oscars and silverdollars

Question
can Oscars and silverdollars be tank mates cause my boyfriend said they had some in a tank together for 4 years and i don't belive him.


Answer
Hi Cristina;

They can indeed be kept together but the silver dollars have to be very large and should be in groups of 3 or more so they can school. Oscars grow faster than the silver dollars and could eventually outgrow and harm the silvers if they are too small when you first put them together. They also need a really large tank to co-habitate. I had two oscars and two silver dollars with a plecostamus in a 125 gallon tank. The silver dollars were pretty big, about 6 inches or more. They get to be 6 to 10 inches or so depending on the variety. The oscars were about 10 to 12 inches I guess. The 125 was barely large enough for all of them though, even with excellent filtration. Great tank and interesting fish but those fellas were HUGE and messy!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins