CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hello

I am new to this forum, but slighty experienced with Raising Oscars cichlids,
I raised a few oscars in the past and ended up giving them back to stores because they overgrew my tank.
So far i never realized the importance of water testing and i must say i am new to the professional aquarium maintenance.

I recently bleached and cleaned my 50 gallons tank and prepared it for some new hosts, i went and bought 2 black and white babies tiger oscars and a pleco,
i also bought some plants.

I researched for about a week on the internet to find the proper settings of PH / amonia / Water hardness etc...

My tank also has 2 kinds of plants :

- Hygrophila difformis
Water Wisteria
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/plants/StemPlants/WaterWisteria.php

and

- Giant Vallisneria
Vallisneria gigantea
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/plants/RosettePlants/RosettePlants.php


Since i am now determined to do my best to keep the tank in the most suitable environment for oscars, i bought a freshwater test kit and run some tests

My Temperature is at fixed 78 F , very low amonia levels (0.25 mg/l), very good nitrate and nitrite readings.
i found out that my PH show a 7.6 and High PH is at 8.0 ,  since i read in this site the suitable ph for oscars is 6.0 - 8.0, i believe this is the maximum acidity the ph should be, but also i bought some Plant Food and dropped one pill and forgot to read the small print that mention that this product will raise the pH acidity and should be used with an additional stabilizer.

So my first question is : - is it critical for me to get a PH down solution and what is the best level to keep the PH that would suit Tiger oscars / the plants/ and the pleco (planning to return the fish and get a new pleco) ?

2: i do not have a water hardness test yet / any recomendations or tricks to test it? what would be the most suitable level for my tank considering the oscars/ plants and pleco?

3: i am planning to get a new neon light, i believe T5 are good and i m wondering what caliber i should choose to benefit the plants and the fishes color?  my actual neon looks way larger than the T5 i see in the store, do they adapt despite the thin layout or would i have to purchase a new lighting set ?

4: the baby pleco i had died within 3 days, i am wondering if there is chances that the water would have caused the death, or if i have just been unlucky with the baby pleco i bought...

last  question: my tiger oscar babies are white and black, is it possible that they will preserve those colors? by default all the adults tiger oscars i have seen have some red color developping with maturity.

I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate you for this nice site and very usefull content, i will probably start posting pictures soon.
Thank you for feedbacks.

hi and welcome.  bleach! eek!  You are brave.

to answer the first question ...  pH stability is more important than raising or lowering it.

the second question I am not sure, I have never tested for hardness.  My water isn't soft, but consistent.  I have used dechlors that take out heavy metals.

i have no idea with lighting, i have the same lights that came with the hoods.

the pleco could have died for several reasons.  It was ready to die ...  from the store of purchase (sick fish).  How well did you rinse the bleach out?  Your tank is not cycled fully, was there a big cloud before or after it died (beneficial bacteria bloom).  With a fully cycled tank, you should always have a reading of 0 ppm for ammonia and 0 ppm for nitrites.  Nitrates should be kept below 20 ppm, preferably below 10 ppm, at worst below 40 ppm, otherwise it could weaken the fish and lead to disease (oscars more apt to get HITH/LLE).  It is hard for fish to go through this cycle and many will get severe chemical burns and/or die.  The only way to cycle without fish is adding ammonia, and Bio-Spira if stored correctly while shipped speeds up the cycle process as well.  Did you use aquarium salt?  Plecos I believe are sensitive to salt, max 1/2 TBSP/5 gallons, more than that can kill them.  Did you notice any abnormalities? spots? dots? holes? etc?  Was it beat up by the O?

Tiger Oscars reall get their name in my opinion from their baby coloration.  Eventually the color and patterns will change as it matures.  If you look at pictures of mine ...  it looks nothing like it does now.  It only has two white dots on its belly now and is almost all black.  Sometimes his body will lighten and the stripes will be thin and black, sometimes he is super dark and his stripes will be wide and lighter, others he is all black.  It is amazing the difference in just a few weeks.  I do have dark gravel and foil on the background, with one side of my tank lights darkened, so that might also be influencing his dark appearance.  The only other white than those two dots are on the edges of his fins as they grow.

With the water testing, for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, make sure you wait the 5 minutes before comparing it to the card.  Also with the nitrate test, make sure you shake the vile after adding the 1st bottle, shake the 2nd bottle vigorously for 30 seconds before adding, and shake the vile again for 60 seconds before letting it sit for 5 minutes.  If you don't, then you will have false results, and then the 2nd bottle's mixture will be off and skew all additional tests.  Another tip is to make sure you use the same vile each time for each test (one always for nitrates, etc.), some people have experienced skewed results from a chemical residue from another test interacting with next.  Also it has been said to take water from mid level, middle of the tank, to get the best accuracy.

Those plants will help a little with your water parameters, and might give the Os an extra snack.  Research that plec and make sure how large it gets.  It will be some work already with two Os in a 50 once they reach adulthood unless you plan to eventually move up to a bigger tank.

I hope this isn't too much to chew on at once 

again welcome and hope you have fun keeping these characters/actors.

Welcome. Enjoy your plants while you can because your fishies will uproot them. I gave up replanting mine and moved them to my tropical community instead. Your ammonia should not be low, it should be as close to 0 as possible. Oscars are hardy but it will insure the best possible start to your new tank setup. Oh, and make sure your filter is well established because Os are quite the messy eaters and can put a strain on it but you probably already knew that. just a suggestion because you had a death in your last set up. Good luck with your little ones.