# 90 gallon tank setup: advice for suitable species



## COOK13 (Sep 19, 2016)

Iv had my tank for a few years now keeping south African cichlids with much success.. but I'm looking to sell all of my cichlids for something a little bit different! 

Iv been fancying a bigger species of fish, but would like to keep my 2 featherfin catfish and my plec.
The catfish are around 6/7" plex about 5"

The plan was to buy 3 oscars, a silver arowana and a dwarf snakehead.. but then considered getting a red tail catfish instead. 

My question is how long would red tail catfish be okay in my 90gallon without upgrading (my dad builds tanks so upgrading isn't a problem) and would it eat my featherfins?

If anybody could also recommend some larger species that are good to keep with oscars please recommend
Thanks in adance 

Jonathan


----------



## jeaninel (Aug 24, 2007)

Hi Jonathon. Welcome to the forum. Please don't get a redtail cat. This is one species of fish that really shouldn't be sold in pet stores. They grow extremely quick and get extremely large. They will eat anything that fits in their large mouth. They will probably outgrow a 90 gallon within a year or less and ultimately need a large pond for a permanent home.

A 90 is also too small for 3 Oscars and an arowana. You could probably keep one Oscar in a 90gallon as long as you keep up on water changes. They are very messy fish and also grow very quickly. My Oscar hit 10" in less than a year.


----------



## COOK13 (Sep 19, 2016)

Hmm I didn't think I'd need that much space for just one oscar! If I had just the one oscar what are some interesting tankmates I could put him with ?

I called to my local aquatics shop last night and they had a rtc and I asked how big of a tank I would need.. they said at least 10 foot hahahhaha I don't think il convince the missus for one of them 😂

Thanks for the reply


----------



## jeaninel (Aug 24, 2007)

You could probably keep your featherfins or the pleco with the Oscar. But I think both keeping both with an Oscar in a 90 would be a pretty heavy bioload. For another cichlid I would stick with one of the smaller ones such as a convict or Firemouth. Oscars grow to about 12-14" pretty quickly and once you see a full grown adult in a 4 foot tank you realize how much they will fill up the tank. I had mine in a 55 until he was almost 10" and then moved him to the 150. It was so nice to see him have so much more room. Maybe you could upgrade to a 6 foot tank in the future? That would open up more options for the larger American cichlids.


----------

