CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

is it possible to over filter water? i have almost 60 gallons worth of filter capacity on a 20 gallon tank there doesnt seem to be a problem, but i was just curious.

Not in my view. Having said that, there can sometimes be an issue with the type of filtration. Some species like a good water flow, while some prefer more quiet water. Any choice of filters should take that into account.

Originally posted by max33e
is it possible to over filter water? i have almost 60 gallons worth of filter capacity on a 20 gallon tank there doesnt seem to be a problem, but i was just curious.

There's a couple of ways to "over-filter". One is, I guess, over-maintaining the filter; if we do too thorough of cleaning on our filters we can kill or limit the effectiveness of the bacteria that keeps the aquarium cycled. The other issue is currents in the water; some species, like Bettas and long-finned Mollies won't do well in a tank where the filtration is causing a lot of current. As far as Oscars go, though, generally (within reasonable limits) the more filtration there is, the better, for two reasons: they are very messy animals, particularly when eating. A lot of the food they eat spews out the gills and needs to be filtered. Additionally, Oscars (like many other Cichlid species) don't tolerate live plants in their aquariums, so there's always the likelyhood of Nitrate buildup. Good filtration that keeps the water clear slows the buildup of Nitrate by removing organic material from the water. BTW mehopes you're not keeping Oscar(s) in that little 20 - - -

--Mark:cool:

they are in the small 20 but i will be moving soon and when i do i am going to buy at least a 70 gallon tank. Ijust dont want to set up such a large tank just to move it again in a few weeks. Also i dont want to risk breaking a 350 dollar tank before i even get a chance to use it. I have not had the oscars very long at all. so there discomfort has and will be only for a short time.

i wasnt even going to get oscars until after i moved and had cycled a large tank. But i got these from a friend, he started with 4, but put them in a 55 along with a foot long fish that he has had a while(not shure what kind it is) it killed 2 of the oscars. So i adopted them so they wouldnt get killed *** well.

Originally posted by max33e
they are in the small 20 but i will be moving soon and when i do i am going to buy at least a 70 gallon tank. Ijust dont want to set up such a large tank just to move it again in a few weeks. Also i dont want to risk breaking a 350 dollar tank before i even get a chance to use it. I have not had the oscars very long at all. so there discomfort has and will be only for a short time.

Kool --

My two oscars dont mind the small plants i have in my tank they dont even care about them. But one of the black convicts I have in there nibble on them every once and a while.

Keeping plants -- real or plastic -- with most big cichlids is iffy.  Once your O's get bigger they probably remove the plants one way or another.  One of our moderaters here says he has had success doing so, but I certainly have not.

I have 3 Water Hysteria and a large sword in my tank with my 9" Oscar and 8" Jack Dempsey. They uprooted them every time I planted them, so I just kept moving them around each time until they left them alone. Now they completely ignore them. It's just trial and error, eventually you'll put them in a place where they dont bother them (hopefully).

My Red Devil on the other hand, I dont even bother. He knocks over the rocks I put in there, he'd completely shred any plant.

Mine love their plants.  Of course bny love I mean they love to nudge them all over the tank.  But at least they are all still alive...just planting them is an exercise in futility.