Jaguar cichlid

[Bigred5]

Hello, I recently removed my albino from my 125 gallon. He was not able to move because the other oscar would chase him back to his cave whenever he did exept when he would get food and that was because the other one was busy eating.Which i do not think is a very good way for a fish to live, in fear all the time and only able to move about a foot. So a friend of mine with a 180 gallon with a sevrum and 7 silver dollars offerd to take him.

So that leaves me to this: my oscar is obviously very aggressive for an oscar and he is now the only fish in a 125 gallon tank. i was wondering what your opinions would be about having a jaguar cichlid as a tank mate. Or if you think a jaguar would not be a good tank mate I would be happy to hear any others suggestions.

The oscar I now have alone in the 125 gallon is about 6in and the albino was about 5in.
Thank you in advance.

 

[resimodos]

I think you might just have a really aggressive oscar. i have a tank with an oscar, jaguar, pleco, lima shovelnose, and a gator gar. all inbetween 4-8 inch with the oscar being the biggest and the jaguar the smallest. they all get along great. when they get bigger ill have to seperate them, especially the gator gar cause he gets way too big. i think jaguars make great tankmates for oscars, but i purposely got one that was smaller because ive had jags before and they can be real mean. i dont think my other fish would survive if the jag was the big guy in the tank, he is by far the most aggressive in my tank. sounds like your oscar can hold his own so i would go for it, just try to get one the same size as your oscar. jaguars are quite impressive fish once they have their adult colors. they grow a bit bigger than oscars too. Red devil cichlids are some of my favorites but they are even more aggressive than jags IMO. but you could also look into green terrors, jack dempseys, or maybe even a large convict. those are some of my favs anyways. good luck man, oscars are great pets

 

[Skalper666]

You would probably do better with several mid sized fish than just one jag. The jaguar will surely become the aggressor once large enough. Plus having only two fish will put a lot of pressure on the weaker one. You will probably have a cage match on your hands.

 

[justarn]

Try a loisellei if you want a parachromis, least aggressive of the lot... As above tho he would do better with some smaller fish. Years ago I always had good success with convicts and T-bar for tankmates. Raphael catfish or smaller pleco work well too. Green terror might be another option, get one above 4 inch tho as they grow slow, some Oscars just don't like other Oscars but get on great with other fish. Add plenty of caves.

 

[axs377]

In a bigger tank with a couple other fish, I'd think a jaguar would be a great option. However in a 125, I'd go with the suggestion of others. Maybe a jack dempsey, convict, green terror, or firemouth, or even two of those to spread aggression around. While the oscar may be extra aggressive for an O, many large cichlids like a jaguar would still be much too capable of tearing him apart in my experience.

 

[resimodos]

thats a good point skalper. how you set up your tank can have a major impact on fish behavior also. i will probably have issues with my jag when he gets bigger, but he works for me now cause hes the smallest. convicts, although they dont get that big, are tough as nails and cheap, maybe test his aggression with one of those

 

[pops]

I would steer clear of a male jag, Female might work but not a male, male JD can make good tank mates also, have had them together before.

 

[pops]

speaking of jags, here is first spawn of the year, need to get the pre-filters up on the intakes.

 

[jeaninel]

Pops, that's a lot of eggs! What do you do with all the fry? Sell/trade to lfs, give away to fellow MFKers?

 

[tanyaelec11]

female jags will work. loiselle ... well males will work but females are just as aggressive as full grown jags