Im going to new york for three days and when i get back im going to make alot of changes and to start im thinking about getting more circulation in my tank either by a power head or another filter also im gona buy more stress zyme (water conditioner) and do more water changes til i decide what to do with my over stocking then sence my fish dont use them im going to take out my two caves to maximize the amount of room i have soooooooo any advice on power heads or other filters would be useful because im new to power heads thanks everyone MATT OUT-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matt E. fish lover wrote:



Why all of a sudden are you fixated on powerheads...is it b/c someone posted about them in a recent thread about debris and you just learned what they are?

Buying 'powerheads' right now isn't quite addressing the problem, IMO, so my advice on those would be not to bother with them right now. For you getting a powerhead would be like putting expensive rims on a 1986 honda civic hatchback that doesn't run. Pointless and a waste of resources.

What type of filtration are you running anyways? I can't remember exactly which post in the the veritable onslaught of threads explained...Besides, IMO you should be trying to save up any money you have for a bigger tank, not buying powerheads if you want to keep going with the oscar. At the very least you should be looking in to buying a very large filter, one you could run in this smaller tank for now and a bigger one should you be able to get one. At least that will help keep the fish alive for the time being.

Hopefully you can use the time to come to a good decision as to which of your fish you are going to rehome. Anyways, I guess all you can do right now is keep doing your water changes.

You keep dancing around the main issue, going from a 'feeder tank' to powerheads to moving caves around, etc. Removing the caves isn't going to help the water quality anyways, or the overstocking, and if anything all its doing is removing a small amount of any beneficial bacteria you do have right now. You mentioned you have a friend with an established tank...if there is any chance of it being fairly large you might try rehoming your smaller fish there for the time being and leave the oscar in the 50. That would be a good place to start.

(Just a minor note--can you consider adding some periods into your text at some point? It's getting to be like reading a James Joyce novel or 'Jabberwocky' or something and it's a tad disorienting)

uhh i dont have a friends with another tank. and im running a fluval 305 good enough for 70 gallons at least thats wat it says its 260 gph ok sence another tank isnt possible at the current moment then ill look into a dual filtration system. Maybe just get a fluval 205 or a external filter but justt to clear the air i never had a feeder tank just a small container that was in my big tank. and yes i just figured out wat a powerhead was and at my lfs there really cheap 20 bucks american also i thought for sum reason a power head would do something idk like i said when i do my threads and comments its really late at nite so im tired usially like rite now

johnnyphoenix wrote:


Thank you Johnny... I have wanted to address that issue for some time. Matt we are not picking on you but it is EXTREMELY difficult to read your posts. No matter what time of day it is, the period key is still there. Take a few seconds and help us out with your typing... so we can help you! Please do not take this the wrong way. We only want to help.

okay. i. will. try. to. use. periods. more. often. lol.

Matt E. fish lover wrote:


LOL... not exactly what I meant but better!

MATT, im not getting at you but you dont seem to listen. You have too many fish and you need to rehome some ASAP. You have to listen to us or you WILL get problems soon. Come on, bite the bullet and take some fish back to the shop NOW!!! We are here to give advice but its difficult to keep answering your questions when you dont follow that advice. I know you are young (14 if i remember) but that is no excuse for not following advice because its advice you dont want to hear.

You are in a lucky position in that you can ask us for advice. I wish i had this site to ask questions on when i first started keeping fish, it would of saved me a lot of heartache and money.

You also need to structure your sentances so they are easier to read. Using a full stop (period) would be a great improvement!!!!

Okay i just typed a full page of crap and my computer SHUT DOWN ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so i will make this quick your rite its hard hearing what everyone has to say. I love my fish and it will take me a long time before i can just let a fish go bak to the store so i am going to wait til christman and see what i can do. In the meantime i will get a overhang filter for now to deal with the poopy poop. and ya my grammer sucks but i will try to improve if i do my dirty trash writing again just remind me. thanks for the support everyone i seriosly apreciate it .

sounds like your computer is over heating if it turned off. if it logged you off then shut down it was probably windows vista/7 doing updates.

Oh and BTW incase your wondering. I have been a PC tech for 10 years.

damn i hate computers and they hate me one day im going to brake the computer im using rite now lol but shhhhhh itll hear you lol

Matt E. fish lover wrote:


To be honest, and I don't think I'm being too harsh in saying this, I think that sounds a bit selfish. If you love your fish, which I'm sure you do, then you want them to live, right? Would you rather keep them and have them die or get sick or try and do the best thing possible for them? I loved my plec and wanted to keep him...but I couldn't bear to think I was going to be responsible for his death or illness (or poor quality of life), because I simply couldn't/didn't want to give him up.

No one 'wants' you to have to give up some fish. Of course we don't.

But the thing is, you've indicated that there is most likely little to no possibility of you obtaining the size tank you need for the fish you have. And even so, the tank you have probably hasn't even fully cycled yet, and the data you've provided about the water tests is questionable at best as to it's accuracy...and yet you move on to other matters, most of which have little to no bearing on the most basic and serious issues you're dealing with.

Similarly, it's frustrating to have you ask for advice, and then when you get it do the opposite, or ignore it, or come to the conclusion you're just going to put a band-aid on a bullet hole, and then ask for more advice, or ask the same things over and over again.

Look, I understand you're young... but you gotta understand that makes no difference to your fish, and as it sounds like you're really the most knowledgeable person in your household, so you're going to have to be the primary caregiver. The fish aren't just going to decide, 'well, he's young and a tad inexperienced, so we'll just take it easy and not go belly up because of poor water conditions."

I think again we've gotten to a dead end here. You're either going to do what you need to do somehow, or you're gonna stick your head in the sand and just hope everything works out ok. I hope it does.

i know im being a lil selfish but honestly giving up a fish is like giving up my dog.....how do you do that its really dificult i know ive had to give up a pink gourmi cause my current oscar didnt like him that took me a while to give him up. and then i also had to give up my yellow lab which wasnt so hard cause he picked on my oscar.

I have the ability to do this i just need some time.....i know its selfish ive know this for a while now okay. But like i said i will wait til christmas to see if i can get another tank if i dont there gone.

Again though because there producing so much poo poo im gona get another filter and i am directly adressing the problem here (johnny) lol i know ill stil get crap for my decision but what ever.