Oscar Tank mates

@MarcF, in my experience with oscars, first decide on tank mates, introduce them to the tank and wait a little..2..3 weeks, then buy your oscars.
Oscars have worse reputation than they deserve... Yes... they are territorial and will fight amongst themselves if they dont like each other so space is essential but oscars, unlike othercichlids do not usually go out to deliberatley fight with other fish... and often can not stand up to the more agressive cichlids.There is always the exception to the rule but this has been my general observation over the years.

I have also proved to myself over and over again that if you introduce smaller fish before you introduce the oscars, even if the oscars can fit those fish in their mouth they do not go for fish that were in the tank before them. Again there is always the exception but I have tested this over and over again and this is what I have found.

Severums/deacons, are an excellent tank mate for oscars and if you get some of the more unusual ones they are stunning. As juvies, they dont always display their true adult colour but google some images... green deacon.. red shoulder.. They really get along well with oscars.
Tin foils also do but they get very big, very quickly and you neeed a few and to me.... have no character and I love fish that interact with you instead of just dashing all over the tank.. crazy maybe... its just me....

If you love loaches, clowns get big but are slow growers but the zebra loach is beautiful and should only grow to about 10cm, if I remember right

 

Thanks, I will rather get a big tank before I go the Oscar route in the Future. I am a bit scared though with the Convicts, but looking forward to it . I also notices that the one might be a female. The other one might be a male, but not 100% sure as the coloring on it is not yet bright.

 

I have just one convict, a female, and she is really peaceful. In with fish she could probably swallow whole and that are added after her. That said, she is the only convict. So i cant speak for pairs or the males. But bekkie is a real gem! Sometimes you get the exception who ia not agressive at all, other timea is just the opposite. Goodluck with the project.