I'm new to Oscar keeping, I got my 2.5in Tiger Oscar on the 19th, he was a late 16th birthday gift from my mom. He's doing great so far, very active and loves to dance and beg for food. He only gets fed once a day but his tank stays dirty. (Mainly from the food he misses even though I try to drop it when I think he'll see it, he's getting better at catching it. I try to remove a lot of it but it's hard to reach what falls to the bottom.) He is scheduled for his weekly water change on the 26th but I was thinking about adding a Pleco to help keep the tank tidy in between changes. How should I go about introducing them? My Oscar isn't to "tough". I picked him not only because of what he looks like (Yes, I know he'll look totally different as an adult.) but because he was being picked on by the other Oscars at the store. (Poor little guy!) So I don't think he'd be to aggressive to a new comer but I'd much rather be on the safe side. What would be the safest way to introduce them? I have three Plecos already and was thinking about putting in my 5.5in Albino. The only thing is I'm worried about my Pleco, they are my babies. My Albino I raised since he was just barely 3in long so I'd hate to lose him.

The first thing you have to address is have you got room for this fish? I have said this a million times before, Oscars get very big as adults, they need big tanks. If you haven't got a big tank to begin with, don't even think about adding any more fish.

Young Oscars are normally quite excepting when it comes to adding new tankmates. It's when they reach adulthood, that's when you can sometimes have problems.

You shouldn't get these type of fish just to clean up after the fish. A lot of these plecs can get very big indeed so you have to be very careful what you choose. What he got to bear in mind is that these fish may well consume the algae and cleanup extra food that may be left, but remember that you have the cleanup after that fish and when they get quietly, they produce a lot of waste. So at the end of the day, you're not really saving yourself any time by having it if that's all you want it for.

If you feed your Oscar properly, he shouldn't leave any food, if there is leftover food, you're feeding too much. Don't leave any unbeaten food in the tank. This will just increase the chances of water problems

I don't feed him to much, it's when I first start dropping food that is when he misses it. (Even though he see's the food he doesn't go after it until he realizes what it is. I'm in the process of teaching him to eat from my hand so he doesn't miss as much.) Once he realizes it's coming into the tank and it's food then he starts eating. I only feed him one small pellet at a time so he doesn't stuff himself all at once.

He's in an 80G right now with a canister filter that goes through 175G of water every hour. I know it's not the biggest tank but it's better than going with the very minimum. He's going to be getting a custom made 300G hopefully in the next 6 months. Yes, I know he'll grow very big in that time.

I realize they create a lot of waste but it's more the food I'm worried about. I don't want food rotting. I do water test and have no problems with my tanks and have been in the hobby for quite a while so I'm not a complete n00b to caring for them. (I have cold, tropical and saltwater fish.) They are clean and all my fish are healthy and happy. I might be young but I'm not stupid nor would I ever get an animal without doing research and being sure I can offer them proper care and a home for their -whole- life. I know that animals, even fish, are not toys nor throw aways.

As I said before, I'm not going out and buying a Pleco. These are fish I've raised since they were little because of my love for them. (And I do know how big they get) Not because I see them as a janitor.

Rattie wrote:


Sound's like your feeding sinking pellets. You might want to try the floating variety much easier to keep track of and remove any uneaten food. Oscarfishlover is right about the reasons to add fish to a tank. Don't add them to clean add them to enjoy.

I feed sinking and floating. (Plus freeze-dried bloodworms, krill, crickets, ect.) He doesn't notice the floating food as easy though. I need to re-arrange the pipe that shoots the water out. I have it so it bubbles at the top to keep the water from becoming stale and to help provide oxygen but it moves the food when I put it in so my Oscar doesn't see it as well. I'm going to pick up a feeding ring from Petco today and see if that helps. He will accept the pellets from my fingers but I don't want to be bit attempting to feed him really small foods such a bloodworms.

I have a plec in with my oscar and i very rarely have to scrape for algae except for certain times of the year when i get some sunlight on my tank and i get a really tough type of algae on the glass. I also get lots of fish waste from the plec so i have to scoop over the gravel every week to remove it

I would just add you plec to your oscar tank as oscars usually ignore plec but i have heard of oscars attacking plecs so just keep an eye on them

I would not advise hand feeding your oscar as they are very strong from 8inches upwards. If your oscar associates your hand with food he is going to go for your hand everytime you do some tank maintenance.

A better kind of pleco is the bushynose or bristlenose pleco. Stays inder 6'' and is great at removing algae. Just make sure it's not 2'' while your oscar is 12'' or you'll have a problem...

Around here you can only find Common Pleco's. Sadly, I've yet to find anyone to sell the smaller varieties (Except online) and hate to think of how many of these guys are stuck sitting in a tiny tank.

So I have my 3 big boys and if I were to get a small one, that'd just be taking up space for my current 3 when they are bigger.

I don't have algae in any of my tanks. I have lots of plants that keep the algae from growing.

unless you have big tanks you may well have big problems when you plecs get as big they can we all strive to keep our pets for life weather it be fish dogs cats what ever but as people have said plecs can get huge bigger than most of us think and sometimes we have to end up rehomeing fish like this for lack of room but like you said you know about these fish so you will know best good luck julie

Yes very huge...and they crap way too much, not to mention they don't eat algae or anything like after they reach 6 or 7 inches. My pleco is 17 inches long right now and is a very difficult fish to keep due to the large amounts of crap he produces:angry: But he's a great fish to have and makes a good companion for my oscar and other fish:) I suggest yiu buuy these only if you like plecos, just coz you like them. Do not by them to rid of algae, or eat uneaten food because, they won't. Don't get me wrong, they're a wonderful fish, they just don't do what they're rumored to do:angry: