Hi. I have a 125 gallon tank (US gallons). I originally wanted to get an oscar as a "wet pet". I like how interactive they are. I have been thinking, however, about purchasing 4 juveniles and seeing if I can get a pair. I am prepared to remove any of the oscars that do not get along. It would be an oscar only tank - no plecos or other tankmates. My first question is is it better to have one oscar or a pair? Are they as interactive with their owners when they are a pair? I realize I would need to find homes for any fry that survived. Also, once oscars pair off and other fish are removed, will they remain a pair or will I need to worry about future aggression problems?

welcome to Oscar fish lover

My advice would be not to purchase four Oscars. your tank isn't big enough for four Oscars and you will have to wait until they are adults before you will know whether you have a pair. I would stick with two Oscars and take a chance that you get a breeding pair.

Thank you. I have been reading a debate on another cichlid website where people are saying that keeping an oscar alone is cruel and causes aggressive behavior. What is your opinion on this? I ask because if I do buy two and they are not a pair and aggression occurs, I will need to remove one. Would it be cruel to keep the other alone in the tank if this happens? I have always kept and bred Tanganyikan cichlids so this is new to me. Thanks.

I have never kept an Oscar on its own so I can't really speak from experience. I don't see why it is cruel keeping an Oscar on its own. I also cannot see why an Oscar would suddenly become aggressive if you keep it on its own. There are lots of other species of fish that are kept on their own in both home aquariums, and public aquariums. Which forum is this being discussed on? unless you've carried out an extensive scientific experiment using numerous Oscars then I don't see how you could possibly say for sure.

I know of lots of people you only keep one Oscar and I've never read of them having problems. Not everybody can, or wants to keep two Oscars.

That's what I thought also. It was being discussed on cichlidae.com (The Cichlid Room Companion). I did a google search on oscars as single pets and that debate came up in the search results. I didn't look at the date of the postings so I am not sure if it is recent or not.

These discussions are always cropping up on different forums. One of the problems with extremely busy forums is everyone has their own opinion, sometimes you don't get a conclusive answer to a question. We are basically keeping a wild animal in captivity, in many cases, we are forcing them to behave in an unnatural way. In the wild, an Oscar would have billions of liters of water and shed loads of space to live in, most people keep their Oscars in less than 100 gallons, it's not surprising that strange behavior sometimes occurs. Anyway, where is this going?

Just telling you where the discussion was since you asked. Basically, the only question I had was whether to keep one or two oscars.

Sorry, It was a rhetorical question. When I said "where is this going?" I meant me going slightly off-topic;)

Keeping oscars on their own is not cruel, they are not social like clown loach or silver dollars. An oscar will be fine on its own, well that my opinion anyway

in a tank your size i would go with 1 oscars, 1 severum and maybe a jack or a nice catfish that doesnt get to big.