Polleni growing up with Oscar in CA/SA tank?

[THQ]

Hi all, planning to add a juvenile polleni with my juvenile red tiger oscar and the rest of the SA/CA community in my ~180G. From my research it appears polleni can be found in pretty much any water conditions in Madagascar including soft acidic waters, so parameters should be ok.

I have heard wildly different things on polleni aggression, but I hope by being the last juvenile in the tank, and growing up with the rest of the team, of which the 6" oscar and 8" gold severum are currently fighting for supremacy for, that the polleni won't murder everything. Also have elec blue acara, ellioti, heckelii, GT all about 4" and a 10" snakehead gudgeon (super peaceful aussie native).

What are people's experiences with oscar/polleni growing up together? I have heard they can become good friends like that. But also I have heard polleni will not tolerate big black cichlids that look like it, like an oscar.

Thanks.

 

[duanes]

In a 180 you may not see aggression for a long time.
I have kept Paratilapia with many new world types, and found if the new world cichlids had iridescent blue spots, that was trigger that brought out the territorial aggression response of the Paratilapia. I also try to keep body and mouth shape markedly different from the Paratilapia to suggest a different feeding regime, which can also trigger a negative territorial response between species.

maculatus jaw and mouth (above) suggests a different feeding style, than Paratilapia (below).


The combinations that worked best for me were, other Malagasy cichlids, or new worlds without any shiny blue markings. As you can see by clicking on the video below, the male Paratilapia was the alpha of this 6ft tank, and I chose teammates, without any blue like Paretroplus maculates, Nosferatu and bartoni.

 

[tiger15]

I had Polleni once. I raised it in a 75 with rift lake Africans. One it reached 3 inch, it became a psycho, picking fight with every fish and chased the victim from one end to another. I had to isolate him in a tank of its own and he became a glass banger.

 

[duanes]

I hate spellcheck sometimes, teammate should be tankmates, and there shouldn't be an and, between Nosferatu bartoni.

 

[THQ]

Thanks guys. Duanes, that's a cool tank. Your polleni certainly is very active. Unfortunately for me I have a GT, heckelii and ellioti, all of which have iridescent blue-green spots!

 

[duanes]

if you were acquire a female Paratilapia, you may not have a problem, but if you ended up with a male, once it hit maturity the GT, and ellioti would probably end up toast. Not as concerned with the heckelli, because to me the iridescence is not as similar to Paratilapia, as the other 2. And the different feeding strategy and jaw shpae of the heckelli might make it less competitive to the Madagascan.

 

[Imsobored152]

In a 180 you may not see aggression for a long time.
I have kept Paratilapia with many new world types, and found if the new world cichlids had iridescent blue spots, that was trigger that brought out the territorial aggression response of the Paratilapia. I also try to keep body and mouth shape markedly different from the Paratilapia to suggest a different feeding regime, which can also trigger a negative territorial response between species.
The combinations that worked best for me were, other Malagasy cichlids, or new worlds without any shiny blue markings. As you can see by clicking on the video below, the male Paratilapia was the alpha of this 6ft tank, and I chose teammates, without any blue like Paretroplus maculates, Nosferatu and bartoni.

How big was he in the video? How long did it take to get to that size? beautiful fish

 

[duanes]

In the video was taken mid summer, and he was about 10", the females are 1/3 smaller.
The photo above, taken in May, and the one below in March.

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

Hi all, planning to add a juvenile polleni with my juvenile red tiger oscar and the rest of the SA/CA community in my ~180G. From my research it appears polleni can be found in pretty much any water conditions in Madagascar including soft acidic waters, so parameters should be ok.

I have heard wildly different things on polleni aggression, but I hope by being the last juvenile in the tank, and growing up with the rest of the team, of which the 6" oscar and 8" gold severum are currently fighting for supremacy for, that the polleni won't murder everything. Also have elec blue acara, ellioti, heckelii, GT all about 4" and a 10" snakehead gudgeon (super peaceful aussie native).

What are people's experiences with oscar/polleni growing up together? I have heard they can become good friends like that. But also I have heard polleni will not tolerate big black cichlids that look like it, like an oscar.

Thanks.

Did you ever get the Polleni?

 

[suprd71]

In a 7ft 265 I have an XL female Oscar, its her tank. Adult JD male, very mild mannered. Green Severum, 2 spot Acara, adult Tinfiol barb, pleco and P. Polleni-ish. I say ish as identity is not confirmed. All fish get along fine, Oscar bulldozes fish out of her way, they all move. Acara and Polleni chase each other from time to time, but lots of space to get away from each other. Have not seen any actual lip locking. So, to sum up, I have a successful mixed community.