Can I keep one Osacar with a large group of African cichlids? My tank size is 125gal and my africans can't fit in his mouth. I REALLY don't want to put this osacar in with my african's because I think it just looks wierd,I'm just doing this until I find it a home.
Oscar's and African Cichlids.
- Thread starter PatrickTheArowana
- Start date
As long as it's temporary, I think it's fine. There are age old tales of people keeping South Americans with Africans, but the PH and temp ranges are generally too different for prolonged success. I would be a little worried about the Oscar hurting the Africans, but it really depends on the Oscar's temperment.
Oh, and let me note that I just used the words temporary, temperature and temperment all in the same post.
PH Levels are completly irrelivent. 99% of the fish you find in a pet store these days are raised on a fish farm somewhere where they use the same water for all the fish. These fish basically have all adapted to the same ph levels. If you had wild caught African and American cichlids then yes I would be concerned about PH levels, but otherwise PH is completly irrelivent. While I dont have a mixed community at the moment, Ive kept Africans and American Cichlids in mixed communities for YEARS and years togeather with zero problems. As long as your africans wont fit in your O's mouth you will be more than fine.
sg1;2535311; said:
I try to recreate natural habitats the best I can and not just meet fishfarm conditions, but if that's good enough for you then do what you like.
^^I appreciate the fact that you try to recreate natural habitats but really its pointless because by the time you get any non wild caught african or american cichlid, they have already been bread for generations and generations in the same water conditions. It would be like if your great grandparents lived in phoenix arizona all their lives but your grandparents moved to higher elevation in say like colorado or something like 60 years ago. Lived their whole lives in higher elevation, as did your parents. By the time you come around is it really important to try and recreat the same environment for "you" that your great grandparents live in multiple generations before you? That would be a negative. You would be so occustomed to the higher elevation conditions that it wouldnt make a difference to you one bit. Its the same way reguarding PH levels and fish who have been bread for generations apon generations etc etc etc in the same breeding pools togeather. Wild caught fish excluded of course.
i dont know-i think mbuna would beat the crap out of an oscar and stress it into not eating. you could try if its just temporary, but i wouldnt. i wouldnt put my oscar with my mbuna.