ok high to give you guys a head up i have a 55gal tank with a 4 1/2 inch oscar and a 3 1/2 in blood parrot in a few months i will be buying probably a 180 or 210 gal tank and use the 55 gal as my hospital tank for emergencies i want to get a new fish i was thinking of a pleco or a catfish but i saw some cool cichlids as the fish store and was wondering whats a good tank mate or a silver dollar i was a fish thats pretty and kinda matches the color theme of my tank white gravel black bock round with fluorescent lights and black and orange tiger oscar and a orange blood parrot please give me some ideas thank you

Personally, I would go for a nice small shoal of silver dollars, they will look fantastic. They also come from the same part of the world of the Oscar. I will getting some of those myself when my 300 gallon is set up. Try and get some that have grown up a little, even though they move very fast, the Oscar still might be able to catch the small ones and eat them. Also bear in mind that silver dollars eat plants.

Silver Dollars are the ultimate Oscar tank mate. Why? Because you don't have to feed them! They eat all the food that blows through a big Oscar's gills. Definitely don't get tiny SD's to put in with your Oscar though. There are several varieties of Sd's though. Avoid the big one's. Look for the type that look like juvenile pirhanna. Those max out at around five inches. That may sound small but an SD at five inches long is nearly the same height. Therefore they are way to big to fit into your O's mouth. I've kept SD's for years. Given the option, they'd eat anything other than plants once they get big enough to eat much more nutritious things like pellets and live food. the notion that SD's are herbivores is outdated. They are opportunistic eaters who prefer whatever is easy and filling.

I love silver dollars. I plan on using them as dithers in my new oscar/catfish tank. Red hooks are probably some of the smaller, swifter varities, although if your looking for bigger, fancier ones, I would suggest black-bars.

Keep in mind that they are schoaling fish and need to be in groups of at least three.

Cheers,
ARTEMIS