CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

The filtration equipment listed in my sig is correct -- I just took a look at it and it made me laugh. All 4 of my tanks are 55s. Numbers one and two have a pair of Oscars each (the messiest fish in the hobby, i think) and each aquarium has only an old Wal*Mart filter that I jury-rigged Biowheels onto. 330GPH. Number three is currently housing bunches of Tiger Barbs, Blackamoors, a couple of Silver Dollars, etc. etc. By anyones definition, it's nearly overcrowded, yet I still have the retrofitted Wal*Mart filter on it. Then there's tank #4; it's only inhabitants are a pair of 1-1/2 inch Goldsaums (the commonly called, but not "real", Green Terrors), and a ten inch common Pl*ec. The Goldsaums have doubled in size in the 8 or so months since I picked them up. On this tank I have my H.O.T. Magnum with a Biowheel attachment, in addition to a monster Emporer 400, doing a combined 650GPH with 3 established biowheels. Enough filtration for a 150! On the only tank that doesn't need it! I guess that, when many of you comment that I'm "backward minded" ------

backward minded

---------you're correct! Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh!! --:cool:

p.s. -- Will I change anything? No -- everything works really well, all the fishfaces are happy, healthy ---

Your tanks may be doing fine due to most are equiped with Bio-wheels. Although I do believe you need 2 filters per tank. I do agree that the Emperors are monsters, but the filteration is awsome and I dont' have to worry about my bio being a problem.. I have 17 of them, try that on weekly to by weekly cleaning on 9 tanks. I also run 2 Emperors 400 OR a 280 per tank 55 gal and up. I dont' have the messy Oscars and I would not attempt to keep a grown pair in a 55 with only one filter.. I can say that I had a 55 that came with a Oscar at 8" and keep him their for a good year. We purchased a 125 gal tank in Oct 2003 and WOW, the Oscar grew 4" more within 2 months! This is also when I purchased my first 2 Emperor 400 and a Magnum 350 that ran for the middle of the tank.

So no matter what some say, filteration is the key and TANK SIZE does matter in keeping the MONSTER cichlids to grow them out to their full protental size..

Originally posted by Barb Okla
Your tanks may be doing fine due to most are equiped with Bio-wheels.

Yep. Ask Gman -- I have long been a proponent of wet/dry filtration and have "pushed" biowheels almost as much as he's pushed Rena --

Although I do believe you need 2 filters per tank.

Not true. Two filters per tank is a good option, but unnecessary -- the better option is simply to increase frequency of filter cleaning. On my Aqua-Tech setups, I just have to remove and rinse the filters every other day rather than weekly, and replace them every two weeks rather than monthly. I think that having more filters is the more popular suggestion these days amongst on-line aquarists, but it's an unnecessary added expense.

I dont' have the messy Oscars and I would not attempt to keep a grown pair in a 55 with only one filter.. I can say that I had a 55 that came with a Oscar at 8" and keep him their for a good year. We purchased a 125 gal tank in Oct 2003 and WOW, the Oscar grew 4" more within 2 months!

Are you sure? Oscars experience rapid growth (up to about 1/2 inch per month) until they reach mating age, which is about 7 inches. Then their growth rate slows considerably and they don't reach adult size for years. This is very well documented, all the way from Dr. Axelrod's observations in the 1950s up to Dr. Kullander. Also, in my experience with Oscars this has proven to be true. I don't know anyone that has ever seen four inches of growth in an 8 inch Oscar in two months! The only time I have seen claims like this is on the internet. Anything considered a legitimate source (published experts, recognised ".edu" websites, the people I've talked to over at the Amazon exhibit at the local zoo, etc.) and my personal experience (probably 20 or so Oscars throough the last 30 years) never supports this. Perhaps he grew gradually and you noticed the growth when he was placed in the 125? I'm not saying it's impossible that he grew 4" in two months, but that makes him a one-in-a-million fishface! (and, I'd like to get the brand of food you were using at the time -- :-))

So no matter what some say, filteration is the key and TANK SIZE does matter in keeping the MONSTER cichlids to grow them out to their full protental size..

Tank size does matter, but the internet myth that a 55 gallon is too small for two Oscars is simply not supported by fact. In this day and age of relatively inexpensive large (100+) aquariums, it is certainly easier to keep Oscars in larger tanks, but to insist that it is unhealthy to keep them in 55s is "balderdash". There's just too much experience and too many years of "studies" and documentation to make that believeable. With proper care and preparation, a 55 is fine for a pair of adult Oscars.

--Mark:cool:

I don't know anyone that has ever seen four inches of growth in an 8 inch Oscar in two months!

I'd agree with that - but strange things do happpen. Growth spurt?

Oscars experience rapid growth (up to about 1/2 inch per month) until they reach mating age, which is about 7 inches. Then their growth rate slows considerably and they don't reach adult size for years. This is very well documented, all the way from Dr. Axelrod's observations in the 1950s up to Dr. Kullander.

Sorry but I'll disagree there on most of the info.

Oscars will breed under 7 inches.
and 1/2" per month ? honestly thats pretty slow for a young oscar.

Why else do I disagree? - If say you - feed your oscars once a day brand x food and do water changes one a week - you'll get growth results of - insert figure

I someone else - feeds 4 times a day , a balanced diet and has an autowater changer setup at 25% water changes a day - results will be different .

to many other factors involved to like person 1 keeps a baby in a 55 gal tank - it (re)spends half of the food it eats in energy chaseing down more food - it grows X amount
person 2 keeps a small oscar in a 15 gal tank, where it spends less energy getting food , it uses more food for growth.
Kind of like how pened farm animals grow faster then free-range ones do.

Tank size does matter, but the internet myth that a 55 gallon is too small for two Oscars is simply not supported by fact.

Back to agreeing
BUT I wouldn't reccomend someone new to fishkeeping go out and try it and once/if an oscar obviously becomes to big for a 12" tank it will need a bigger tank.



I'm still a fan of "overfilteration" though as well a frequent water changes You know the old saying - "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" cheaper too

Just to toss something else into the mix. Recently attended a local fish club meeting. David Boruchowitz (of TFH) gave us a very interesting presentation on the virtues and mathematics of frequent, large-scale water changes (for some fish). He has an ongoing program of 90% water changes daily, enabling him to keep quite a number of Oscars happy & healthy in a 55 gallon tank. They weren't all full grown, but big enough to test the thesis. I won't try here to recap his mathematical model, but the short form is that this large-scale frequent water change regimen more closely replicates natural, stream environments, where waste, pheremones and other proteins, etc, are carried off. Also eliminates most pH concerns, as it assures keeping the pH extremely close to whatever is coming out of your pipes -- the thesis again being that constant pH is usually more important than some ideal number. His subjects certainly looked healthy, and he asserted that they seemed to look forward to the daily game of lie-down-in-the-shallow-water.

I'm certainly not prepared to emulate this routine (already have a full-time job), but it certainly reinforced my comfort with my current practice of 50-60% twice weekly.

I've read some of Boruchowitz's theory/experiment - makes sense to me.

I've always been a fan of large ,frequent water changes :thumbsup:

Still can't figure out why the idea seems so far fetched ot frowned upon by oscar keepers.

I'm certainly not prepared to emulate this routine (already have a full-time job), but it certainly reinforced my comfort with my current practice of 50-60% twice weekly.

Automatic changer

Haven't seen an auto changer. How is it set up?

Haven't seen an auto changer. How is it set up?

DIY - depends what you have to start with.

Drilled tanks - you can just run in new water 24/7 and plumb the overflow to a drain.


Non-drilled , airdriven drains are easy to setup, then just plumb them to the drain - use a ballvalve on the drain to match the incoming flow.


For chlorinated water - add a chlorine filter to the line filling the tank .

Thanks. Would be tough with current setup, but if I eventually do a fish room it'd probably be the way to go.

I'm certainly not prepared to emulate this routine (already have a full-time job), but it certainly reinforced my comfort with my current practice of 50-60% twice weekly.

well i'm way outclassed as far as waterchanging goes, between being a full time student and working about 30 hours a week i'm lucky if i get time to do my weekly 20% water change. mabe if i got a bigger bucket it would help, but I don't want to spend money on a fricken bucket, and only 7 trips with a 4 gallon bucket takes a wile and is kinda tireing but it works.
I actually thought owning a larger aquarium would mean less maintinece :hahaha: mabe i should invest in a diy python, but i still need to finish the stand and start the canopy...
sorry about getting off topic but i gotta get ready for school:rolleyes:

Dan - here's one easy and cheap type of drain I've used in the past for non-drilled tanks . Might give you some ideas for the future.

(not a great pic I know )


An airline runs down the part that is inside the tank. to power/start a syphon. I always left the airline in and on - as long as the water doesn't get below the syphon it doesn't really need to be on - but when I had that setup I had well water so if I lost power my water went out so the air was left on to restart the syphon when the power and water turned back on.
The end with the valve - just ran to another pipe (had a few tanks all setup on autochangers) that ran directly to my floor drain.
It was a cheap and effective system :thumbsup: It could be set from about 5% to 500% daily water changes by just turning some valves I'm a big fan of little or less work

Tank also had HOB and sponge filters so the water pretty much stayed the same as it came out of the tap :thumbsup: always fresh and clean.

Looks good. Thanks for the details!

Originally posted by stilllearnin
Dan - here's one easy and cheap type of drain I've used. . .

Is it a hassle to moderate the fresh water coming in to the tanks? Do you have to micro-adjust the intake so that the tanks don't siphon out, or overflow? --:cool:

Is it a hassle to moderate the fresh water coming in to the tanks? Do you have to micro-adjust the intake so that the tanks don't siphon out, or overflow?

When you first set it up, it takes a few minutes to match everything up. The more tanks on a system the more time it takes, since if you close one valve more water goes to the rest, etc..

After initial setup though it's pretty much hastle free with no time spent on daily water changes so it still saves alot of time in the long run :thumbsup:

If you want even less maintaince - (just set up a system for a friend of mines angelfish). Run the syphon line all the way to the bottom of a bare tank, then theres not even a need to gravel vaccumeing :thumbsup: One thing to consider (what I did anyways) when running the sysphon line to the bottom of the tank, drill a small hole in the syphon line so if something goes wrong and the water level drops - the sysphon cuts out when/if the water drops below that hole.