catfish with oscar?

[big fish]

I have a oscar about 12'' and i was wondering if it would be a bad idea to put my catfish from my other tank in with the oscar. The catfish is about 4-5'' or so. I think the catfish is a featheefin. Also what about a leporinus when it gets bigger. I have 2 in my small tank one is about 3-4'' and the other is 4-5''. Thanks for any info.

[shev]

leporinus get along with african cichlids. i dont know about the catfish, but 4 inches should be too large to be swallowed.

[oscarfan]

i wouldn't because the oscar will eat it out nip at it and eventually kill it
best wishes

[Fishnut2]

The featherfin is a synodontis eupterus, and should be fine with your Oscar. How big is the tank? Keep an eye on it once you put it in the tank...as I've seen an oscar attack the red light on a heater for weeks at a time. Oscars can have some unique personalities!

[Fishguru]

Oscars God i luv them! But a basic rule is they will TRY (and i mean that in all sense of the word) to eat anything, i once had to take my oscar to the vet for trying to eat a whole 15cm plastic plant! i've had them with large 12" plecos and it's only the plecos naturally boney planted back that protected it although they still tryied to eat it! so i had to take it out in the end! best thing is to keep them on there own or with other more interesting oscars e.g tigers/albino/reds etc etc

hope this helps

[flynngriff]

I have had different experiences with oscars, but I might be unique in that. I've had them in a large tank with lots of other fish and they have never nipped at the other fish's fins at all. Anything small enough to be swallowed was gone pretty quickly, but the rest of the fish were fine. The oscars were about 8-10 inches long, and the rest of the fish ranged from 3 inches to 6. The other fish included synodontis eupterus, leporinus, cories (the biggest ones I've seen at over 3 inches long), gouramies, silver dollars, and others.

I think it all depends on the personality of the oscars in question. These oscars grew up in this tank with the other fish, so maybe they were just used to them and didn't see them as food. Or, maybe the oscars I had were just weird...