Schooling fish for a 90g Oscar tank?

[Poseidon2.0]

The Oscar is a schooling fish, best kept in groups of six or more. Maybe a bigger tank would be more appropriate for your oscar(s).

That is a debatable assertion. Schooling like minnows, barbs, danios, tetras? Clearly not. That they hang out in oscar communities in the wild sure, but calling them "schooling fish" is not entirely accurate. Also, a very impractical proposition for most home aquarists. Oscars can live long and happy lives all on their own.

 

[DMD123]

My Oscar was raised with smaller fish and has not yet realized he could eat them, lol. My 75g has my 11" Oscar and a couple large Australian rainbows and he does well with them.

 

[Poseidon2.0]

You're lucky DMD. Mine is brother/cousin to yours and he would eat them! When I think of schooling fish I think of mindless drone, which I don't associate with oscars. They definitely do have social tendencies though.

 

[PYRU]

SD's are your best bet, but would probably be a miserably existence for them long term in a 4ft L tank. I consider a 75-90 maxed out with one 12-14" fish. Oscars grow so ridiculously fast I would just stock with some disposable dithers for a year.

 

[PYRU]

My Oscar was raised with smaller fish and has not yet realized he could eat them, lol. My 75g has my 11" Oscar and a couple large Australian rainbows and he does well with them.

At the TN aquarium they had a tank full of Aussie rainbows and they were a ton more aggressive than i ever thought. This red one was chasing everything in this big tank from one side to the other.

 

[Oscared]

My Oscar was raised with smaller fish and has not yet realized he could eat them, lol. My 75g has my 11" Oscar and a couple large Australian rainbows and he does well with them.

Same here --only thing mine has eatin is fiddler crabs...Fish not interested lol

 

[FriedFlowerHornFillet]

I've always thought roseline sharks look real nice.... In a much bigger tank of course.
You have an oscar. Bigger schooling fish are necessary, and a bigger tank is needed for them. Unless you want to try mollies/platties/swordtails in there with the oscar. They might out-breed it's appetite for destruction maybe idk.

 

[duanes]

I find the standard 1 inch per gallon rule only applies to neons or guppies, and such and consider 10 gallons per inch of adult fish barely adequate for cichlids.
So to me a 75 gal is only large enough for a 7.5" adult, 90 gallons a 9" fish and so on, and so on, although once a fish gets large, the width/girth of the fish should be added and to boot, include the height to get appropriate tank size.
example, a 10 inch length oscar, + 2" girth + 5" height = minimum 170 gal.

 

[PYRU]

That is extremely conservative and even though I agree bigger is better it's unrealistic to say 1 oscar per 170.

 

[duanes]

I actually didn't mean 1 oscar per tank, but I mean a 75 or 90 is simply too small a space for any fish that large, 3 or 4 or maybe 5 could share a 170 if water quality was good.
For example having an adult oscar in say a 90 gal, is the equivalent to asking you or I to live in a bathroom 24/7, and if you only do a water change once per week, only flush the toilet once per week.

That is extremely conservative and even though I agree bigger is better it's unrealistic to say 1 oscar per 170.