Double trouble oscars?

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esoxlucius

esoxlucius

Balaclava Bot Butcher
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2015
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I'm in the very early stages of adding to my 180g and 360g tanks. I have room for a 120g, 4x2x2 footprint, and have decided to go with an oscar tank, 2 oscars to be precise. The plan is to get them tiny and grow them out in my new 120g, and then when they get around the 6" mark they will get transferred to my current 180g to live the rest of their lives. My current 180g tank, all small stuff, will then be transferred to the 120g.

I've kept single oscars before, a long long time ago, but never more than one. The scenarios are obviously male/male, male/female or female/female. If I get them tiny is there a very strong chance that either one of those scenarios will work, or as they grow which one has the potential to cause me most grief?

From what i've read young oscars are notoriously difficult to sex, unless you vent them. If this is true it will be a simple case of getting two and just seeing what happens, in time. And if I do end up with male/female are they guaranteed to pair up, and if they do, successfully, are they good parents?
 
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pops pops
 
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So, what i'm taking from my own research plus the experiences of members in the above links, thanks tlindsey tlindsey , is that it's nigh on impossible to sex them and that there's a strong possibility that even a same sex pair can show "false" courtship/mating behaviour. And even if you did get lucky and ended up with a pair, and they bred, there's an even stronger possibility that they will eat the eggs or, if they do hatch, the fry too!

I'm not too concerned about the breeding, it's not my main focus with this project. My aim is to have two oscars that get on basically. I think, once mature, they'll look stunning in my front room 180. I think it's going to be a case of pure potluck. And if they can't get on as they mature i'll probably rehome one.
 
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esoxlucius said:
So, what i'm taking from my own research plus the experiences of members in the above links, thanks tlindsey tlindsey , is that it's nigh on impossible to sex them and that there's a strong possibility that even a same sex pair can show "false" courtship/mating behaviour. And even if you did get lucky and ended up with a pair, and they bred, there's an even stronger possibility that they will eat the eggs or, if they do hatch, the fry too!

I'm not too concerned about the breeding, it's not my main focus with this project. My aim is to have two oscars that get on basically. I think, once mature, they'll look stunning in my front room 180. I think it's going to be a case of pure potluck. And if they can't get on as they mature i'll probably rehome one.
Click to expand...

I personally would get 3 and hopefully 2 out of the 3 will like each other at the juvenile stage.
 
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I have no problem keeping Oscars together, and they take to acting like a mated pair, the sex does not matter. 3 Oscars is not a good ideal, 2 you have a couple "friends per say' 3 and you have an out cast. as for pairing a mated couple? best of luck.
 
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