Going crazy wanting an oscar for some reason.....

[coolingeffect]

I have a 125 with a group of 6 geophagus and a pair of red ceibals, to be honest the ceibals are great looking fish but are pretty shy and i think they are getting kinda stressed by the high traffic in the room the tank is kept in. Im thinking about getting rid of the ceibals and getting a little oscar. I know im definately pushing the tank size to the limit. Does anyone see any reason that this plain cant work? I know the oscar will be much less likely to get stressed out by people being in the room possibly being a bit loud, and they are awesome fish that ive always kinda wanted.

[Crispy]

what kind and what size of geos? geos are fairly docile and may get picked on by an oscar.

[MCHRKiller]

IMO...it has great possibility to work. Your tank is large, 6ft tanks really make a HUGE difference when stocking cichlids compared to 4ft ones. If I remember correctly your keeping abalios/surinamensis...which grow large. Oscars for their size, are not that aggressive. If you let your Geos get good size say 6-7" and introduce a 2" Oscar to the tank it has a greater potential to work. Also keep hiding places in the tank, and keep everyone well fed.

[coolingeffect]

thats kinda what i was thinking mchrkiller, i was going to let the geos grow till spring (tapajos red heads and surinames) and then add a little oscar. The two surinamensis are about 4.5 inches as of now. The tapajos seem to be growing a little slower. I have a feeling that its the food. The tapajos seem to not be nearly as interested in it. Im in the process of trying out new food now. Hopefully i can get them to take off and do some growing.

[MCHRKiller]

Try them on frozen bloodworms and plankton, after I got my abalios off live black works that is their 2 favorite foods. :22:

[coolingeffect]

the surinames go ballistic on the hikari pellets, i think there are 2 problems with the hikari pellets. First problem is that they float and the red heads dont seem too interested in going up and getting them. I kinda figured they would catch on and go after them, and they do a little but id like to see them eating more. The second problem could easily be pellet size. The medium size hikari pellets might just be a bit too big for them to eat easily. I am going to try some of the nls pellets soon (im ordering a couple different types from marinedepot.) They eat bloodworms and shrimp pellets no problem, im just trying to find a better staple food for them.

[MCHRKiller]

Try some Hikari Sinking Cichlid Gold....was my Geos pick of pellets till I got them surface feeding, they come in size Mini. My abalios are pushing 8" and they still eat the Mini since I have tetras and smaller Rainbow cichlids in with them.

[rothenb1]

I think god doesn't want me to have those ceibals!

What constitutes "high traffic" in your place? My 125 is along a wall in the living room. Think it might be just the parents, or ceibals as a species in general?

[coolingeffect]

its actually just the male mostly. As soon as anyone goes into the room he runs and hides. If its just one or two people and they are quiet he will come back out but any noise and hes back in hiding. The female is out and about quite a bit but is still pretty secretive. You mostly catch her moving back and forth between cover. I know it isnt an agression issue with the geos, they dont attack anything.

[rothenb1]

It's really too bad, they probably wouldn't work in my tank. My severums are always duking it out, and the geos have even started chasing each other. Boo!

[coolingeffect]

well i finally got the male eating better and he seems to be out and about alot more rothen, maybe i will get one more batch of fry and will try again to raise you a few.