months after that the oscars! He grew from about an inch to 11 in about 10-11 months! HTH
 
My stock is also very similar to yours. I started off with silver dollars, clown loaches and an ornate bichir. But I had to rehome my clowns when my ornate hit the 12” mark because they were stuck at 2-3”. Then I purchased a 3” oscar and now he’s around 9-10” with the ornate at 14” at the moment.
 
My Delhezi is about 10” now! When I got her she was about 4” and my Oscar obviously grew much quicker has never bothered her so don’t know if I or she was lucky! ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom