well my oscar was always kind of bothering my clown knife fish and he wouldnt eat and he died oscar didnt mean it it just happend but now im looking for the perfect tank mate one that can compete for food and size and be nice looking any help would be awsome

Do you want something from the same or are you not bothered where it comes from?

silver dollars, Severums, leporinus, clown Loach are just a few fish that can live in harmony with the Oscars. I've also got a couple of blue acara, and some jurupari, these all make good tank mates

no i am not botherd by where it comes from at all i would just like a nice tankmate that will get along and be a little exotic and nice looking how big should i make my new tankmate and what is the number one mate that you would recomend

chocolat cichlids, jack dempseys, severums,some catfish species that dont grow to big and texas cichlids are nice looking fish that can compete for food with oscars

that is provided your tank is big enough to house them

by far my favorite fish that doesn't come from South America is the clown Loach. These actually come from Asia, around Thailand, Malaysia. They are simply adorable. However, they are fish that like to be in groups. Two will be okay, but it's nice to have a few more. They are extremely slow-growing fish that can reach sizes of 12 inches. Mind you, I think you'd be waiting for a very long time before they get to this size, They can also live for many years, certainly 30 years, I've heard suggestions of 50, or even 80 years. I don't know who's ever lived long enough to confirm that they do live for this long:laugh:, but that is what I once read

ok thank you both very much how should i introduce my new fish to my oscar and cat fish and how should i size him to my 3 inch and growing oscar

one other thing is will choclat cichlids blue acara and jack dempseys and such be to agresive for an oscar

Most cichlids can to a certain extent be a little bit aggressive, some more than others. Severums, blue acara, Jack Dempsey can all be aggressive if they want to be. At the moment, I've got Severums & blue acara, I haven't had a serious problem with them, although the blue acara are showing themselves to be quite bullish toward some of the other fish. They are still quite small at the moment so only time will tell to what extent the aggression will be. I'm afraid it's trial and error in many cases, just because my Oscar isn't aggressive that certainly doesn't mean someone else's is going to be the same.

ok i understand i just feel bad getting a fish sometimes that wont work out and have to take it back to the fish store but what should i do about sizing one of these fish to my oscar should i go bigger smaller the same and how do i introduce them

because Oscars are such fast-growing fish, you do have to be careful what you get with them. I haven't come across any fish that grow quite as fast as them. I bought my tank mates when they were quite big. I would advise anyone to do the same thing

i agree if you get tankmates the same size as your oscars they will outgrow them very quickly. on the down side if you get the tankmates to big they might bully the oscar but the o's will groww quickly and all that can change. it really is a trial and error thing. all you can really do is get your tankmates a little bigger than the oscars and hope all works out in the end.

as for introducing new tank mates make sure to give them a few hiding places in case things dont turn out as well as you hope.

good luck

ok thankyou very much i have plain clay pots in the tank tipped on there sides and half buried in the gravel a such do you think that will be ok for hiding places