Question about compatibility

[357MAGNOLE]

Im going to ask a pretty rookie question. I am an experienced keeper and have kept all kinds of fish ranging from African Cichlids from all lakes, planted community tanks, dedicated biotopes, pleco exclusive tanks, river tanks, and I have a 1200 gallon pond. But one thing I have never kept in an aquarium is larger south Americans. Currently in my pond I have placed a few Oscars, Festae and some mollies. The Oscar's and festae are less then 3 inches currently and my intentions are to grow them out some before winter and move inside to a 150. I'm trying to determine which to go with for long run and what the compatibility with each other or other larger south/central Americans I can go with. Ultimately I just want a fun larger tank with some larger (not huge) cichlids. I dont mind if the fish scrap on occasion but I dont want them to constantly fight and end up with beaten/dead fish. What's my best bet?

 

[tlindsey]

Im going to ask a pretty rookie question. I am an experienced keeper and have kept all kinds of fish ranging from African Cichlids from all lakes, planted community tanks, dedicated biotopes, pleco exclusive tanks, river tanks, and I have a 1200 gallon pond. But one thing I have never kept in an aquarium is larger south Americans. Currently in my pond I have placed a few Oscars, Festae and some mollies. The Oscar's and festae are less then 3 inches currently and my intentions are to grow them out some before winter and move inside to a 150. I'm trying to determine which to go with for long run and what the compatibility with each other or other larger south/central Americans I can go with. Ultimately I just want a fun larger tank with some larger (not huge) cichlids. I dont mind if the fish scrap on occasion but I dont want them to constantly fighttps://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/festae-cichlid-tankmates.531708/ht and end up with beaten/dead fish. What's my best bet?

Maybe this will help

 

[duanes]

Just a personal view.
Festae come from the alkaline waters west of the Andes, while oscars come from the softer, seasonally tannin enriched, mineral poor waters, east of the Andes, they are not naturally found together.
Kind of a similar to the difference between keeping African rift lake species, with soft water kribensis.
I personally wouldn't keep them together, and depending on the content of my tap water, probably keep one or the other.
Many people with neutral water do keep them together, so its not critical , just as some keep west of the Andes Andinoacara with east of the Andes Amazonian species, which to me seems odd, because it isn't geographically correct.

 

[Rocksor]

My F1 female festae killed my wild oscar after 4 years of tolerating each other (both grew up from 1-2"). One week, she decided she had enough and kept after him continually. He never flared at her or did anything aggressive. Broken site lines or changing decorations didn't matter when she already memorized the tank layout and hiding places. The 10-11" oscar had twice the mass on her (8-9"). This was in an 8 foot 240g tank with 3-4 other cichlids.

 

[duanes]

My F1 female festae killed my wild oscar after 4 years of tolerating each other (both grew up from 1-2"). One week, she decided she had enough and kept after him continually.

The only thing about this that is surprising to me, is that it took that long, 4 years.
The cichlids from west of the Andes, are on an entirely different aggression plane than those from east of the Andes (including Oscars). Those from the west, are much closer in temperament to the more solitary and territorial Central Americans.
Of course there are some exceptions, like many species Thorichthys in the Central Americans,but they are just that exceptions.

 

[357MAGNOLE]

I appreciate the input on compatibility of the two. Now what would yall prefer keeping of the two and what could go with them each respectively.

 

[duanes]

I appreciate the input on compatibility of the two. Now what would yall prefer keeping of the two and what could go with them each respectively.

I have kept both, but when I lived in the states, my water was hard, pH almost 8, with a moderate mineral content, so this meant to me that Mesoheros were better suited my water conditions, so the better choice.

I most of my tanks in the 150 size, I would just keep a pair or trio of one species of that size cichlid.
They would eat most dither fish, and as adults a 150 really didn't have room for more.

 

[357MAGNOLE]

I appreciate all of the inputs, I don't know if its worth it to me to keep either in a larger tank. Every time I think I want too, I just feel like its a lot of $ to dedicate to what could end up being a 1 or 2 fish tank.