Partially Planted Oscar Tank

[Andy_R]

Hello,

I am new to the forum, it looks great!

I kept a few fish as a kid, finally have a big boy job and would like to get back into the hobby. I am leaning towards a 150-200g tank to hold an Oscar, a catfish, and some other large Cichlid.

The idea is to plant 1/3 of the tank, and leave the rest relatively open for the Oscar. I am hoping to get a territorial fish that likes to live under cover such as a pike cichlid maybe a firemouth to live in the planted side. By having a territorial fish in the planted part of a large aquarium I am hoping to discourage the Oscar from uprooting EVERYTHING. To help get the fish to establish their territories in favorable positions I would insert a tank divider for the first few months. Lastly I would have brighter grow lights on the planted side which I have read Oscars are not crazy about.

Has anyone else tried something like this to encourage an Oscar to stay out of the plants?

Thank you!

Andy

 

[convict360]

I'll admit right now I haven't had experience doing what you suggest, BUT, if I were to try; I'd maybe put stem plants attached to wood/rock e.g. anubias.

Anubias looks good and couldn't really be uprooted so you could maybe have that facing your Oscars open side, and the more delicate plants behind them. Just a thought.

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[Crazy mike]

Welcome! To the forum, your idea is a good one but most cichlids dig up or shred plants. The oscar may not dig it up it may just shred it for the heck of it. And the small territorial cichlid may do the same. Or get eaten by the Oscar.


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[Andy_R]

Good idea on the Anubias. Definitely looking for tough to kill plants. Thinking about a saxatilis pike. Wouldn't that be large enough to stand its ground. My understanding is that pikes like to have a hiding space to hunt from, and don't rip up the plants they hid in. Is that not true?

Thank you so much for the input everyone =)


Andy

 

[Crazy mike]

Good idea on the Anubias. Definitely looking for tough to kill plants. Thinking about a saxatilis pike. Wouldn't that be large enough to stand its ground. My understanding is that pikes like to have a hiding space to hunt from, and don't rip up the plants they hid in. Is that not true?

Thank you so much for the input everyone =)


Andy

The pike would hide but I doubt it would deter a large Oscar. Only reason the pike would protect the plant is if it's only hiding place and the pike wouldn't always be there to stop the Oscar. Anubis and tough plants work but a typical planted set up would be to difficult with a Oscar

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[Andy_R]

Thanks. Always sad to hear that my master plan for tank domination won't succeed, but at least I can put some anubias in there!

 

[blacklabel]

just try it. I always hear people saying that its impossible to have plants with cichlid but that has never been a problem for me in over 10 years of keeping c ichlids. I have a fully planted 125 right now with vals, swords, dwarf sag, anubias, java ferns, etc and don't have any trouble at all

 

[Bad-Daddio]

Just try it! Every cichlid is different. My trimac is growing out in a 75. When he went in the tank, it was well established with jungle val, moneywort, a few large swords and a nice mat of dwarf water lettuce on the surface. My trimac made it known very quickly that he HATED the jungle val and moneywort. They didn't survive the first week. Swords and water lettuce are doing great. In fact, he likes to drag a sprig of water lettuce down to the bottom of the tank and then let it float back to the top. I need to get some video of him doing that. The thing is, you just have to experiment and be willing to be flexible with big cichlids.


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[Andy_R]

Thanks for the replies. I think I will go ahead and try it. Worst case the Oscar dominates my plants and I am out a little money. Best case I get a super lazy Oscar and some cool plants XD

 

[mermaiden]

i have some plants in with my oscar. they are planted in glass bottles so he cant uproot them but when he gets angry he tears the leaves off. usually he will leave everything alone for a couple weeks then get mad make a plant bald within a day. the longer the leaves on the plant the more likely it will be his next victim.