Is it better to start out with 5 Oscars and see which 2 get along the best and re-home the rest?

I have 2 O's(RED O 4.5", Lutino Tiger O 2.5") that aren't getting along as well as I hoped. I wonder if I had 4 or 5 if they would do better in more of a pack or school mentality. I have seen and heard of people keeping around 5 O's and having less aggression toward eachother. So I am curious on your thoughts on the issue.

Thanks in Advance

i got that advice when i went to buy my first O.
For my LFS told me i could return the other 3 if and when a pair had established.
But i only got one and regretted that for a long time.
Make sure you can rehome the other 3 before starting out!
After getting a Vieja as a bad tankmate for my O, i took the risk and put in another Oscar and things turned out fine.

what noddy said lol...make sure you have a home for the other 3 =p

@noddy, damn vieja...

my syns killed my firemouth, Im still mad about that, dammit... But he sure was pretty!!

Thanks for the input so far.

okay here's the deal. I have 2 Oscars right now. a 4.5" Red Oscar and a 2.5" Lutino Tiger O in my new 140Gallon. A couple of weeks ago I tried to put them together in the 60G but the bigger Red O was looking like he was going in for the kill. So I put the little O back in its 30 gallon for the time being.

Now I have the 140 Gallon with both, and the aggression has calmed down quite a bit, but the little lutino O still seems to need to hide quite a bit (still eating some when gets a chance). I was thinking of getting 2 or 3 more to reduce the aggression even more. But the LFS (actually Petco cause our LFS closed down) only has around 2" Oscars. I am worried that those will be too small to add at this point. I probably need 2 or 3 about 4"-5".

What do you guys think?

I think if that is what you want to do then go for it. Have a back up plan, and see how it turns out.... BUT you will need a MUCH bigger tank first!

Actually my Lutino tiger is starting to move around the tank a little more. She(complete assumption obviously) is getting more active and looking for food more. I am hopeful that the 2 Oscars will learn to get along.

Nicki you mentioned that "first I would need to get a much bigger tank". Do you mean to have 5 Oscars? If I decided to go that route, my goal would be to identify a pair, then find good homes for the others.

Thanks for the input

Yes Hun, I am sorry... I should have been clearer. If you go the roue of 5 O's you will need a bigger tank. O's don't pair until they are sexually mature so that means you will have 5 O's for 2 Years... In 2 years those Oscars could be 14 inches long a piece!!!

cebosound wrote:

first and foremost, you will need a huge tank...not smaller than 230 gal...
paring is still a shot at nowhere because if they turn out to be all female
you will still at lost, if they turn out to be all males, they won't stop
fighting for dominance.... i'd rather have two now and rehome anyone
of them later if they did not match up...and try again....than having 5
with a lot of stress without the assurance of pairing too.

Okay, thanks for the responses. I have decided not to try the 5 Oscars in my 140gallon. Instead I removed my HUGE JD and added a baby tiger O. SO i am going to try 3 O's and see how it goes. All three are young so I am hoping they can get along. My (approaching 5") Red Oscar is really dominant in the tank. The JD was getting too aggressive with the this Red O, thus he got demoted to the 60gallon. Because I want Oscars to be my primary fish in my 140 and the rest of the fish are to be complimentary.

I also got 5 Schooling Dither fish, to try to keep some of the aggression away from my 2 smaller O's. So far, so good.

Thanks for the info Paul and Nicki. I am doing a little bit of guess and check here I know , but all the info helps. My goal is to have 2 or 3 O's that get along and can grow healthy in my 140.

keep us posted..... just want to let you know currently i have 3 o's
in my 230 gal tank with the pangasius.... they are now breaching the
12 inches mark and the two tigers are always zeroing up against the
lutino. no damage yet except with the bruises in the lips

PAUL wrote:


Thanks Paul, that is good to know. I was wondering about the ganging up issue when they get bigger. I will keep you updated on the progress and do what ever it takes to keep these fish healthy and happy. (even re-homing if need be)