How long before way overstocked?

[Eric L]

I currently have a 180 gallon 6x2x2 with 2 oscars, one 5" and the other 4" and then 5 silver dollers, a firemouth and a red dovii cichlid.

I am going to try to get a good breeding pair of oscars in the future and I was wondering, how long before it is clear that the oscars have paired off?

My other question is, I will be adding 4 or 5 more oscars to the tank impermenently and they will be removed after I have had a succesful egg laying+fertilization so big would all the oscars have to be before the tank becomes way overstocked and how young can oscars spawn?


Thanks,

Eric

 

[Jason_S]

ok first about the red dovii...you sure this isn't a red devil or a red motaguense? there is only like one picture on the internet of a real red dovii and as far as I know there are none in captivity. red devils and red tiger motaguense are much more common. do you have a pic of this fish?

as for the oscars, once they start spawning they will become much more aggressive and territorial. they usually reach sexual maturity around 6" or so and once a pair forms you should see them sticking together, cleaning off a flattened surface to lay the eggs on and they should defend that territory together from the other fish.

 

[johno27]

If that is a Dovii in that tank he will not take kindly to the oscars being aggresive.They would do one of their mock oscar charges and get wned:

 

[dovii88]

that dovii is goin to run that tank when he gets bigger..so either i would get rid of the other fish...or seperate the dovii from the bunch...because he is goin to get wicked pissy and end up killing everythingg....so take heith and warning...

 

[Eric L]

I google image searched red dovii cichlid and came up 3 pictures of other fish and then I googles dovii and I defifntly no I dont have one. He looks more like a jewel cichlid but red with very different patterns/colorations but the shape and the way he swims is the same.

 

[Ash]

I dont know much but I do know that if you have an oscar pair or a female when she lays eggs, she gonna be a real bizatch, my bf bro had one that laid eggs and she became agressive as nutz

 

[Peanut_Power]

Gettin a group of the oscars and lettin them pair up like you said is you best bet bro. Oscars are relatively cheap, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem gettin 4 to 5 of them. The main problem you will have is that they are messy eaters, and that many oscars in one tank is gonna put a strain on the bioload. Top that off that they are fast growers, and more size means more waste, you could have issues if you don't keep up with the water changes. Oscars and a lot of the South American cichlids are notoriously prone to gettin HITH, which is never very much fun, but is treatable and fixable if you don't let it progress too far.

Let them get large and pair up, i would say in a tank that large don't remove any of them till they are about 8"...then you can be sure that they are sexually mature and paired up. Basically the only way you can sex oscars is by either ventin them or waitin till they breed. Pay close attention though, its not uncommon for you to get same sex pairs.... ....so make sure that you have a REAL pair before you get rid of the other ones. When i had my group of Oscars in the 300gal they didn't pair up and start breedin till they hit the 10" range...just be patient.

 

[Eric L]

thanks, I just got 3 more oscars today, an albino, a red, and a tiger and the red already got sucked into the overflow and into the overflow box but I got him out and he is eating and everything now. How this happened I dont know but an angel fish disapeared in the other twin 180 gallon a few days ago and guess where I found him .


But ya, I try my best to keep the nitrates below 20ppm and most weeks one water change will do so now I will most likly end up doing 2 a week but o well. Once the I have a pair though I am hoping that a well fake planted large tank will be enough to keep my other few cichlids and the SDs alive, lol.