Hello. After some advice, Ive decided not to replace a passed away oscar with another oscar. The new set up is 8" Red, pleco and a local guy who is shutting down a couple of tanks,has given me a Texas and a female Midas. Both are about 6" and on viewing seemed to have formed a friendship! I took the two and have put them in the tank and the last couple of days has been a bit hectic! First the oscar was chasing the two. He calmed down and the two others are taken turns in chasing each other.The tank layout is arched bogwood in the middle where pleco sits, flower pot one end with rocks at the entrance where Texas has set up.

Is my 400 litre Rio 400 ok for this ammount of fish? Should I set up another flower pot up the other end for the midas? Should things settle down after they all get used to each other? The midas seems pretty calm, shes the strain that begins with C, but the name escapes me!

Sorry for all the questions, but I want to do right for all the fish.Thanks for your help.

welcome to Oscar fish lover.

Okay, I will not beat around the bush, 400 L [approximately 90 gallons]. It's big enough for one Oscar, and maybe a couple of smaller tank mates, certainly not for the amount of fish you are keeping. Midas & Texas cichlid get quite big. They can also be aggressive, so coupling this altogether with an Oscar in a small tank, you could run into serious problems. We must also mention your pleco. do you know what type is is? There are hundreds of species in this family, some of them gow to 5 inches, others 8 inches, and then you have the ones that can exceed 12 inches easily, often 18 inches. I would only recommend the smallest species, the big ones are just not suitable for the majority of home aquariums, they create a large amount of waste and will pollute your water very quickly.

Are using the internal filtration on your Rio tank? I am familiar with Jewel tanks, I used to have a 350 of few years ago. the internal filtration needs to be cleaned on a regular basis because it gets clocked out very quickly when keeping messy fish like Oscars.

I hate telling people that they need to rehome fish, however, I think you'll just run into problems once the fish start getting big, when you start getting water quality problems, you'll put your fishes health at risk. Your tank is quite big, however, you have to be sensible. I would advise one Oscar and a couple of small tank mates.

Hello. Ok, the filter is a top of the shop external Eheim. The plec i rescued. Im not sure what he is, but he is the sort you see alot in trop shops,you could say common. Your right, he poos for England. What if I re housed him to reduce the bio load. Would that be better for the short term ? The fish seem to have settled now and found there own little spots in the tank. The oscar seems 100% happier. I currently do a 40/50% water change per week as a rule.I know you need around 50 gallons per oscar, what would you need for the texas and midas ? If not, toss a coin and see who stays and who goes !!!Many thanks for all your help.

the Texas Cichlid, I believe can reach 12 inches. So you really should allow around about the same amounts of room as the Oscar, I believe the Midas Cichlid reaches around the same size, so again. You're looking at quite a bit of space.

I would definitely rehome the pleco, that would definitely reduced the bioload dramatically. I assume that you are using one of the filters that contains three large sponges? the problem of these filters is when they become clogged up with crap, the water flowing through the filters slows down dramatically and you could in some circumstances, run the risk of killing off some bacteria because they will be starved of oxygen. . Anyway, I would strongly advise you to check the filter once a week if you are going to have the Oscars in the tank.

If you really want to keep all your fish, it's certainly not my business to tell you that you must rehome them, Then once they start getting big, you must check the water on a regular basis. You'll probably find that nitrate levels are very high by the end of the week, you may end up having to do a couple of small water changes more than once a week to keep them under control. The most serious scenario is that the filters cannot cope with the bioload and then you start getting readings of ammonia in the water, you normally know when this is happening when the water suddenly goes cloudy. In this situation, you would have to reduce the amount of fish you have got, or beef up your filtration.

The eheim is running with one tray of sponge, and two of the eheim media, forget the name, but they are like fibreglass balls. Suppose to be very good.Is this the best media or can you recommened another?

I very much appreciate your sound advice, so in a nut shell, rehome the pleco, regular water changes, regular water quality checks and keep an eye on the mood in the tank.

Does anyone else out there have experience of these fish together? Be great to hear your stories.

Thanks again.

sounds like you have the same sorts of media as I have in my Eheim filters. Yes, this type of media has a surface area that is more efficient for the bacteria to live on. When you watch this type of media, and swill it out in existing tank water, that's all it needs. I actually use one of those devices that are used to strain vegetables. Just pour the media into it, Dunk ina
existing tank water and moved around a bit with your hands or asses enough to give a good clean, but not enough to remove the bacteria