right now i have 4 oscars in my 125. i know that is a little too much so im giving two of them to a friend. i just purchased a 2.5in jag. can anybody tell me from experience how well jags and oscars live together? 
jags and oscars [compatability]
- Thread starter scottchristian
- Start date
exactly.posteo said:
If its a killer jag you will lose some oscars, if they are killer oscars you may lose a jag.
I've had success with keeping them together. Currently i have a 12+" jag with a 10 or 11 inch oscar and they are buddies. (After the initial lip lock.... they were fine)
i saw the little jag yesterday and just couldnt resist. i think they are awesome fish had to have one. i have the jag in my wifes 90gal right now and everything seems fine. one of her little africans and the jag were chasing each other around playfully. fun to watch. anyways how long should i wait until i introduce him to the oscars? the biggest is around 6.5in? 
i had a jag that was about 6" and i had to sell it when i moved to florida. the owner of the pet store put him in with two adult oscars both above 10" both lasted a week before my jag paired up with a female dovii that was about 5" and killed them. so i would say watch out if they havn't grown up togeather. i would wait till the jag is just big enough to not get eatin. and i would still watch out for the oscars.
really depends on the fishs personality i recently had two jags one was very docile the other kept on attacking my common plec so much she ripped herself apart on his armor .
I would wait to introduce your jag until it is about 5"..or until your sure your oscars can't swallow it. Small jags are fairly shy in my experience until they reach the 5-6" stage. They also seem to grow slower than oscars. I have raised jags with green terrors, jack dempsies, oscars, midas cichlids, and once a TSN when small and all about the same size..under 5 inches. The young jags were often shy, pushed around and bullied at this stage. Grew a little more slowly it seemed than the above mentioned fishes(except the green terrors) and spent lots of time hiding.
But at the 5-6" stage things normally change. Jags tend to get quite a bit more aggressive and territorial. Assert dominance over other tank mates. I have only had success keeping them with oscars, midas, and 1 dempsey(who was constanly bullied and spent most time in seclusion) after the 6" mark. They also tend to cohabitate with just certain individual fish, while mercilessly persecuting others. The current jag I own was grown out with 2 oscars and a TSN, all aquired at about 2 inches. After reaching 5" he accepted one of the oscars. Swimming together and hanging out. But it almost killed the other. Had to be seperated. My jag and his oscar buddy are now 12-13" living in a 90 g. show tank. All is fine as long as the oscar stays to it's quarter of the tank. If the O encroaches upon the jags domain, it is liplocked and driven back to it's area.
I would not recommend keeping jags with bottom dwelling fish. Too easy a target and they seem to pay no attention to territorial boundaries. My TSN was almost killed by my current jag after growing up together and being twice the size of the jag when the aggression started.
When you do introduce the fish, just keep a close eye on them. Provide some cover for hiding. Be ready to move some of the fish depending on behavior and aggression. 2 oscars could pair up and bully your jag. Jag might not accept either of your oscars after getting acclimated. All 3 could be like peas in a pod. Every case is different depending on individual fish personalities.
I'm guessing your tank is 6' long. The one thing I will almost garuantee is that after hitting the 8" or so mark, your jag will claim at least half of it.
Have fun and good luck
But at the 5-6" stage things normally change. Jags tend to get quite a bit more aggressive and territorial. Assert dominance over other tank mates. I have only had success keeping them with oscars, midas, and 1 dempsey(who was constanly bullied and spent most time in seclusion) after the 6" mark. They also tend to cohabitate with just certain individual fish, while mercilessly persecuting others. The current jag I own was grown out with 2 oscars and a TSN, all aquired at about 2 inches. After reaching 5" he accepted one of the oscars. Swimming together and hanging out. But it almost killed the other. Had to be seperated. My jag and his oscar buddy are now 12-13" living in a 90 g. show tank. All is fine as long as the oscar stays to it's quarter of the tank. If the O encroaches upon the jags domain, it is liplocked and driven back to it's area.
I would not recommend keeping jags with bottom dwelling fish. Too easy a target and they seem to pay no attention to territorial boundaries. My TSN was almost killed by my current jag after growing up together and being twice the size of the jag when the aggression started.
When you do introduce the fish, just keep a close eye on them. Provide some cover for hiding. Be ready to move some of the fish depending on behavior and aggression. 2 oscars could pair up and bully your jag. Jag might not accept either of your oscars after getting acclimated. All 3 could be like peas in a pod. Every case is different depending on individual fish personalities.
I'm guessing your tank is 6' long. The one thing I will almost garuantee is that after hitting the 8" or so mark, your jag will claim at least half of it.
Have fun and good luck
thnks for all the advice. right now the little guy is always in hiding, i did just get him though. i have to chech all the hiding spots to find him. would it be a bad idea to put a divider in the tank for a while so the fish can get used to seeing each other or would that cause negative effects. ive never done it before, but im willing to do anything to try and make this work. i really dont want to have to keep them separate or get rid of one of them...
scottchristian said:
I would have thought about this before I bought it to start with but since the deed is done. I would say grow him/her out as well, oscars think they can swallow things that they cant, so chances are he might try and eat it if the size difference is to great.
I had a 300gal tank with an oscar and a jag as well as some others, and niether bothered the other at all. Actually my trifecta of convicts did the terrorizing.