I am not a sand fan, My fish are diggers and they will spit it out right on the intakes, if you go sand make sure to have pre-filter sponges on your intakes. if looking to have fry will need them anyways less your filter sucks them up.
Question number 2 million about stocking a 75g (aka i have no idea what directiin to go with my tank
- Thread starter Rebelsgirl
- Start date
You may have just saved me hours of frustration and a lot of money. Gravel it is then!
Personally I prefer sand, but as pops said it can be very hard on filter impellers. If you go with gravel I would avoid a thick layer. It is amazing even with gravel vacuuming how much detritus can accumulate in a thick bed. Also substrate is displacing water volume which once you add decor such as driftwood or rocks starts to add up. Definitely use enough to make the setup attractive to you, but no need to pile it up. I also agree with pops on the 90% or fin level water changes.
I agree with Twonvito, his suggested stock list was perfect and a 75gal is way too small for even 1 oscar (its hardly bigger than most ruts and puddles in the road.
Keeping an adult oscar in a 75 is like keeping a great dane in a small bathroom 24/7, an changing 25% of the water once per month would be like cleaning out 1/4 of the dog dung once per month.
Most fish waste is spewed out a fishes gills as invisible ammonia (urine), I realize we humans use visual cues, but with fish tanks one needs to get beyond that.
Keeping an adult oscar in a 75 is like keeping a great dane in a small bathroom 24/7, an changing 25% of the water once per month would be like cleaning out 1/4 of the dog dung once per month.
Most fish waste is spewed out a fishes gills as invisible ammonia (urine), I realize we humans use visual cues, but with fish tanks one needs to get beyond that.
Totally agree with Twonvito and Duane. A 75 gallon is not ideal for large fish that can reach 12-14" in length, even as single specimens. If your heart is set on an Oscar, sell the 75 and upgrade to a 125. The extra space will benefit the fish, and the extra water volume will make managing water quality easier for you. Good luck.
If you go the Oscar route these will be OK for a few months but your going to need much more filtration than this when he reaches 6"-8", AC110's and or canister filters are your best bet.
With an Oscar in a 75 gl you'll be doing fin level water changes at least 1 once a week depending on how often you feed it will probably be twice a week. Oscars are prone to HITH and high nitrates are not good, ideally you should be trying to keep the nitrates down to 10 ppm or so, not an easy thing to do with a big Oscar in a 75 gl tank.
I have pool filter sand in all my tanks, IMO its much easier to clean than gravel.
Seachem Safe is the powdered form of Prime and is much more economical than prime.
Thanks for this list! I didn't have time last night to look each of them up, but they all look like really nice fish. Are any of them pretty personable/interactive?
