Hi everyone,

I have a 150 gallon tank with my 11 inch oscar, 6 inch jack dempsey, and 5 inch raphael catfish. I'd really like to stock it up with some more fish but I cant really decide what to get, even after trolling these forums and other places for a while now. I like the idea of a school of mid-level swimmers to add movement to the tank but run into that little issue of most nice looking schooling fish being bite-sized to my oscar. I know silver dollars are a popular choice, but I'm not a particularly big fan of their coloration. I find silver fish (ie: tinfoil barbs, silver barbs, silver dollars, etc.) to be rather boring and have a bit of an unexplainable aversion to them. I'm also not a huge fan of the loaches, as I was hoping to get a nice tight, mid-level school rather than a shoal. So, does anyone have any suggestions for an alternative schooling fish that is large enough to not be eaten, but has a more interesting color pattern than the silver?

Well I have been pondering this for an hour now, and you have me stumped.... I have no idea.....

sure looks like a guessing game to me.
I couldn't think of anything that fit the description.
maybe someone else?

Maybe if money isnt an option you can get a few discus fish, there buitiful and if i rember right they do school. There expencive as hell but petsmart has the cheepest discus. You could order discus at like 6 inches but that will run you big bucks and idk if theyd even work with oscars or wat kinda water they need etc. They say its one discus pet 10 gallons as well fyi. Good luck to you, thats all I could think of.

Well, I'm glad in that I guess I did my research thoroughly since no else can think of any, but sad that well... no one else can think of any =P Maybe I'll just have to suck it up and get the silver dollars.

I had thought about discuses (pluralized correctly?) but yea, the money thing is rather unfortunate. There are fish auctions in my area that happen every now and then that you can get a discus for really cheap, relatively speaking anyway. So, cheap as in $20 to $30 a fish.

ya but youd need like six discus i think and probly bigger than four t five inches idk how agresive your oscar is. But check craigs list sometime people have them breed and dont want the babys idk check there though.

Forget discus, they are a delicate fish that wont be happy with a big boistrous fish like an oscar around. Also they need soft water and very very clean water, which will be difficult to maintain with a messy oscar. If you get dicus you will have no end of trouble and will be wasting your money

Yea, discuses weren't really on the table. Maybe one day when I feel like blowing a ton of money I'll make a discus tank. I'm gunna give giant danio's a shot. While technically still fitting the "bite-sized" category, I figure that with a decent sized school (10ish) combined with their considerable speed and agility, they might do well with my oscar. He's not overly aggressive, actually gets along really well with the raphael cat and jack dempsey, so hopefully the large school will deter him. That, and I'll try to keep him well fed with food OTHER than the danios. That, and well, turns out giant danios are on sale for $1 this week

no way for discus and oscars..... discus need RO water and like already mentioned..... need more of a tranquil enviornment than an o for a tank mate.

how about roseline sharks (also called dennison barb) - puntius denisonii...... they are lovely. they do have silver, but also red/yellow/black stripes when they're young, they maybe too small (i.e oscar food); but when they're grown (6") they would probably be ok.

I'd love to have some if I had a bigger tank

this topic often times boiles down to Silver Dollars or Foil Barbs. There are some variation to these two types of fish, but it sounds like you have your mind made up that you don't want to go that direction.

If you want to take a second look, you can watch Noddy's videos to see Silver Dollars and you can watch my videos to see barbs. there are many pros and cons to both, but most side on the side of Silver Dollars.

Good luck with your hunt for a nice schooling fish to be tankmates with your Oscars.

what are peoples thoughts on jewel cichlids??

correct me if i am wrong but they do tend to school together, very nice colours and they will stand up for themselves if they are picked on??

they can be fin nippers tho