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My Revamped 55 Gal

OTIS

OTIS

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I guess I am just excited but I thought I would post a thread about me revamped tank. I had about 23 fish in my 55 before and they all ended up passing or being given to the fish store due to me wanting to redo my tank with more aggressive fish.

I now have 2 oscars, one lemon tiger and one red oscar. I also through in a channel cat and my two existing algae eaters are now very happy in my tank.

I had an Aqueon Power 55 filter and that was horrible but did the job, once I took my air conditioner out it was SOOOOOOOOOO loud. For Xmas I got a Fluval 305 and the tank is super quiet and super happy. I also got some slate and made me a rock formation, I actually got it for free because the quary's scale was broken so they didn't care about 35lbs of slate at $0.17/lb so that was an awesome gift since the pet stores rock is $4.89/lb. Anyways, they are all super happy and so am I, check it out.
 

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errm hate to be the 1 to ruin your fun , but all those fish should be re-homed and your stocking re-thought . 55g is below the minimum for a single oscar let alone 2 , and the chanel catfish , if its what i think it is , can reach over 2 ft in length and weigh in at around 40 pounds. if you wnt to keep these fish s serious upgrade is reaquired im afraid .
 
if you want cichlids and catfish , there are lots of options that will be fine in a 55g .
 
Dude man at my local fish store, who definitely knows his stuff, said I should be good and recommended the channel cat as well as having only 2 oscars. I'm going to take his word for now but yeah I agree on liveaquaria.com it says 70 gallon minimum.

-OTIS
 
right im going to sound blunt here , but thats not how i mean to come across. so sorry in advance if this causes you offense

the man at the lfs just wants your money , and has given you terrible advice .

chanel catfish
http://badmanstropic...profile136.html

oscar
http://www.oscarfishlover.com/tank-setup

have you ever seen a full grown oscar?
 
No really don't hesitate, lol its the internet what am I going to do yell at you, lol.

But anyways, those are really interesting articles and I am taking one oscar back seeing as he has something "up" with him(hes just not acting as the other) so I am going to be taking him back in hopes of store credit, the other is extremely happy and a good eater, the one I am taking back, the red oscar, was happy, but then seemed to get weird. I will post my water stats after this paragraph.

As for the channel cat, I do agree that it IS going to get huge, and when it does, either he will go back to the store for their show tank, or maybe I will just get a new tank.

What breed of catfish do you suggest I should get if I were to keep the one oscar.

Here are my water stats:

PH - 7.2

Nitrate - 5 ppm

Nitrite - 0 ppm

Ammonia - < .25 ppm

-OTIS
 
to be honest id suggest you forgot about oscars all together untill you have a bigger tank. but if you want biggish cichlids then 1 of the smaller severums such as rotkeil would work well. i see your test has shown a reading for ammonia , this probably explains the oscar with the problem , id do a 50% waterchange to bring those levels down .
 
The one oscar went back today, and I got my remaining oscar some frozen bloodworms and krill for when he gets bigger.

As for keeping him, I feel there is no rush to change fish, he is going to get big and has plenty of room to do so, the channel cat loves the blood worms as well.

Also, I did do a 30% water change just because it is easier than a 50% seeing as I do not have to turn my filter off and I can just do another tomorrow.

-OTIS
 
30% should be enough for those low levels , just keep an eye on your stats . youre right the remaining oscar will be fine in there for now , but youd be amazed how fast these guys grow , youl be needing an upgrade sooner than you think.

please take 1 piece of advice tho and get rid of that chanel cat now while you still can . id take it back to the shop if at all possible . big fish are hard to re-home
 
markandhisfish said:
30% should be enough for those low levels , just keep an eye on your stats . youre right the remaining oscar will be fine in there for now , but youd be amazed how fast these guys grow , youl be needing an upgrade sooner than you think.

please take 1 piece of advice tho and get rid of that chanel cat now while you still can . id take it back to the shop if at all possible . big fish are hard to re-home
Click to expand...

Your advice is not a new thought to me, ever since earlier when you sent me the link about them, were even that experienced aquarist said just don't do it, I have been thinking of doing so, but they do not have any other types of cats ATM and they do have the capabilities to re-home this fish if needed.

When I do get this fish big and need to re-home a buddy of mine has a 175 gal that might be interested but I felt a little hostility today while returning a fish.

BTW you've been an amazing help.

Also, nice fish names, lol.

-OTIS
 
the problem with these catfish is that they are sold as small little things with no warning of the monsters they will grow into . pangasius is another example , often sold as shark catfish or irridescent shark. and the guy in the shop will 9 times out of 10 say yeah these will be fine for your tank , simply to make a sale , its an all too common problem.

gllad i have been a help to you , and thanks i thought cheech and chong would suit a couple of oscars lol
 
WOW!! your tank is awesome :good: I love it Iam new still on here so when I see pictures of fish tanks like yours I just drool :drool: lol.
 
markandhisfish said:
the problem with these catfish is that they are sold as small little things with no warning of the monsters they will grow into . pangasius is another example , often sold as shark catfish or irridescent shark. and the guy in the shop will 9 times out of 10 say yeah these will be fine for your tank , simply to make a sale , its an all too common problem.

gllad i have been a help to you , and thanks i thought cheech and chong would suit a couple of oscars lol
Click to expand...

Haha yeah a pair of good friends always deserves a good name. What type are those, just from looking at them and having google I have an idea that they are lemon oscars? and maybe due to the pinkness albino? I have no idea though really, just really like fish and am happy to have the internet, lol.

-OTIS
 
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