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Hello all I am setting up a 150gal 48x24x30 inch tank and need advice on cats. They will be living with 1 Oscar and 1 or two others such as severum/green terror/ jack Dempsey (non are final) and have spent more time trying to decide on catfish than anything else. My son is highly involved and loves catfish as do I. We narrowed them down to the following jaguar cat Liosomadoras oncinus , giant bumblebee cat Pseudopimelodus bufonius these two are our favirotes can they both live together ?
also are considering Bolt cats and vulture cats (not sure if they will be too big for my set up)

any suggestions on different cats or suggestion from anyone who owns the ones listed are much appreciated. Also we'll be using led lighting that can change to blue and red in an attempt to be able to view the cats at night

If you realize the Oscar can grow to over 1 foot - and will reach 8 inches within a year, your tank will be far too small for an Oscar.

You intend to keep south American catfishes - which require soft water. The Jack Demsey lives in rivers with a limestone bedding - that is in very hard water. This would not be a good combination either.

What I would suggest is keeping a small group 5 or 6 of Biotodoma cupido together with the catfish. Biotodoma are rather mellow cichlids, they so not grow very big, but are big enough not to be considered as food.

Lisomadoras might fit, but I think Pseudopimelodus also grows far, far too big for your tank

Aside from Bas's post, you've selected some medium to aggressive cichlids & scaleless sedentary cats. If any of the cichlids takes a dislike to the cats, they'll suffer badly. Platydoras, acanthodoras etc often are a better mix.

It is a nice size tank but an established mature green terror will want most of it! Far better as Bas suggests to go for a group of the same species with a milder temperment. Festives, acaras, some of the geos etc would be far less problematic & allow the jag & bufonis

I by no means am an expert and haven't been in the hobby for quite some time but 150 gal too small for an oscar ? The green terror and the jd are not definite just a list of possibles. And wouldn't stock the tank with all of the fish I listed. Main question is can the jag and giant BB live together. I know its sometimes frowned upon but I have kept a jd with a pair of O's. Not trying to sound like a know it all cuz I am not but just some thinking out loud with my list and do appreciate the advice and will take it into consideration. But the greed sets in when your planning lol prob just end up with an O and sev

Any suggestions other than the jag or giant BB. Can anyone tell me some real life experiences with these two cats ?

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150g is a good size but (people correct me if I'm wrong) this site promotes a 6x2 rule or 4x2 at a real push for inactive species, your tank is only 48 inches long, when your Oscar reaches 12inches plus this drops it below the min 4x2 rule, that is the point Richard and Bas are making.
As for the 2 cats if the anything fits in the Pseudopimelodus bufonius mouth it will try and eat it.

I just never heard that would be too small for an O only because I was told the min for and adult O would be 4ft length.
Any one have suggestions on catfish though for my set up don't want the thread to be about cichlids. Really love cats they prob out favirote part of the is. My son and I love watching all the YouTube vids he can do it for hours...

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Hello co77, based on the size of your tank, I would consider looking at a slightly smaller "bumblebee cat" (6-8"), if not in the Pseudopimelodus maybe Batrochoglanis, or possibly Pseudomystus flavipinnis (hard to find) which have a more active behavior and I've seen at 6"TL.

Combining cichlids and catfish is not always conventionally easy. Please consider Bas Pels and Richard B's suggestions. I've experienced some tortuous thing cichlids have done to 'naked' cats. If you settle on a cichlid like a Jack Dempsey, a heavy armored Doraid or Loricarid might be the way to go.
Good Luck

Kif wrote:150g is a good size but (people correct me if I'm wrong) this site promotes a 6x2 rule or 4x2 at a real push for inactive species, your tank is only 48 inches long, when your Oscar reaches 12inches plus this drops it below the min 4x2 rule, that is the point Richard and Bas are making.
As for the 2 cats if the anything fits in the Pseudopimelodus bufonius mouth it will try and eat it.

The 6 * 2 rule is perfect - for catfish

For cichlids I wuld sugget a 8 * 3 rule. And yes, that would result in Oscars only fitting in a 8 * 3 FEET tank. Oscars are largely unfit for hometanks. I'm sorry to say so, but they are.

naturalart wrote:Hello co77, based on the size of your tank, I would consider looking at a slightly smaller "bumblebee cat" (6-8"), if not in the Pseudopimelodus maybe Batrochoglanis, or possibly Pseudomystus flavipinnis (hard to find) which have a more active behavior and I've seen at 6"TL.

