I am getting the following 3 fish. There beauttiful and I have dont research on all.
1 Oscar
1 Pleco
1 Salvini Cichlid
NOW…DONT GO SAYING OMG THAT TANKS TOO SMALL. I KNOW, I AM GOING TO GET A BIGGER AQUARIUM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I HAVE A 55 OR 60 GALLON AQUARIUM THAT IS FOR MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT AND WILL ARRIVE FOR ME IN 3-4 MONTHS.
I really like these fish, but for now until my 55 or 60 gallon arrives they are going to stay in the 29 gallon aquarium.
A worker at the shope has owned fish for a long time and owns an oscar with his huge african clawed frog and had no problems and also owns pleco and salvini and a few other kinds they all live together he had has them in the aquarium as young babies with the african clawed frog and NO problems.
I also own a big african clawed frog. And he has been with other fidh and only eats little mollies gupies. Never any fish and inch in a half or bigger like commets that are a bit bigger.
So im getting an aquarium and there are going to be plants not real cuz oscar dig em up. And a few logs for the salvini since sometimes they like to hide.
1.) Is this ok?…1 pleco, 1 oscar, 1 salvini, and my 7 yr old afr. claw frog….
2.) Now feeding wize, the oscar, salvini will eat anything and I am feeding my frog now shrimp pellets, I was goiing to feed all teh fish them, the pleco definalty likes them and salvinies eat them. I was also as a treat going to feed my fish feeders.
Will guppies be ok? or should i just use commets as a treat? I know guppies are better as producing a lot of babies??????
Of corse i am makeing sure they are healthy. And i was also going to put some lettuce i heard they can eat it.
any other info is very much appreciated!?????
March 7th, 2010 at 9:50 am
regardless of what the shop worker has told you, oscars will attack anything… i had an oscar for 3 years before he died of ick and he had basically decided he wanted to live alone i introduced multiple different fish all being larger than him and he still continued to attack them, and food doesnt really matter a shrimp pellet or cichlid pellets are my favorite if you want maximum growth of the fish… 55 gallon tank too small for oscar he will grow to 17 inches long, how will he turn around?
March 9th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
If you are getting a larger tank in 3-4 months you will still have to cycle it before putting the fish in so you are realistically looking at 5-6 months. So even if I were to agree that the new tank is big enough for any of those fish my advice would be don’t buy them until the new tank is up and running.
That said, a 55 gallon would be the minimum for even one of those fish, and when I say minimum I’m talking about the salvini, the oscar would be better in at least 70 gallons and the pleco fully grown would really need the space of a 70 gallon.
Tank size isn’t just swimming room. Keep large fish in small tanks and it becomes harder to maintain water quality and you will be treating totally preventable illnesses. Both the oscar and salvini are high polluters so you would be inviting trouble.
Then you have social issues. There are no guarantees in life but your oscar and salvini may not get along. salvinis are territorial, not good community fish and are far more likely to get aggressive in a cramped tank.
My advice- wait until you have your new tank set up, pick which fish you like best and have just that one……but really your only option is one salvini
March 11th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
I already answered this on your other question about what should you feed an oscar and other fishes, cichlid pellets are fine for a cichlid staple diet, and no a 29 gallon tank is too small for all these fishes, unless you get the tank IN LESS than a month and this also means cycling it, because that salvini, no matter what size it is, it’s gonna try to beat up the oscar, as oscars are peaceful fish when young, and in a tank that small, the small 3″ terrorized oscar wont have too much space to run away from the fast territorial salvini cichlid, oscars are also slower moving cichlids. About the african clawed frog, the pet store owner kept them all together in a crowded tank because his fishes were still SMALL; babies, wait until that oscar hits the 12″ it should AT LEAST get in a stunted tank, there is absolutely no doubt that oscar can eat a 4″ African clawed frog, maybe he cant eat it whole but will take huge bites at it. Just so you know, in the wild oscars grows up to 18″, I wouldn’t buy any fish from that shop, as the owner doesnt know anything about fishes compatibility, and doesnt really care what he is giving out as long as he gets the money.
Lets review:
1. The frog will get eaten in the future by that giant 12″ oscar, or vice versa if the oscar is like 3″ and the “7 year old frog” is 6″, the frog will have a good time with the oscar(as a snack). Watch for the salvini, if it starts doing its ” fish magic tricks” with the other fish, as the internet says. You may want to give it back until you get the 60 gallon tank, and buy an that oscar is twice its size so maybe he can fight it back without losing. Some adult oscars can be lame, and even lose to a territorial male convict cichlid.
2. Feeder fish can contain tuberculosis and many other weird diseases, especially if you buy them from a chain store, and theres no cure for fish TB, I would stick to freeze dried food instead. If you raise your own feeder fish, just feed them once a month so the fishes dont get too much protein. Goldfish are worst than guppys, they contain more fat than guppys.
3. At the end these fishes will need a bigger tank than 60 gallons, Oscars need at least a 75 for it self, and a pleco will be pushing it, and an aggressive salvini cichlid is just asking for more trouble and will kill the african clawed frog.