Hi

My oscars have just upgraded from a small one bedroom unit (2' x 1' x 1.5' to a four bedroom house with ensuite (4' x 2' x 2' .

Today I bought some fish to go into the unit. One albino bristlenose catfish (1&quot, one standard bristlenose catfish (1&quot, five clown loaches (1&quot, and two existing swordtails (2&quot. We called the catfish salt and pepper (yes, very predictable!).

Has anyone had any experience with this combination? I'm wondering if they will all live happily in this tank together at full size, or if they need to go to another 4' x 2' x 2'.

Cheers,
Candice

Your combination is okay, apart from the tank being a bit small once the fish start getting bigger. You will have to be careful with the Brislenose catfish. These normally only reach 5 inches. I'm not entirely sure how quick their growth rate is. This could be a problem. An Oscar will be at least 8 inches within a year, if a little catfish has only grown to 2 inches, that is a viable meal so be aware.

I keep clown Loach with my Oscar is very successfully. Again, these are fish that grow very slowly indeed. Maybe only 1 inch a year. You always have to be aware that an Oscar as an opportunist, it will eat a smaller fish given half a chance. When I first got my Oscars a few years ago, I also bought six Tiger barbs. Within the year, the Oscars have eaten them all.

I'm afraid it's six of one, and half a dozen of the other. You can never trust an Oscar with a small fish.

What is Penn short for?

I don't think I will move the catfish and loaches over until they are fully grown. I will get a bigger tank in the mean time if required(will beg hubby for money).

The loaches you have are stunning. I saw them in the video of you trying to pair oscars off... they are just amazing and beautiful!!! We seem to have one clown loach that doesn't school with the others, is this normal?

Penn isn't short for anything

clown Loach are a schooling fish and do like to be in groups, you'll probably find that in time, they will all be together. I had my two big clown Loach quite a while before I got the two small ones. It took quite a while but they all hang around together now, despite the size difference.

As for waiting until they are fully grown, you will have a very long wait. They can reach 12 inches +. However, it will take them many many years to get to this size. The ones I have are around seven inches, I estimate them to be around 10 years old. They can definitely lived for 30 years, I've heard people say that they can live for 30, even 50 years. Not sure how anybody has ever manage to work that out, but that's what I've heard

OK - since my oscars are already 3 inches, and the bristlenoses are only 1 inch, will I ever be able to have the oscars and the bristlenoses together? We have plenty of hiding places.

Cheers,
Candice

Your catfish may well grow quite quickly. The best thing you can do is see how the Oscars react with it as they get bigger. Oscars don't always eat every little fish. I introduced two 1 inch Clowne Loach when I had quite a large Oscar and she never went anywhere near them.

I'm trying to find out the growth rates of the catfish so we know how big it will be within the year. I did read somewhere that it could be four or 5 inches within a year but I'm not 100% about that. If this is the case, it should be okay.