oh and should i get a baby oscar or baby firemouth or adult firemouth baby oscar

and i know "a 55 gallon is big enough for 1 oscar"

A 55 gallon is really only big enough for one adult Oscar, even in a 55 gallon, it could reach 11 inches quite easily, then you will realise that 55 gallons isn't really that big. We don't recommend adding any Tankmates, but it's obviously up to you what you do.

i knew you were going to say that but is the oscar and pleco going to be fine

my main concern is the oscar but will the pleco and oscar get along

BIG-D OSCAR BOY wrote:

maybe, maybe not, plenty of people here mix them, but the pleq might end up sucking a hole through the side of your oscar.
I had a pleq smaller than my O' put 2 nasty bite marks on the O during one night, and the pleq will probably make more crap than your oscar, regardless of size.

Do you know what type of pleco you have got? There are absolutely loads of different species, some get huge, others don't get to large. However, the majority of the ones that are sold in fish stores are the type that can easily exceed 12 inches, sometimes 24 inches, I've seen them at gargantuan size, and these were normal commom ples that you find in most fish stores.

Oscars aren't really that aggressive so they shouldn't cause too many problems to their Tankmates. So your pleco should be okay. On the other hand, you sometimes get Oscars that are more aggressive and can easily kill one of their Tankmates, I can not possibly give you a conclusive answer to whether your fish will be okay.

Your biggest problem is going to be too many fish in such a small tank. if you start having water quality problems then this could possibly affect your fishes health.

common pleco

As the Boss told you! You are maxed out in a 55 gallon tank. That Pleco WILL get huge. And so will your Oscar.

You either need to forget a tank mate, or get a MUCH bigger tank!

oscar and a pleco is perfectly fine with me

i might get the oscar at a medium size

common plecos get MASSIVE. you should look into getting a larger tank.

there are other types of plecos that don't get so big....... I have a "clown pleco" (panaque maccus); he's only about 4 inches long (and I got him in 2000 - so I'd say he's full grown). they have some unique requirements -one of which they must have wood in the tank.... just a thought if you want a pleco but don't want one that gets 2 feet long

here's a photo of the panaque maccus

for the sake of being repetitive, if you put a common pleco and an oscar into a 55 gallon tank. you will soon regret it. even if you get them both small, in less than a year you would have to do near daily water changes to keep them both alive.