Hey

[Mosdefenante]

Im new to this whole fish thing as you can probly see, but i have cichlids and oscars and everytime i go to the petstore to buy feeder fish i wonder if its worth it to buy a pair of guppies and possibly try breeding them? and would it be a hard job for a 14 year old, and also my tank is pretty big and my filter is pretty big and i was wondering if there is any other simple ways to keep my tank clean the water and the gravel area, besides water changes and cleaning the filter, because at the rear of my tank most of the fishes hide behind things and there is a mix of waste and a few peices of food, but instead of cleaning the gravel every other week or what ever is there any other way to keep the gravel clean? sorry if some things i say might sound stupid but im still learning thanks for all help

 

[Tolak]

Oscars don't need feeders as much as most people think. A good quality cichlid pellet daily and beefheart a few times a week supplemented with some fresh veggies will do just fine. Store bought feeders are a good way to introduce diseases into your tank.

Breeding guppys or other livebearers is easy, and provide much cleaner feeders for fish that do require them. Keep a ratio of 2 females for every male, as the males constantly harass the females. A 10 gallon with plenty of live or artificial plants will do for a trio of guppys.

As far as keeping the tank clean, what size is the tank, and what is the make & model of the filter? Providing that info, along with a list of tankmates and your maintenance/water change schedule will help.

I've found that a powerhead on the bottom of a tank housing messy fish helps to keep debris off the bottom. The filter picks it up easier that way. Extending the filter intake with a piece of tubing also helps.

 

[Mosdefenante]

I dont feed my fishes feeders alot maybe once or twice a week at that, i feed them a mix of cichlid pellets the ones that float and the ones that sink. Would the veggies and beefhearts go about feeding my cichlids to? And yea i heard about the store bought feeders bringing diseases so i guess thats why i dont buy as much.

If i go to the local petstore is there a way to tell the difference from a male and female? and with the 10 gallon tank how many guppies or what ever other fish should i get at most?

The tank is a 120 gallon, the make and model of the filter is "Magnum Canister Filter 350gph" along as tank mates we have 2 Pelco's 6 Oscars 2 Red devils 3 Firemouths and im not so sure of the rest i'd have to find my receipt of when i bought them, but in total we have around 15 fish or maybe a little bit more. Recently i just got into cleaning the tank more because our tank had at the time only 3 goldfish living so i bought the cichlids and realized that they were messy fish, so i try cleaning the gravel and what not where most of the waste builds up probly once a week? along with me doing that i usually change about 50% of the water, and now since my dad taught me how to change the filter i try doing it maybe once every 2 weeksish? but i dont know if that is to much or not enough?

What is this power house thing you are talking about? and going about extending the filter intake i just take off that squareish thing and put a extra peice of somthing over it?

 

[Mosdefenante]

i just called the local petsupermarket and asked for the prices of things i would need they said the tank is $8.99 the fishes male are $1.29 females are $1.49 or the pairs are like $3 and to get a filter for it would be like $15-20, do those prices sound reasonable?

 

[jayjay]

do you understand how over stocked you are?

 

[Mosdefenante]

do you understand how over stocked you are?

hmmphh?

 

[jayjay]

you have way to many fish in your tank, you would just keep 3 oscars in the long run let alone all the other fish.

 

[Mosdefenante]

you have way to many fish in your tank, you would just keep 3 oscars in the long run let alone all the other fish.

15 fish is to much for a 120?

 

[jayjay]

3 14inch oscars, probably large plecs, 3 6inch firemouths, 2 12inch red devils and what else you got....

also you under filtered.

 

[Mosdefenante]

3 14inch oscars, probably large plecs, 3 6inch firemouths, 2 12inch red devils and what else you got....

also you under filtered.

well 2 of my oscars are pretty large and the others are fairly small, pelcs are medium size and all other cichlids are still small

 

[Nicky2]

Are you gonna get a bigger tank there gonna need it when they get bigger

 

[jayjay]

they won't be like that for long though...... give it a year with a proper diet and an oscar can grow an inch a month you do the maths....

 

[Mosdefenante]

well 2 of my oscars are pretty large and the others are fairly small, pelcs are medium size and all other cichlids are still small

Are you gonna get a bigger tank there gonna need it when they get bigger
[/quote]
well most of the oscars are gonna be gone in a few days, since my friends tank is now empty and his birhtday is coming up so ill probly give him 3 smaller oscars and a bigger tank probly but right now probly not

they won't be like that for long though...... give it a year with a proper diet and an oscar can grow an inch a month you do the maths....

yea i know but in the end im probly keeping 3 or 4 sincce im planning on giving my friend some as a little gift

 

[jayjay]

what size is his tank then?

 

[Mosdefenante]

what size is his tank then?

mmm 45 or somthing like that i think yea i know eventually he'll have to get a bigger tank or give em away