What fish to put with what fish....

[Karter]

I have two 55 gallon tanks.

I have a 3-4 inches red oscar in one tank and some sort of catfish in the other (about 4 inches but the guy who gave it to me had one that was about 12 inches).

My son likes to use a small hand net and catch fish in a nearby stream. He's caught:

2 convict cichilds (2-3 inches)
1 banded jewel (4-5 inches, aggressive)
1 mud skipper (4 inches)
1 bristle nose pleco (3-4 inches)

What fish should go where for optimal chance of survival? I know eventually the Oscar will need to be in a 55 gallon by himself, but just wondering how I should divide them up for now.

 

[wild bill]

Have you got any of the fish together now and if so what is your current setup. If it is working I wouldn't worry to much. My experience with Oscars has been they can live with a lot of fish as long as the fish are not to aggressive toward them. Must be nice to be able to catch these fish in your nearby creek.

 

[Karter]

Right now, in one tank I have the 2 convicts, mud skipper and oscar. Other tank, pleco and banded Jewel and pangasius catfish (4 inches).

Seem to be okay, the Oscar and convicts sometimes go at it, but nothing serious. I was thinking as the oscar gets bigger it might be good with the jewel since the banded jewel seems to be pretty aggressive. On the other hand, maybe they would fight more, dunno.

 

[Deep Blue Sea]

Could you post a picture of the unknown catfish?

 

[Gill Blue]

a well cared for oscar will be too big for a 55G in a year, too big for a 90G in 2.
all new fish should go in their own quarantine tank for a month, although 2 is better.
if I had that grouping of fish, I'd keep the mudskipper and pleco together, and put the rest in together. I'd be very worried about the mudskippers eyes with the cichlids.