thankas for the info tiger.at one point i did have an oscar that wouldnt eat small fish i had a betta happily living with him
Dwarf and Large cichlids Living together.
- Thread starter elvispacman
- Start date
I have kept many CA, SA and African cichlids for years but oscar is one cichlid I have never kept. I always wanted to keep a red oscar to contrast with mostly blue and yellow Africans, but I never tried. I know oscar is one of the most peaceful cichlids so aggression is not my concern, but my fear is that oscar is piscivorous and will eat small Africans. I always hear people feed their oscar pet with goldfish. I am surprised and glad to hear that oscar can be safe with small fish. I guess it depends on what you raise oscar with. If you raise oscar from baby with dry food only, they may never acquire the taste for live fish.
I had a 10" JD that would not touch guppies, because he was fed with dry food in his whole life.
I had a 10" JD that would not touch guppies, because he was fed with dry food in his whole life.
It really all depends on how your tank will be setup. Provide tons of places for the smaller cichlids to go to get away from the bigger fish and they should be fine.
It also depends on what big cichlid you select. Piscivorous fish should be avoided as it is not only dangerous to small fish, but it can endanger itself. I once had a champsachromis carealus (trout cichlids) that attempted to swallow a small red zebra and got stuck in his mouth. He was suffocated to death so I lost both fish. I raised him from fry and never fed him any live fish but one day his hunting instinct turned on.
You can tell piscivorous fish by its body and mouth shape. Torpedo shape fish like pike and trout fish are designed to hunt fish, so are big mouth bass fish like Peacock bass and jacquar. Aquidens, Vieja and Geophagus have small or downturn mouth are omnivours. I am not sure about oscar but read that oscar is not an accomplished pisivore but its reputation for lunching on goldfish could just be an aquarium culture.
You can tell piscivorous fish by its body and mouth shape. Torpedo shape fish like pike and trout fish are designed to hunt fish, so are big mouth bass fish like Peacock bass and jacquar. Aquidens, Vieja and Geophagus have small or downturn mouth are omnivours. I am not sure about oscar but read that oscar is not an accomplished pisivore but its reputation for lunching on goldfish could just be an aquarium culture.
