Oscar Aquarium Question.

Question
Hello!

I have an Oscar who is about 5 months old, almost 6 inches long, and a few Texas Cichlid babies 2-4 in. long. They were living well together in my 75 gal. aquarium (Yes, I know I need more space for 4 adult large cichlids, we are purchasing a 120 gallon and I will run the 75 for my O and Pleco and the other for the Tex's) My Tex's have started to breed and are becoming very aggressive towards Oscar, and ours is very mellow. He does try to show dominance, but does not fend well against the more powerful, but smaller Tex's. He is getting nipped and such lately and has recently gotten worse. I want to move him to our cycled 30 quarentine tank and want to know if that will be large enough for an oscar of about 6 inches while we work on getting a 120 to rehome out Tex's.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, and if a 30 is a big enough temporary home for about 2 months time. Thanks!

Answer
Hi Taylor

When Cichlids are breeding, they become very aggressive and attack all other fish in the tank, even ones much larger than they are. Therefore I would move the Oscar. A 30 gallon tank would be fine for a 6" Oscar for 2 months, but absolutely no longer than that. He will likely grow another inch or two in 2 months.


Hope this helps, good luck!

Richard