Oscar/ciclid experience at petsmart

slugfrompluto

So I was out shopping today for some new fish. I go to Petsmart because they seem to have the best looking fish in the area. We do have a local owned pet shop, but she charges an arm and a leg for fish that look very unhealthy. Anyways, I went in to get 2 small oscars and a pleco. As i was standing waiting for the associate to get my fish, i found a small dempsey that i couldnt resist. So i told him i wanted the dempsey also, but he warned me not to get it that they would end up fighting. I told him that i have an oscar and a dempsey together. He really didnt believe me. I end up never believing the sales people. The "district manger" didnt know anything about doing aquatic plants. Now i usually go on here or research the internet before jumping into fish/project, but i always like knowing what they know. Most of the time it is completely wrong.

Now to my questions.

1) Do oscars and jack dempseys get along in the tank, or did i just end up with 2 really cool fish?

2) I have heard storied about really mean oscars, but none of mine (I have 7) are mean. Did i get lucky with all of mine, or are the storied not 100 percent real?

3) This is off topic, will red/albino/tiger oscars breed with each other?

Thanks for reading

I appreciate responses

MoneyMitch

in my experience oscars as im sure you know have in depth personalitys so my guess to why he is peacefuill with the dempsy is that he has no problem with it (right now) but might a few yrs down the raod or here and there ya never know oscars can be crazy aggro just be very carefull lol. about the bredding idk :O

buzz4520

i have 3 oscars (2 albino & 1 tiger) and a jack dempsey together in the same tank and have been together for about 2 yrs now and i have had no trouble at all yet. if i end up with a breeding pair, i'm going to have to plan on different living arrangements for them all as the aggression from the breeding pair will sky rocket.

i sure hope that your planning on getting much bigger tanks, your 90,55,20 are all serverly overstocked!!!!!!!!
oscars themselves need atleast 50+ gal of water to handle their bioload as well as the common pleco.

southamericancichlidguy23

i tell u one thing dont put a oscar with a firemouth hes getting his butt kicked all over the tank and the oscar is bigger then the firemouth alot didnt see that one coming and this is in 55 gallon tank

willieturnip

Just goes to show how fish aren't all the same. Obvious as it seems, it is more than not conveyed that all the fish of a certain species have exactly the same temperament and personalities.

I have two firemouths, an oscar and a jack dempsey in my tank (amoung others) and they get on great. The only aggro is from one of the texas cichlids. Right trouble maker that one. The other texas is entirely different though.