My Oscar Is Checking Out...

Oh yes Butch........been there done that. My last one hit the 7 inch mark and i gave him to a young dude that works for me that has multiple huge tanks. I have found that feeding the plecos is not always wise. They grow far too fast and can get lazy about tank cleaning. If the tank is scummy, i dont feed them. There's already food there.
 
That's not quite true. Actually, you were starving your fish, which really is better than overfeeding them. But the "scum" isn't enough food for them to live healthy.
 
MasterBlaster said:
If that pic is representive of the tanks entire population, then there are WAY too many fish in that tank.

I'm guessing they were gathering, thinking the photographer was gonna feed em?
Click to expand...

They were all gathering at the one window...they do that and beg for food!
There are about 25 koi of that size, three large catfish and a collection of about 5 plecos...and the eel. Remember the tank is 10,000 gallons, and the filter is 500. We run three 2500gph pumps (and have a spare) and have an air bubbler full length of the tank. So the entire contents of the tank is filtered almost once per hour. We only have to vacuum the last settlement chamber in the filter once every two months or so...that's it.
 
Bermy said:
They were all gathering at the one window...they do that and beg for food!
There are about 25 koi of that size, three large catfish and a collection of about 5 plecos...and the eel. Remember the tank is 10,000 gallons, and the filter is 500. We run three 2500gph pumps (and have a spare) and have an air bubbler full length of the tank. So the entire contents of the tank is filtered almost once per hour. We only have to vacuum the last settlement chamber in the filter once every two months or so...that's it.
Click to expand...

What's the electric bill on that setup like?
 
If you're turning the tank once an hour you must have O2 saturation. What do you do to control the pH?
 
Butch i dont understand your schpeel on feeding and plecos. I was saying that plecos get huge quickly if they are overfed. I like to let the tank conditions dictate whether to supplement their diets. If there's scum to be had, no sense adding vegetables to the tank and making them grow even faster. If the tank is absolutely spotless, I feel tossing in a bit of chow every few days is wise. I have starved a pleco or 2 before..........
 
Just think of them as children that need to eat.

If you choose to starve them, so be it.

My point was that Plecos get bigger than a 20 gal tank.
 
I gotcha Butch, now I see what you meant....and no, I didnt starve and kill 2 of them on purpose. Purely by accident. I didnt even know why they were dying until my one worker pointed it out to me. He's an aquarium junkie. Actually left his job at the aquarium store to come work for me. thats a whole nother story there.......
 
MasterBlaster said:
Once an hour is WAY LOW. It should be at least ten times more than that, IMHO.
Click to expand...

You're right, I remembered wrong... it's been almost ten years since I kept tanks. I was running two 400gph power filters on each 40 breeder so, it was turning over roughly 10 times per hour. But they were stream tanks, I was actually going for full O2 saturation which is bad for still water fish. It also makes pH bouncy and carbonate hardness to go high when the water has that much oxygen... you just can't match nature for buffering capacity.

I don't know squat about tropical fish though, I collected all mine in local streams. Smallmouth bass are interesting for a few months, then they eat you out of house and home.
 
Tropical fish are very temperature sensitive, if the power goes out in the winter for an extended period of time, your hobby takes a beating.
 
The tank is balance just fine, there is no pH problem, the O2 is fine, the respiration rate of all the fish is fine.
The water is clear, the windows get cleaned once a month, 'fish man' gets in with his face mask and weight belt.
The tank has been running for 6 years...other than babying it through 12 days of power outage after a hurricane, no problems at all.
Oh, our 'lekky light' bill runs around $200 - $350 per month, half of that is fuel adjustment cost, electricity is EXPENSIVE out here. (WHen oil was $145 a barrel the bill was over $600, and 280 of that was fuel adjustment! Gasoline is like $5 a gallon here guys.
 
Well, here are the new tank inhabitants, Angelfish. So far, so good. Right now, their body is about the size of a silver dollar, but eventually they'll grow to as large as an average hand. PLUS, they are way more laid back and cool. I have peace in my tank! :)



 
Sorry about yer buddy MB.





Ever considered salt water tank (Of which I know nothing about taking care of btw)?
 
I've had thousands invested in a reef tank. Everything was fine until a parasite called aptasia wiped everything out. That's when I gave up on it. Someday, I might give saltwater another shot, but it will be Fish Only With Live Rock. I'll never mess with coral again.
 
Angel fish are hearty. I seem to remember them not being particularly territorial, and getting along with their neighbors, if the tank is large enough.

Looks real nice!
 
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