I know these things are poop machines lol but how often should you vac with them i have a pleco and a tiger oscar in a 55 gallon for now the oscar is still fairly small and he will be moving once i get a new tank. But my question is how often should i gravel vac i do wc's atleast 3 times a week if not more on some occasions but it seems like even if i gravel vac every day there is just a ton of poo on the substrate. Although i don't mind graveling sometimes i just don't have the time since i am up with my 6 month old pretty much 18hrs of the day although she sleeps most of the time i know i am lucky lol. And also isn't BB suppose to help somewhat with the breaking down of the poo and everything i was just curious as i like my tank to look fairly clean most of the time i have no water clarity issues or anything but i was just wondering if i shouldn't stress about it and just go with it or what im just curious lol.
How often to Gravel Vac with Oscars
- Thread starter Sniperofgods
- Start date
Well you are probably eliminating as much waste as possible with what you are doing. But a pleco and oscar are about the messy fish one can have that is why you should have very good filtration. Also keep in mind poor water quality with oscars can lead to hole-n-head. Many people think that is caused by feeing goldfish. But I fed mine goldfish regularly for years and never had a problem with hole-n-head.
with those 2 big messy fish in that little tank gravel vac every time you change the water. Its going to need it!
smitty03281964;4846292; said:
oh belive me i got the filtration not lacking on that side lol my water is always almost crystal clear after everything settles i am running the tank over 22 times plus an hour. and yeah they are very messy :S
Hey Sniper 
Congrats on the little one! Hang in there. Someday you'll be wishing they would spend more time with YOU! lol.
I have 6 six inch oscars, a BN plus a small assortment of Cichlids in my 150 with sand substrate. When they poop, you see it, it lays on top of my pretty, white sand! But, even with all those "recyclers" chugging away, I never see it being all that messy. I vac once a week when I do a 30%-50% water change.
What type of foods do you feed? It may be they are "eliminating" a lot of the additives and fillers the manufacturer puts in the mix. Or, is it possible you're over-feeding and a lot of the gunk you see on the bottom is uneaten food? My Oscars are a messy bunch. They will hit a sinking pellet with about half of it washing out of their mouth. Of course, before they swallow, they hit another one. I try to stay with large flake, quality flake foods and mini pellets. My tank stays a lot cleaner this way.
I have a couple of Mystery Snails in the tank that seem to enjoy the Oscar's backwash. I don't think they make a huge difference...but, every little bit helps
Good luck!
Congrats on the little one! Hang in there. Someday you'll be wishing they would spend more time with YOU! lol.
I have 6 six inch oscars, a BN plus a small assortment of Cichlids in my 150 with sand substrate. When they poop, you see it, it lays on top of my pretty, white sand! But, even with all those "recyclers" chugging away, I never see it being all that messy. I vac once a week when I do a 30%-50% water change.
What type of foods do you feed? It may be they are "eliminating" a lot of the additives and fillers the manufacturer puts in the mix. Or, is it possible you're over-feeding and a lot of the gunk you see on the bottom is uneaten food? My Oscars are a messy bunch. They will hit a sinking pellet with about half of it washing out of their mouth. Of course, before they swallow, they hit another one. I try to stay with large flake, quality flake foods and mini pellets. My tank stays a lot cleaner this way.
I have a couple of Mystery Snails in the tank that seem to enjoy the Oscar's backwash. I don't think they make a huge difference...but, every little bit helps
Good luck!
Sniperofgods;4846136; said:
Sniperofgods:
8 years ago I was in the similar situation as you, but twice as bad. I had two 55 gal. tanks and one O and a pleco in each. But I had no children to care for, and worked 20 hours a day, except weekends. My solution to this issue which worked okay for me was, I would feed twice a day for 2-3 minutes each feeding. Once before my breakfast and once before my supper. Each night after I ate my supper, I vacumed tanks, then did dishes and other domestic chores that went with a daily routine I had to set for myself. I was trainging and caring for sled dogs at the time.
Each Saturday, after I fed and cleaned up after my dogs, I thoroughly cleaned and maintenanced my two O' tanks and filters. Once I was done, I ate my Saturday morning breakfast. Upon ocassion I fed treats to my O's, like crickets, meal worms, nightcrawlers and maybe a few black stink bugs. But mostly the first 3 mentioned. Now one thing I did come to realize and found true to take place is, O's will eliminate as much as they consume. In the beginning of my new ownership, I was feeding them 3 times daily. 2-3 minutes at each feeding. So, in return they gave back what they ate. And it seemed so overwhelming for me then. And they were only 2.5 to 3 " at the beginning. Then came the surprise. They started getting bigger. At 8" in 7 months time, I converted both 55 gal.'s to two 110 gal. tanks. At the end of 14 months, the O's were each 18" long, and my pleco's grew to an astonishing 22 and 23 inches. I must have been doing something right as they never had illnesses of any kind.
So with all of this said and done, I hope it has helped you with a solution on how to remedy your problem. Yes, it may seem like much work on top of taking care of an infant or todler, but the rewards and personal gratification, are well worth the efforts. My best to you. If you have anymore questions, shoot me a PM. I'd be happy to answer them.
~David
CLDarnell;4846559; said:Hey Sniper
Congrats on the little one! Hang in there. Someday you'll be wishing they would spend more time with YOU! lol.
I have 6 six inch oscars, a BN plus a small assortment of Cichlids in my 150 with sand substrate. When they poop, you see it, it lays on top of my pretty, white sand! But, even with all those "recyclers" chugging away, I never see it being all that messy. I vac once a week when I do a 30%-50% water change.
What type of foods do you feed? It may be they are "eliminating" a lot of the additives and fillers the manufacturer puts in the mix. Or, is it possible you're over-feeding and a lot of the gunk you see on the bottom is uneaten food? My Oscars are a messy bunch. They will hit a sinking pellet with about half of it washing out of their mouth. Of course, before they swallow, they hit another one. I try to stay with large flake, quality flake foods and mini pellets. My tank stays a lot cleaner this way.
I have a couple of Mystery Snails in the tank that seem to enjoy the Oscar's backwash. I don't think they make a huge difference...but, every little bit helps
Good luck!
Haha yeah no doubt i love getting to spend all the time i can with her just after getting no sleep through out the week i sorta start to shut down lol. But i am feeding him the hikari cichlid Staple and some Hikari Cichlid Gold here and there but i am going to be ordering some bio gold here shortly. And most of the time my pvc siphon sucks up any of the floating food and i only feed him once a day and also give my pleco a algae wafer. I could be over feeding him but i kind of doubt it, but like i said i could be. Normally he does spit some of them out but he normally only misses 3-4 of the pellets and they get sucked into the pvc overflow before they can even drop down lol.
David K. Bradley;4846595; said:
Yeah very understandable i got a busy schedule but i make sure to atleast do some cleaning to the tank on a daily basis and my O is happy by all means, i just didn't know if it would end up doing more harm then good by vaccin everyday or not. and yeah im just glad we are done with our 6-7 12 hour days cause with all the house work and everything it can be a bit overwhelming lol.