fronts and oscars
- Thread starter baracuda
- Start date
it may work, but putting them together is definitely not recommended. I don't think the difference in water parameters would matter much because oscars are very adaptable and will do fine in highly alkaline and hard water. my water is very hard and alkaline and I've kept oscars and other south american and central american fish with no problems.
my concern would be the differences in the way they communicate with each other as well as the fact that fronts are generally recommended to be kept in a colony of 1 or 2 males with several females. it's not absolutely necessary to keep them in colonies like this but they seem to thrive best when kept this way.
bottom line, they may be ok together and they may not. both species are rather docile for the large size they attain, they are both voracious eaters and are both omnivorous leaning more towards carniverous. the key would be how well the individual specimens you get would get along together and you'll only know by trying. just remember a certain combination of fish can work fine for months or even years and all of a sudden things go wrong and fish get killed out of no where.
personally, I wouldn't mix the 2 and I don't think many people would. it's definitely not out of the question, simply not recommended.
my concern would be the differences in the way they communicate with each other as well as the fact that fronts are generally recommended to be kept in a colony of 1 or 2 males with several females. it's not absolutely necessary to keep them in colonies like this but they seem to thrive best when kept this way.
bottom line, they may be ok together and they may not. both species are rather docile for the large size they attain, they are both voracious eaters and are both omnivorous leaning more towards carniverous. the key would be how well the individual specimens you get would get along together and you'll only know by trying. just remember a certain combination of fish can work fine for months or even years and all of a sudden things go wrong and fish get killed out of no where.
personally, I wouldn't mix the 2 and I don't think many people would. it's definitely not out of the question, simply not recommended.
then why are there so many introduced species in the waters of FL. because nature can adjust to certain things. no fish tank is natural. with that said you can give it a try if both the fronts. & oscars are captive bred. Wild caughts are the ones who will not tolerate the differance in water requirements. 3 or 4 fronts. should be ok with 1 or 2 oscars as niether species is overrally aggressive on average (who know you might get the 1 out of 70 exception). Cichlids understand each other they speak body language not verbal. I kept fronts. with severums & Amph. robertstoni before. Just make sure you do water changes as the only major water concern I see is oscars produce more waste then the fronts. might be able to tolerate. how big is the tank?
I have a few frontosa's and about 6 oscars of different sizes.. I am no expert of either fish but i know the Oscars grow FAST and Frontosa's grow slow.. and Oscars even though they have a laid back attiitude for the most part can get bored and can become aggressive just to have something to do.. Frontosa's are expensive and a frontosa in beautiful healthy condition is just a ray of sunshine.. fronts under stress become almost colorless and will shy away from food if stressed out by the more agressive big eating Oscar.. I just can't see these two types in the same tank.. and if nothing else i would not want to see my fronts with fins missing etc.. i had a few front babies in with some young lake Malawi cichlids and i noticed the lake malawi cichlids were way too fast for the slower frontosa's..infact observing fronts so far i would say they are on the more delicate side.. My oscars are in with 2 huge pacu in a 220 tank and they are coming out and going into their own 125 gal because they torment the giant pacu.. and i mean these pacu are 20 inches in lenghth and probably 16 inches in width.. I love Oscars and they are so innocent looking with those big soft eyes but they are sneaky...
Looking forward to hearing about what would go with fronts myself..although at this point i think i will just have fronts and a cat fish in the 125 gal.
This is a poor method to apply a justification towards forcing your pets to adapt to your conditions instead of providing them proper conditions. I'm from S. FL and have gone fishing and diving in most of the waters where introduced species can be found. What I've seen is that most SA species occur in slow waters that are heavier in tannins, and dissolving organic detritis, which provides more acidic conditions than the faster waters low in organic detritus with a more alkaline chemistry supports african and indonesian species. You can find many areas where chemistries bleed over one another but, the species tend to remain where the chems are closer to their natural waters. Of the fish we've caught in waters different than they evolved in, those individuals were more often thin and ragged looking. These observations weren't found in every case but, they were seen often enough that we'd plan our collections by the waterways that matched the tanks we set up for new fish.