Ur opinion on my tank species compability

[Karalak42]

Helo guys

I have a 6 ft 250 g tank in wich I have

7 oscars 6 tiger 1 ablino
3 bichirs 2 normal 1 albino
And
2 regular plecos

What do you think about the species compability. I just maybe want to add 1 peacock bass but I'm not sure

No plants in tank

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

I think you should rehome some of the oscars and plecos, otherwise you will not only be very tight on space but have a very tough time maintaining the water quality.
For 7 oscars and 2 common plecos I don't know how big the tank would be for only space, but for both good space and enough water to dilute the waste, you'd probably need a tank around 3x as big.

 

[Carter020108]

I’m going to have to agree that is way too much of a bioload

 

[tlindsey]

Great advice from M MultipleTankSyndrome .It's a proven fact that the Oscar and the Common Pleco are the biggest contributors of waste in the aquarium. In reality you may have to do daily water changes to keep the Oscar’s from risk of developing HITH disease. Also when the Oscar’s grew to adult size the 250 gallon will be cramped for space.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

For further reference on water quality, a pair of oscars in a 473 liter was reported by Kelly Aquatics to be hard to keep the water quality up for: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...ng-to-oscars…-help.746410/page-3#post-8414486

Now, your tank may be a twice-as-large 946 liter, but you have 3 1/2 times as many oscars, meaning that an already hard job will be made even harder. And that doesn't factor in the common plecos either, which are not only very messy for their size but grow to be much bigger than oscars, giving an enormous absolute terms bioload.

Hope this helps.

 

[Gourami Swami]

I think the compatibility is fine but too many oscars, I would go with 4 max for a 250, and with the bichirs and plecos I would make it 3. Due to bioload once they are all mature, unless you have a large sump and auto-water change drip system or something. in which case you couled probably get away with a few more, even then 7 would be too many imo. Peacock bass grow too large for a 250 oscars or no, and with all those other fish definitely not enough room.
I'm guessing your fish are pretty young, if they were all full sized you would probably come to this conclusion yourself

 

[Jexnell]

What are we talking about here, newly acquired baby fish, partially grown, or full grown adults. If they are just acquired babies then you have some time, about six months or so. Oscar's are one of the fastest growing fish out there gaining about an inch a month.
If it were me I would pick out my favorite Oscar and rehome the rest. Rehome the common plecos and keep the bichirs only if they are of a decent size. Its possible for the Oscars to out grow them and then think of them as food. I had my Oscar with some Roseline sharks for eight months. All was fine till the Oscar out grew the sharks. The Oscar then thought of them as food and ate one, had to move the rest to a different tank.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Sorry about what happened to your roseline sharks Jexnell ☹

As for the thread, Jexnell's suggestion of rehoming all plecos and all but 1 of the oscars is an excellent one to keep bioload down. Plus, unlike with for example schooling fish, there's no benefit to densely stocking the tank, which will just give not only more waste but possible aggression.

Little side note, but the big possibility of stuff like what happened to Jexnell happening, is one of the big reasons the last 3 paragraphs of my signature say what they do! Very proud of the fact that I am not an oscar keeper.

 

[PhishMon84]

Not sure what regular bichir are, do you mean Senegalese?

I'd get down to 2 Oscars max. get rid of the plecos entirely and you'd be in good place.

A lot of ppl give bad advice in regard to peacock bass, if you stick with a smaller species like C. Kelberi or C.
melaniae you could have 1 in there with 2 oscars and 3 bichirs, no problem. the two i mentioned average about 16" in captivity

BUT you need to stay on top of water changes- i typically do fin level weekly.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Without reading any other part of the thread besides the stock, I am going to say it is not good. A tank with 7 Oscar’s should be atleast 2 times as large as yours. Bichirs and Oscar’s aren’t always the best parteners because bichirs won’t fight back to other fish larger than them. ‘Regular’ bichirs I would guess means the most common - senegals. Albino captive bred sens, which I’m assuming yours are, rarely grow larger than 7”, and a 7” noodle might be a nice snack for your Oscar’s. Plecos, especially common plecos, serve almost no purpose. Yes they clean the glass, but they produce lots of waste, and it isn’t worth it. Sorry to say, but your tank is immensely overstocked. You could regime the 3-5 Oscar’s and the pleco, but IMO no peacock bass.