hi, i have my oscar in a 90g tank with a pleco. my oscar is now 5 inch and the pleco is 12 inch. i have had oscar for about 5 weeks and he was 2 1/2 inches when i got him, i had a small pleco in there with him but he killed it thats why i have such a big one in there now. he does though every now and then give the plec a little nip but does not bully him any more. there is a little upsidedown catfish in with him aswell and he tried to kill it for a few days but now they seem to be very good friends. all i want to know really is what would make good tank mates for oscar that will fit in my tank? it was a planted tank but now i have nothing in there due to the pleco digging everything up but i am going to buy a few large pieces of bogwood for hiding places.. just in case you need to know i have the standard built in filter running plus a fluvel 404 canister filter:)

Welcome to oscarfishlover

What type of pleco have you got? I suspect it's probably something like a common, or maybe a sailfin. If indeed it is one of these large fish, I'm afraid you haven't got any room for more fish, in fact, you'll probably find you may be slightly overstocked once the Oscar and Pleco get to their potential size. If you have got the salts of Pleco that I think you have, these guys can easily reach 18 inches. They'll probably one of the messiest fish you'll find, that's why I avoid them buys anyone else to do the same, they are just not suitable for most home aquariums, that's why you always see them in fish store, people just don't want them.

yes he is a commen pleco... how long will it take him to grow to that size? i bought him last week so i have no idea how old he is at the moment

I'm going to give you some advice that will enable you to both keep a nicer tank mate, and also avoid water quality problems, get rid of the Pleco, a common Pleco will get absolutely massive within a couple of years, it will get so big, it will cause nothing but disruption. They are nocturnal so it will be active at night which means your Oscar will not get a moments peace. it will probably dig massive holes in the substrate and your tank will look a mess. And if that isn't bad enough, you'll have pleco crap in the tank all the time, long stringy brown stuff that looks absolutely vile.

These fish are horrible, believes may. I've had them before and I would never have one again.

What makes me chuckle is people actually get them because they think they're going to keep their tank cleaner by removing the algae, how wrong could they be? You spend more time cleaning their crap up them it actually takes to give the glass a quick wipe.

well the shop i bought him from did say he would clean the algea but said nothing about the mess he would make. he has allready dug to the bottom of my tank but it doesnt bother me. you have answerd one of my biggest worries tho and that is his poo, some 1 on another forum said that it was string algea and some one else said my tank had worms...the mess does not bother me as he is a great looking fish and i love his size. i do have a problem feeding him though as my oscar eats the algea wafers and throws them up into little pieces

Try targeting you're plec at night mate o's are less active at night usually!!Cucumber weighted down with a piece of lead works great mr pleco will love you..

tried it, oscar still gets to them first lol..

aah, i forgot about giving him cucumber..thanx i will try that tonight

i have to agree with ofl on this one. i had a pleco once and he was great until he got big then the foot long turds began turnign up. for me the last straw was seeing him swim around with a 16 inch turd hanging out of his butt for about 5 mins before he finally dropped it.

a nice mate for helping with the oscar mess could be an eartheater. they have nice colour and are no where near as messy

what sort of fish are earth eaters?