Hey guys, SO I figured out that secerums and oscars coudn't fit in a 75 gallon. But there's gotta be other tankmates. I was looking around and I think 3 silver dollars and a senegal bichir would be great tank mates. what do ya think?

as long as the birchir doesn't fit into the oscars mouth you should be alright. just remember that oscars grow quickly so make sure your tankmates aren't going to become food for your oscar.

Other good common tankmates

Firemouth
blue acara
convicts (but be careful can be aggressive)

I have 2 small Oscars. Along with them I have 2 Guramis and 4 small tiger sharks. I have 3 feet by 2 by 1 feet tank. I find that most of the food is gulped away by the tiger sharks. But otherwise the fishes do seem to get along well. Any ideas?

your tank is a little bit too small for two Oscars, when you say tiger shark, exactly what fish are you talking about?

I have the following tankmates with my two Tiger Oscars:

2 Bala Sharks

2 Clown Loaches

1 Convict Cichlid (I may get another one) just have to be weary that I am introducing another fish while the Oscars are close to full grown.

1 Pleco (common grows to about 25-30 cm)

Points I have noticed with these tankmates:

1. The sharks and loaches are too quick for the Oscars

2. The convict cichlid resides anywhere the Oscars don't but he sometimes teases the Oscars....they gedt on ok

3. The "Pleco is just too weird for the Oscars so they both don't bother each other much....that being said, I have seen one of the Oscars get annoyed with PLeco and peck him on the tail but I don't think the Oscars make a habit of it because "Pleco has spikes on his body.

4. Another point to note is that I introduced most of these tankmates when the Oscars weren't too big....probably were anywhere from 3 inches when I introduced them to their new 6 1/2 foot tank from their 2 foot tank I started them in.

I might sound strange but I still remember when I put the Oscars in my large tank and they just went crazy darting from one end to the other and doing little dances at the front of the tank. They were so much more active then....now they mope a bit and drift around the tank except when it is feeding time!!

young Oscars are like little puppies, they do jump all over the place and never keep still. I think it's the fact that they are constantly looking for food when they are young, they have to eat a lot to grow quickly. When they mature, food is on such an issue, also, Oscars aren't really built for stealth and speed. I imagine an Oscar is rather like a grouper, they just hang around structures waiting for food to come their way.

You are correct about Loach's, they are way too quick for Oscars. Oscars can certainly put a spirt on if they wish, but it's just that, short bashers and then they don't bother any more.

I been very lucky with my Oscars, they haven't paid a lot of attention to smaller tank mates when I have introduced them.

I don't think fish will bother other fish for no reason. I think fish aggression is actually something that probably only occurs in captivity. If you think about it, most fish won't be in such close contact in the wild, their natural environment is so vast they probably wouldn't come in contact like they do in an aquarium

A nickname for oscars is 'river dog'. They are like dog, when young they are like puppies, always bounding around and on the move, then when they mature they slow up, and when they get mature they are like an old dog, grumpy, miserable and they dont move fast

I have 2 baby oscars , 2 kissing guramis and 4 (3inch) Iridescent sharks. I find that most of the food given is just gobbled up by the sharks very fast. Of the 2 oscars , one of them manages to eat ok, but the other one gets very little.

Also as far as guramis are concerned they are too slow . I feel they are not really getting anything to eat.

I need to know how much of food should i put in my aquarium. How much is enough??

Iridescent sharks can reach in excess of 12 inches. You've got two Oscars that can easily reach 12 inches. How big is your tank?

okay, iridescent sharks are actually catfish, they're also what is called schooling fish. basically this means they hang around in large numbers. so when you put your food in, they will all group together which makes it difficult for other fish to get to the food. I am going to be blatantly honest with you, I would strongly advise you to get rid of all of your iridescent sharks, you will probably find everything will settle down and everyone will get enough food. The bigger your sharks get, the worse things are going to get. As the Oscars get bigger, they might be able to compete for food, however, the gourami probably won't.

Have you tried putting in a sinking and floating food at the same time? you could also try putting in a mixture all of blood worms/krill or maybe shrimps. When you put this type of food in, it dissipates a lot in the tank so all of the fish gets a chance to eat, rather than the food being all in one place.

Hi ,
You did seem absolutely right about the sharks. Yesterday the bigger of the two Oscars (2 inches yet) attacked and killed one shark. I have today removed the remaining 3 sharks from the tank.

Now I just have 2 baby oscars and 2 guramis. I do hope that they leave the guramis alone. Though already I see signs of the one bully Oscar going once in a while after the guramis too.

Do you know what type of gourami you've got? you have got to choose tank mates very carefully, you got to make sure that they can compete for food when Oscars are present. Oscars are very greedy fish and will more than likely get there before any other fish in the tank. The problem with putting in timid weakfish is they will probably shy away from the feeding area when food is being put in the tank because Oscars will be right in your face, they will just kick everyone else out of the way to get to the food. if you're going to keep other fish such as gouramies then I would strongly advise you to put in a mixture of food at the same time. I gave an example of what I do, I've Oscar's and various other South American fish, some of them quite a bit smaller than the Oscar. However, most of them have the potential of getting quite big so when they are adults, they shouldn't have a problem competing with the Oscars for food.

the smaller fish get Krill and blood worm every day. these come in the form of frozen blocks that are defrosted before putting in the tank. When you pour this disgusting looking mixture into the waer, it dissipates throughout the whole tank, giving everyone a chance to have a feed. Because I've got quite strong currents, it even gets washed down to the other end of the tank, it's a great way of getting the fish to forage for food. You can then be dropping in the floating pellets for the Oscars. This way, all the fish get fed properly.