Seriously!my Oscar kills EVERYTHING thats y he is alone!he is even beating up the pleco,so I moved the pleco away.
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Oscar Tank Mates?
- Thread starter Empyreal
- Start date
fyi, even if they are raised together doesnt mean tht they wont fight. the other one eats the other one up. this a lesson i got from my cousin. will not be good idea either. just a suggestion though. 
I have had lots of Oscars over the years and Catfish or plecos are great tankmates, mid-size cichlids like convicts and Demseys have worked well for me too
It's crazy to hear all these aggressive oscar stories. All of mine besides one have been harassed to death mad killed by other cichlids such as dempseys and gts. The one I have now is the biggest fish and tank boss but still bothers no one except feeders which they rarely get.
I think the main thing you should walk away with from all these stories and suggestions is that cichlids all have different personalities and there are many combos that will work, but also might not work depending on the personalities of the cichlids in question. You have to keep in mind that a 6" oscar is still pretty young and may grow into a more dominant/aggressive role as it matures.
Many of the suggestions given will work. Of the ones given, I can comment on a few.
Chocolate cichlids are hit or miss IME. They either are kittens or pissed off lions with very little in between. Chocolates will also reach about the same size as an oscar and the dominant one will be a toss up. If you want the oscar to be king, I would pass on a chocolate.
Silver dollars are not an aggressive fish by any stretch of the imagination and will work well with an oscar 99% of the time (with the 1% being when the oscar doesn't like the SDs LOL).
Severums are often a good choice that many people use. They usually tap out a few inches smaller than a full grown oscar, but grow slower (you will need to take this into consideration and shoot for a severum in the 5-7" range to avoid aggression or predatory problems). Severums are like any other cichlid and you will occasionally come across a mean one.
Acaras are great IMO. Acaras range in size from a few inches up to 12" depending on species. If you shoot for a species of the Andinoacara genus, you will find most of those acaras hit about 5-6". However, the Andinoacara genus is home to the green terror and many of the genus members can be aggressive (though blue acara that are NOT hybrids are often very peaceful). Aequidens genus is home to 8-10" acaras that are almost always very peaceful.
Geophagus are almost always peaceful regardless of species. I have seen many people mistake highly active fish for being aggressive and geophagus fall into this misconception very often. Geophagus are very active and, when in groups, will sift through sand all day long. Very few geos do well in groups of less than four. I would recommend looking into the smallest members of the geophagus genus, which reach sizes of 5-6" normally, though some males can reach up to 8". Geo red head tapajos and pindare are a couple recommendations I can make, being that I currently own them and love them. On a side note, I love having geos in my tanks because during their sifting of the sand, they grind up the visible fish poop and spit it back out. This reduces the poop to tiny particles that are almost impossible to see with the naked eye. These particles are then "waterborne" and will be sucked up and taken care of by the filters rather than sitting on the bottom of the tank where they aren't just an eyesore, but also a water parameter problem.
Of course there are many, many other options that will work for your tank. Take all opinions and suggestions with a grain of salt and be prepared to rehome/return a fish if it turns out that you got an aggressive fish or if your oscar gets aggressive towards the new fish. I would also recommend rearranging the decor of the tank immediately before releasing a new fish into the tank. This will destroy previously laid territories and make it so that the oscar isn't territorial while the new fish is scoping the place out.
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Many of the suggestions given will work. Of the ones given, I can comment on a few.
Chocolate cichlids are hit or miss IME. They either are kittens or pissed off lions with very little in between. Chocolates will also reach about the same size as an oscar and the dominant one will be a toss up. If you want the oscar to be king, I would pass on a chocolate.
Silver dollars are not an aggressive fish by any stretch of the imagination and will work well with an oscar 99% of the time (with the 1% being when the oscar doesn't like the SDs LOL).
Severums are often a good choice that many people use. They usually tap out a few inches smaller than a full grown oscar, but grow slower (you will need to take this into consideration and shoot for a severum in the 5-7" range to avoid aggression or predatory problems). Severums are like any other cichlid and you will occasionally come across a mean one.
Acaras are great IMO. Acaras range in size from a few inches up to 12" depending on species. If you shoot for a species of the Andinoacara genus, you will find most of those acaras hit about 5-6". However, the Andinoacara genus is home to the green terror and many of the genus members can be aggressive (though blue acara that are NOT hybrids are often very peaceful). Aequidens genus is home to 8-10" acaras that are almost always very peaceful.
Geophagus are almost always peaceful regardless of species. I have seen many people mistake highly active fish for being aggressive and geophagus fall into this misconception very often. Geophagus are very active and, when in groups, will sift through sand all day long. Very few geos do well in groups of less than four. I would recommend looking into the smallest members of the geophagus genus, which reach sizes of 5-6" normally, though some males can reach up to 8". Geo red head tapajos and pindare are a couple recommendations I can make, being that I currently own them and love them. On a side note, I love having geos in my tanks because during their sifting of the sand, they grind up the visible fish poop and spit it back out. This reduces the poop to tiny particles that are almost impossible to see with the naked eye. These particles are then "waterborne" and will be sucked up and taken care of by the filters rather than sitting on the bottom of the tank where they aren't just an eyesore, but also a water parameter problem.
Of course there are many, many other options that will work for your tank. Take all opinions and suggestions with a grain of salt and be prepared to rehome/return a fish if it turns out that you got an aggressive fish or if your oscar gets aggressive towards the new fish. I would also recommend rearranging the decor of the tank immediately before releasing a new fish into the tank. This will destroy previously laid territories and make it so that the oscar isn't territorial while the new fish is scoping the place out.
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Believe it or not I keep my Tiger Oscar and my Albino Red Oscar with Opaline Gouramis and they all do just fine with each other, both oscars are 4 inches. I also have stayed away from feeding my oscars feeder fish like minoes, they mostly get frozen and pellet food and the occasional super worm.
My Oscar is around 9-10" and I keep it with a 7" jag, 7" jd, 2 6" snooks and a 6" datnoid. The Oscar is king and bullies the jag and dat to some degree. The jd will not be bullied but minds her own business. The two snooks just swim around in their own world IMO they are fantastic tank mates. They do grow fairly large though. But for the most part they all get along fine. I also have a 5" pike that kind of minds his own but won't be bullied. They have been together for about a year now. I'll see how it pans out.
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In my experience big blood parrots work well... They are mean, but no damage is really done. I kept a Oscar and a parrot in a 75 raised from babies for 6 years with not one torn fin in 6 years. Oscar was about 13in. Parrot only got to 5" by the time I sold the setup when moving cross country.
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