Mystus Leucophasis and an Oscar?

[steph]

Hi,

These are not 2 tank mates I would usually choose, but I've sort of inherited them. I work in a fish shop, and we've had a 12" tiger oscar brought in for re-homing and a different customer brought in the mystus. I didn't have a spare tank at work to put in the mystus, as the boss wouldn't appreciate our stock dissapearing, so I ended up taking a gamble and putting him in the sump tank with the oscar and lots of bogwood for him to hide under. I hoped that with one being nocturnal and the other diurnal they wouldn't meet.

They have now been living together for approx 6 weeks with no apparent problems, but the mystus is still only about 4" long.

I've got quite attatched to both of them, and I want to give them a home. I've got a 580 litre tank which is currently filling with water (siphoning from the upstairs bath). I am also pre-maturing filters at work at the moment using bio-mature, and I am planning on running 2 fluval 404s on the tank.

This will make tank number 9 in the house, and I cannot see my hubby giving me permission for number 10, so I cannot see any alternatives other than either housing them together, or only re-homing one of them.

Has anyone else kept this combination before? If so could you please tell me what if any problems you encountered? My main concern is how the 2 will get on as the mystus grows.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Steph

[Caol_ila]

Hi!

The 2 Mystus l. i had attacked almost everything that was smaller...but im not sure what a huge oscar will do in the long run...doesnt sound like the best company.
I think its far easier to find a big Oscar than a big Mystus.

[Jools]

I've not done this personally, but I've seen M. leucophasis kept with large American cichlids before and they seemed to get along. I think you're going to need at least a 4x18x18 in the long run mind.

Jools

[steph]

Hi Jools and Caol-ila,

I'm aware of the mystus's voracious appetite for smaller fish, and one of the reasons this one was brought in for re-homing was due to the fact it was munching it's way through a community tank.

As for the size of the tank, I mentioned it was approx 580 litres, in fact it's less than that, because I've just been and measured it. It measures 62" x 22" x 24" so is approx 530 litres

I introduced both fish to the tank on Wednesday having already added a fair amount of bogwood for the mystus to hide under. I also put in several anubias on the hope the oscar would leave them alone (wishful thinking there I've already re-planted 2 of them)

The oscar damaged his side a bit during transportation, I had him in a polystyrene box, but he had a temper tantrum half way home and is now missing several scales on his left side. He's also got a small scrape on his chin - possibly trying to get at the mystus past the bogwood, although when I went in the room this morning I saw the mystus just swimming back behind the bogwood, and although the oscar was curious he didn't seem to be attempting to catch it.

When I set up the tank I filled the filters with as much pre-matured filter media, carbon, sponges, and pre-matured Rena stars as I could scrounge. Although I've had 0 ammonia, I am getting a small nitrite reading though, so I'm on routine 100 litre daily water changes at the moment to keep it under control. Tested the water today though and there was 0 nitrite, so I'm hoping it's sorted.

I hope that the 2 fish will work it out and live together ok. As I said earlier, I wasn't planning on having the oscar, but it has such a character I got attatched to it, and the mystus is an absolutely stunning fish.

I did however resist the urge to re-home a tiger shovelnose that was offered to me last week

Thanks again for your answers,

Steph