Too many fish, i need your help

[Hudson Ensz]

I dont neccesarily have to many fish... the ones i have will just grow too big. i have a pitiful 30" long and 12" wide tank with the following fish:
1 oscar (it was begging me to take it home with me and when the store owner assured me that it would only grow to five"and that it could thrive in my tank i bought it)
1 Crenicichla regani (best decision i ever made in buying fish i love it and will NOT give it away for anything)
1 Aequidens diadema (?) i didnt have a clue as to what type of fish it was when i got it. right now i dont have a clue how big it will grow from 4 to 10 inches for sure... i hope)
and a Red-tailed-black shark. (my sister loves it)
i dont know what to do i dont know how big my diadema will grow if its a diadema at all. (it doesnt have all those curvy lines on it face like so many of the diademas i have seen but hey i am not the expert.) i kind of know what i need to do, get rid of the oscar. but i want to make sure there are no other possibilaties.
and to avoid making another topic i will say that my apisto's in the other tank is doing fine and that the lyretailed apisto was a paucisquamis i think. do i move the pair before or after they spawn? would it harm the female to move i dont know much about this stuff. i have a three gallon with three live bearers, i think it will work out well. thanks a lot for replying i am looking forward to your answer bye

[Pam Chin]

Hudson,

You have answered your own question and I totally agree with you, the oscar has to go. You have to be a responsible hobbyist and you know that isn't going to work. You want to provide your fish with the optimum conditions and when you add a tank mate like that you are going to stress out the rest of the tank. And it isn't fair for either. You also need to find that red tailed shark a new home, these fish are quite aggressive towards others, and they can interrupt spawning. So I can't see how that fish it going to fit in to your master plan! You are going to have to find something else your sister might like.

Then you have a workable tank!!!! You could even add a small school of a larger tetra. The coolest tanks are when you take your favorite fish, and then you build your tank around them and add fish that they are found with in the wild. These tanks are usually more peaceful, and more interesting.

The Aequidens isn't going to get that large, and I would be looking for C. regani, you could possible get pair and breed them in that type of set up.

Then down the road and when you have a larger tank that you can devote to oscars, you can give them try.

Cichlid Power!
Pam