Combining cichlids and catfish is not always conventionally easy. Please consider Bas Pels and Richard B's suggestions. I've experienced some tortuous thing cichlids have done to 'naked' cats. If you settle on a cichlid like a Jack Dempsey, a heavy armored Doraid or Loricarid might be the way to go.
Good Luck

thanks naturalart for the reply the site says Pseudopimelodus bufonius is about 9.6 inches do they get bigger than that ? I read that the GBB can be really territorial. Would the gbb and the jag be able to be housed together ?

Bas Pels wrote:

Kif wrote:150g is a good size but (people correct me if I'm wrong) this site promotes a 6x2 rule or 4x2 at a real push for inactive species, your tank is only 48 inches long, when your Oscar reaches 12inches plus this drops it below the min 4x2 rule, that is the point Richard and Bas are making.
As for the 2 cats if the anything fits in the Pseudopimelodus bufonius mouth it will try and eat it.

The 6 * 2 rule is perfect - for catfish

For cichlids I wuld sugget a 8 * 3 rule. And yes, that would result in Oscars only fitting in a 8 * 3 FEET tank. Oscars are largely unfit for hometanks. I'm sorry to say so, but they are.

I really tried to fight the urge to reply to this but couldn't resist... 8x3 ft min required for 1 Oscar I am sorry but this is absurd my friend... that mean the problably 60 percent of people in any of these forums or on youtube should just sell their fish Granted that many of them have have over stocked tanks but IMO and many others a 150 gal is plenty room for an O.I am not interested in "what this site promotes" even 6x2 as a minimum is a little out there 8x3 ? I did not start this thread to debate the tank requirements for cichlids so please feel free to comment on my question as I asked it and if you feel the O's are not good tank mates for the cats I mentioned that is valuable input as well but again 8x3 for 1 Oscar even 2 Oscars is just crazy. Will reiterate stocking will consist of and Oscar I know they can be aggressive but they can be aggressive with ANY tank mates of any species or act like little puppies just the luck of the draw. maybe a severum or two or a jd or a gt or maybe no Oscar at all. feel free to to give me advise about my current stocking but lets keep the comments on point with what I am asking I really love cats and would love to learn more and discuss them

Would the gbb and the jag be able to be housed together ?

I can't really speak to that. I've never kept these two species. I've kept some of the P. bufonius close cousins and they were definitely territorial, particularly when it came to sleeping quarters. Both of these species seem to have very similar natural histories; shy, retiring and possessive of their sleeping quarters throughout the day and restless 'gobble' predators at nite. I would assume some clashes in one way or the other.

You could also think about maybe a larger day cat that is busy during the day and won't get eaten at nite. It could complement one of the two you have mentioned above. Just a thought.

Do you have any suggestions. I like larger ones but don't want ine that will outgrow my tank

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co77 wrote:

Bas Pels wrote:

Kif wrote:150g is a good size but (people correct me if I'm wrong) this site promotes a 6x2 rule or 4x2 at a real push for inactive species, your tank is only 48 inches long, when your Oscar reaches 12inches plus this drops it below the min 4x2 rule, that is the point Richard and Bas are making.
As for the 2 cats if the anything fits in the Pseudopimelodus bufonius mouth it will try and eat it.

The 6 * 2 rule is perfect - for catfish

For cichlids I wuld sugget a 8 * 3 rule. And yes, that would result in Oscars only fitting in a 8 * 3 FEET tank. Oscars are largely unfit for hometanks. I'm sorry to say so, but they are.

