Oscarfishlover.com

Hello, This is my first time here and I would just like to thank all who respond. I have two tanks set up and both are cycled. One tank is 38(36x12x17h) gallons and the other is a 135(72x18x24h) gallons. The 38 gallon will be empty in a few weeks as it has some fantail goldfish that a co worker is taking. Someone from my building was moving and they had some young fish that I took as they were going to "get rid of them". Now for the problem, I have 2 oscars 3-4",a dempsey 2",2 bala sharks 3",pleco 10". From my neighbor I received 2 rosy barbs 2",2 pink convicts 2", red devil 2" blue gourami 4"...
Now the problem I see is the devil and what to do with it. I am thinking of putting the convivts the barbs and the gourami in the 40 and keep the oscars,balas,dempsey,pleco and devil in the large tank. right now after 2 weeks all is fine but I know a few months from now this will be a real rowdy tank. filtration is no issue as I have 3 large filters(cannister and hob).
The oscars and balas I have had before and would really like to keep them. Any suggestion would be appreciated and sorry for the long post.

Umm..... never kept red Devils myself but I've read several times how aggressive these fish can be. Personally, I wouldn't mix the Oscar and a red Devil. However, who knows if there would be trouble? You might get away with it, it would be hit and miss really. Maybe you should put them together, monitored the situation and then decide what to do. Like I said before on another thread, I've had no experience with red Devils, maybe someone else can give you the benefit of their experience, they might tell you to forget the idea altogether as it would be a recipe for disaster. Remember that red Devils can get very big, just like Oscars.

Welcome to the site, first of all!

Considering your possibilities regarding available tanks, I would think there are no better solutions really than what you said yourself, except finding a new home for the Red Devil. The 38 gal will be too small for it once it reaches adult size, so not much else you can do.
Neither have kept any yet but from what people say, they tend to live up to their name. I'd probably rather try to keep it with convicts than with Oscars otherwise (in a big tank).
As Penn said, maybe you'll be lucky keeping it with the others in the big tank, especially if it's quite a long tank, who knows. Sometimes things like that do work, but I'd be prepared for trouble in a while. If you decide for that, it's probably best they grow up together.
Hope someone else has experiences to share, and good luck anyway!

I will do that and keep an eye out for aggression. I really dont want to partition the tank as that defeats the purpose of a large tank. My only hope is the oscars will grow faster and hopefully bond so the devil wont even try to pick a fight, but whatever plays out I wont let the oscars be unhappy. Thanks for the help.

the bala shark isnt gonna live much longer, i can tell ya that. even the oscars will tear him apart. you could put the convicts with the oscars they can hold their own. as for the red devil, as he gets bigger, even in a very large tank, he'll want the tank to himself. so hes a threat to all fish. for now, keep alot of hiding spots, hopefully the devil will find a comfortable spot and stay there. the oscars will not hide, but they'll learn to stay away. i've had oscars and devils about the same size together so u might be ok. just keep an eye out for that devil.

MetalHead is right i've owned Red Devils n the past. The ones i've had were very aggressive. One of the ones I had killed off all its tank mates except for the pleco in one day. They are greedy fish and I will never get one again unless it will be in a tank all by itself.