A catfish with my Oscar?

[immune]

I would like to move my Oscar to a 90 gallon tank but I would like to get a catfish to live with him. I am not really interested in a pleco of any kind. I would like to get something like a bumble bee cat. Would that work with my Oscar?

Any other suggestions?

[2wheelsx2]

Anything that will fit in its mouth will be eaten. If it can't be swallowed, then the Oscar may choke to death. No matter what you get it's gotta be bigger than the Oscar.

[immune]

Okay, I went through planet catfish and compiled a list of Cats I am interested in. They are all reported to reach an adult size of between 10" and 16.5".

Are there any foreseeable problems with having one of the following with my Oscar?

Jello Band Catfish
Snail Bullhead
Butter Catfish
Eel Tailed Banjo Catfish

[Birger]

Aspredo aspredo

Eel Tailed Banjo Catfish...Off the top of my head I think these would be too sedentary and "may" need brackish water at some time in its life(not quite sure on that).

Ameiurus natalis

Butter Catfish

Ameiurus brunneus

Snail Bullhead...Both the bullheads need cooler temperatures than an oscar and if grown can be rather grouchy themselves. Either of these you may have to go catch your own which is very possible depending on which part of the US you live in.

Aguarunichthys torosus

Jello Band Catfish is a beauty that I personally would not risk with a cichlid at least to start, as it is probably quite expensive "if" you can find it somewhere.

The next thing you should do is compile a list of catfish that are available to you...it is dissapointing setting your sights on a fish you may not be able to find.

Birger

[immune]

Well, I can easily compile a list of catfish I am not interested in:

Pictus (too small..not very pretty)
Rafael (Looks like a creepy crazy french man)
Pleco (sorry I just don't want another Pleco)
RTC (too big)
sun cat (too tiny)
Giraffe (Weird little faces creep me out)
Channel cat (too big)
Synodotis (Would prefer to keep syns in a planted tank)

It just so happens that these are all of the catfish that I can get locally...I think. (I did look into these fish but was fairly unimpressed at the store. Suggestions would be great as finding a fish around here would be great but just in case the fish I want is not readily available, I have a birthday coming up and friends/family stationed overseas. That being said, if someone is willing to buy me whatever fish I want for my bday I want to I would like to try my best to choose a fish that will do well in my tank as well as tickle my sense of wonder.

[Bijn]

sun cat (too tiny)

you must be joking, right?

[MatsP]

I was thinking the same as Bijn - they grow at least big enough to be a bit tight in a 90g tank.

Since a 90g tank is 49" x 19" x 26" (L x W x H), it is really only suitable for fish no more than 9.5" (half the shortest side of the tank).

Horabagrus brachysoma

grows to about 18". To house that, according to the 4L x 2L x 2L rule, you need a 6ft x 3ft x 3ft. That's about 270 gallon, or four times bigger than your current tank.

[I should perhaps point out here that an Oscar quite commonly grows bigger than 10" too if they are well looked after!]

--
Mats

[Richard B]

A suncat might be a good option i thought.

Perhaps it might be worth considering Clarotes, or maybe even a clarias?

[Bijn]

on the other hand, why putting an extra fish in a tank that is already to small for the fish that is in it?

Oscars grow way to big for an 90g. I have a 120 gallon tank and I can't imagine a full grown oscar in it.

[immune]

sun cat (too tiny)

you must be joking, right?

Well, I thought that there top size was quite smaller than that. Thanks much! I will go ahead and get sun cat. I have always admired them at the LFS.

Much appreciated everyone!

Oh, and my Oscar is not fully grown yet. I have been transferring him from tank to tank until he is fully grown. I live in the top floor of a duplex and do not trust the construction enough to take the 125 out of the garage. My O is very well taken care of at 4 months from nose to tail he is not yet as long as my tiny girl hands.

I will be moving in 5 months and (with any hope) will be living in the basement region instead and therefor will be able to Set up my larger tank.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Hi Immune, please check out my last post, very bottom of page 2, about an adult tiger oscar killing a 2-3 times larger RTC.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... r&start=20

IMO, you are gambling with the health/life of the cat but if your oscar and cat have some time to grow up together, maybe, it will increases their chances of peaceful compatibility.

[Viktor Jarikov]

sun cats (I have 3) grow quite slow, at least in my hands... in 1 year my smallest, the 3 incher went perhaps to 4.5".
(Spectacular specimen in the pic, the loveliest sun cat I've seen - looks somewhat amelanistic resulting in this lovely yellow color, which is normally dirty-green)

[Viktor Jarikov]

Bijn, this pic is not in Cat-eLog. Can we please put it there!? I think it is worthy on several accounts!

[Bijn]

It isn't my pic, it was linked from fishbase.

[juanitoman]

i use to have a sun cat around 6" with a 9" four line pim, a silver dollar, & a 12" Oscar and the oscar only got along with the sun cat. they actually seemed to be good buddies.