Platydoras Armulatus and stress? Oscar hovering over them.

[knifegill]

Has anyone had issues with p. armulatus and stress from semi-harassment by other, larger fish? My three adult raphs were added to my Oscar's 125g tank three or four days ago, and the Oscar's burning interest in them has not faded since. I see him all evening hovering tightly over their driftwood and practically mouthing at them. Should I just keep an eye on things and expect Oscar to adjust, or add even more (gosh) caves and woodwork they can further retreat into?

[Bas Pels]

My 3 were gotten in 1988. They have spend their whole life with central american cichlids, for instance, now they are housed with 6 Vieja sp 20- 30 cm, 2 'Cichlasoma uropthalumus 20 - 25 cm and 2 Parachromis motaguensae females @ 15 cm

No sign of stress, although plenty of opportunities. They just ignore the cichlids

[apistomaster]

My feelings are similar to those of Bas.
Unless the Oscar is stupid enough to actually attack and do harm I would ignore his behavior; your catfish certainly are. They are so well armored that it would take something more threatening than an Oscar to bother them. You also might consider picking up a group of other large Oscars that have been traded in at your LFS's. Then they will spend all their time sorting things out among themselves. If you do that be warned. It is also a quick way to get a spawning pair of Oscars. I have used that method myself because I wasn't willing to wait for a group of young Oscars to mature together then form breeding pairs. Feed them large night crawler worms and they will soon get into spawning condition and forget all about the catfish except if a catfish strays into their territory.

[knifegill]

Thanks, guys. This is only a 125g tank, so adding Oscars is out of the picture. But it sure does seem like the raphs are doing a fine job of ignoring the Oscar. All in all, things seem to have stabilized now. Thanks again.