I really tried to fight the urge to reply to this but couldn't resist... 8x3 ft min required for 1 Oscar I am sorry but this is absurd my friend... that mean the problably 60 percent of people in any of these forums or on youtube should just sell their fish Granted that many of them have have over stocked tanks but IMO and many others a 150 gal is plenty room for an O.I am not interested in "what this site promotes" even 6x2 as a minimum is a little out there 8x3 ? I did not start this thread to debate the tank requirements for cichlids so please feel free to comment on my question as I asked it and if you feel the O's are not good tank mates for the cats I mentioned that is valuable input as well but again 8x3 for 1 Oscar even 2 Oscars is just crazy. Will reiterate stocking will consist of and Oscar I know they can be aggressive but they can be aggressive with ANY tank mates of any species or act like little puppies just the luck of the draw. maybe a severum or two or a jd or a gt or maybe no Oscar at all. feel free to to give me advise about my current stocking but lets keep the comments on point with what I am asking I really love cats and would love to learn more and discuss them

If you are offended by my honest answer - why did you inquire?

You have a plan. You intend to combine cichlids and catfish. That implies both the cichlids and the catfish should be houded properly.

Your plan involves keeping 1 oscar. 1 oscar is not a good idea, the fishes are social. But furhter, whether you keep 1 or 5 - the fish are still the same size, and I thinnk fish need to be able to turn around at the end of the thank. THAT - swimming needs - is what dictates the size of the tank they require.

NOT the amount of money you are willing to spend, or the size of your house.

You estimated 60 % of the Oscars to be housed wrong - I think it is more. But than, I realize they are largely unfit to keep in a tank. Because they are too large.

Bas Pels wrote:

co77 wrote:

Bas Pels wrote: The 6 * 2 rule is perfect - for catfish

For cichlids I wuld sugget a 8 * 3 rule. And yes, that would result in Oscars only fitting in a 8 * 3 FEET tank. Oscars are largely unfit for hometanks. I'm sorry to say so, but they are.

I really tried to fight the urge to reply to this but couldn't resist... 8x3 ft min required for 1 Oscar I am sorry but this is absurd my friend... that mean the problably 60 percent of people in any of these forums or on youtube should just sell their fish Granted that many of them have have over stocked tanks but IMO and many others a 150 gal is plenty room for an O.I am not interested in "what this site promotes" even 6x2 as a minimum is a little out there 8x3 ? I did not start this thread to debate the tank requirements for cichlids so please feel free to comment on my question as I asked it and if you feel the O's are not good tank mates for the cats I mentioned that is valuable input as well but again 8x3 for 1 Oscar even 2 Oscars is just crazy. Will reiterate stocking will consist of and Oscar I know they can be aggressive but they can be aggressive with ANY tank mates of any species or act like little puppies just the luck of the draw. maybe a severum or two or a jd or a gt or maybe no Oscar at all. feel free to to give me advise about my current stocking but lets keep the comments on point with what I am asking I really love cats and would love to learn more and discuss them

If you are offended by my honest answer - why did you inquire?

You have a plan. You intend to combine cichlids and catfish. That implies both the cichlids and the catfish should be houded properly.

Your plan involves keeping 1 oscar. 1 oscar is not a good idea, the fishes are social. But furhter, whether you keep 1 or 5 - the fish are still the same size, and I thinnk fish need to be able to turn around at the end of the thank. THAT - swimming needs - is what dictates the size of the tank they require.

NOT the amount of money you are willing to spend, or the size of your house.

You estimated 60 % of the Oscars to be housed wrong - I think it is more. But than, I realize they are largely unfit to keep in a tank. Because they are too large.

I never said the oscar would be alone said possible with severum or a jd or a gt but nothing definite.Your right as soon as I get that 8x3 tank Im gonna run out and get that oscar until do you have any suggestions for a nice cat that doesn't pass the 1 foot mark.

Feel free to pm me any links that state oscars minimum requirements are an 8x3 tank and that they must be housed in pairs I would really like suggestions on catfish guys not oscar info and I am not insulted just want to talk about cats

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The great (and bad) thing about fish keeping is that people all have different ideas and principles and with the joy of the internet this allows us to share these with each other and it's a fact of life people don't always agree.
I think your tank is a great size but imo 48 inches is not long enough for a fish that will break the 1ft mark, would you put it in a 48x12x12 ? that is the same length.
Anyway way from the debate on cichlids will reply to your other thread with my suggestions.

The tank is 48x24x30 more than enough room for an oscar imo but totally cool everyone has their own opinions

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For a young oscar, sure, but a full size adult? Maybe one and nothing else in the tank, IMO. Not a great situation at best.

Excellent we all agree

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