red rainbows with oscars

[mvh pets]

hi!

i was looking for some shooling fish to keep with my oscar in a 320 gallon tank with a lot of hiding spots, and i saw a video that cory made about dither fish, and in the video he mentions giant danios and large rainbows are great for oscars and other big chiclids, i have had success with giant danios with oscars in the past, but i'm not sure if cory meant large rainbows for more peaceful large fish like bala sharks  or can they be kept with oscars.

 

thanks!

[gardenman]

In general, Silver Dollars and Tinfoil Barbs would be the first two fairly common, larger schooling fish to come to mind that would be relatively safe with an Oscar. They're generally big enough and tough enough to hang in there with an Oscar. A 320 gallon tank gives you a fair amount of room for them. If your Oscar is already a big Oscar the opposite direction might work also with a school of very small schooling fish. A big Oscar may just decide the small fish aren't worth the trouble to chase them down and eat them. And a lot depends on the personality of your Oscar. Some are pretty chill while others are more aggressive.

Hiding spots tend not to be effective with schooling fish.  Schooling fish tend to stay moving rather than hide. You more want obstacles for the Oscar to have to go around to catch them than places for them to hide. Of course, Oscars tend to like to rearrange tanks to suit their views on proper tank design, so that's not always so easy to achieve. You may set everything up exactly how you want it only to find your Oscar has completely different views on the ideal tank setup.

Ironically enough, large goldfish, like those for ponds not the fancy ones, can make decent companions in an Oscar tank. Large Shubunkins, Comets, and the like can handle sharing a tank with a big Oscar pretty well. Try to avoid those with long flowing tails, but the bigger pond type goldfish can generally get along pretty well with an Oscar. Water temp and water quality becomes more of an issue, but they're possible tankmates.

[mvh pets]

1 hour ago, gardenman said:

In general, Silver Dollars and Tinfoil Barbs would be the first two fairly common, larger schooling fish to come to mind that would be relatively safe with an Oscar. They're generally big enough and tough enough to hang in there with an Oscar. A 320 gallon tank gives you a fair amount of room for them. If your Oscar is already a big Oscar the opposite direction might work also with a school of very small schooling fish. A big Oscar may just decide the small fish aren't worth the trouble to chase them down and eat them. And a lot depends on the personality of your Oscar. Some are pretty chill while others are more aggressive.

Hiding spots tend not to be effective with schooling fish.  Schooling fish tend to stay moving rather than hide. You more want obstacles for the Oscar to have to go around to catch them than places for them to hide. Of course, Oscars tend to like to rearrange tanks to suit their views on proper tank design, so that's not always so easy to achieve. You may set everything up exactly how you want it only to find your Oscar has completely different views on the ideal tank setup.

Ironically enough, large goldfish, like those for ponds not the fancy ones, can make decent companions in an Oscar tank. Large Shubunkins, Comets, and the like can handle sharing a tank with a big Oscar pretty well. Try to avoid those with long flowing tails, but the bigger pond type goldfish can generally get along pretty well with an Oscar. Water temp and water quality becomes more of an issue, but they're possible tankmates.

but what about rainbow fish?