Big fish terrified of little fish

[StephanieH]

Has anyone ever had this happen?

I have a small oscar (7" including tail) who has been by his/herself for a long time. I recently got a larger tank for him/her and had planned to attempt to introduce my Chocolate from another (smaller) tank as a tankmate. Given my oscar's past disposition, I was worried about my Chocolate getting hurt because he/she is only half the oscar's size, so I put Chocolate in first (for a very short time) to let him/her get aquatinted with the new surroundings and hopefully my oscar would behave. Well, my oscar was terrified. The Chocolate was always the top fish in the other tank and no matter how big the new "friend" was, wasn't about to give up that position. My oscar got bitten up a bit (which is now healed), yet the chocolate, who could have easily had a chunk taken out of him/her, wasn't hurt at all. Needless to say, after a week, they are no longer together.

Has anyone else ever had a smaller fish so unafraid and a larger one that terrified of it? I'm guessing it may be a rare case? (It's not like my oscar has always been a big sissy. I lost another fish last year when he/she wouldn't leave it alone.)

[kevkoi]

Man.... wait till you see a 2inch Convict take on a full grown 8inch Oscar!! I'd bet on the Convict.

[deep_end]

Or heaven forbid, a 2" flower horn with the oscar - this actually happened to me. A friend tossed a flower horn that had jumped out of his tank into the nearest available tank without realizing that there was a 6" oscar there. By the time I realized it the next day, the oscar had lost one eye, and had lots of tattered fins DOWN with FHs !

[DavidBeoulve]

These are my Convict Cichlids (pictures).

I feel for both Oscar's (Arrrh, matey!... maybe the one-eyed one is a pirate now?) seriously. I know how I love our little fish.

Anyone have any advise for how to introduce a Plecostomus later in the tank's life? It's a 38 gallon, four 1" Convicts, two boys and two girls I think. Right now there's not much for a plecostomus to eat and the Convicts are still sorting out their hierarchy.

And yes, I plan on keeping these four when they reach 6".

[kevkoi]

what's going to get to 6inch?

Oscars can get way bigger than that.

So will plecos (I've got a couple in my pond that are more like 12-15inch!)

Convicts... if they get to 6inch, I gotta have a picture of that! I've never seen them any bigger than 4inch.

No special procedure to introduce your pleco.... add a piece of driftwood to the tank (with little nooks and caves) and the pleco should be fine.

[DavidBeoulve]

KevKoi, thanks for your reply. My apologies, I made statements without identifying the topic... 6" Convict Cichlids. I had read they grow to between 4" and 6". I hope they do not.

I've read that Plecos can reach 24" (again, subject to doubt).


Where can I find Driftwood that does not cost a fortune from the store?

I bought some slate rock from Home Depot, and they said it was safe for use in a fish pond; they just said to rinse it off real good or it would cloud the water. Is the slate rock safe?


(click to enlarge)

yes, I'm niave, but I do my best to learn fast.

[kevkoi]

Slate is safe for fish.... As for driftwood, does it really cost so much??? I've got a heap here.... Care to make a trip to Sydney Australia to collect 'em?

6" convicts ain't convicts or maybe convicts fed on steriods or something. They're not that big, though the odd one may get to that size.. I've just never seen one.

24" pleco.... err, that's probably the upper limit as well.

Well, the largest Oranda goldfish in the worlds (Bruce) is 24inches long.... Now would that be indicative of how big most Oranda goldfish would get? I'd say 6inch-8inch would be a good size for Orandas and well, Bruce is just a freak.

[DavidBeoulve]

Check out the new pictures. The new slate rock is in, the pots are boiled, and with all the rock formations, Bernard has cooled down on chasing everyone else around, as has everyone else regarding chasing each other. They needed the extra homes and hiding spaces.

Also, no fish sleep outside now; any time of the night my wife and I look, none are outside of the caves, nor even in the pots.

[StephanieH]

Thanks guys. If I ever consider more fish, I think I'll skip on convicts and flower horns if they are that unafraid of other fish! I always heard that Chocolates we "supposed" to be a little more docile than Oscars, so I thought it would work. My Chocolate is now happy back with his/her old smaller "friends" he/she can control the lives of. (Two firemouths and a blue acara.)

[kevkoi]

Firemouths are whimps where central american cichlids are concerened.
When your blue acaras get to breeding size, expect some aggro out of them as well..... They're no push overs either. Choc's will go fine with firemouths.