Apparently my oscar is not a fan of the intake of my eheim filters. I have it in the back left corner of my tank and had some issues with gravel and rocks getting dumped in and clogging it up. I've had to repeatedly go diving into my tank to clear all the gravel off the top to try and prevent everything from getting clogged. So, I covered the top in mesh and put a few large rocks around it. Theory was that the large rocks would act as a bit of a buffer zone between the gravel and the intake so there wouldn't be so much gravel getting dumped onto it. It didn't seem to stop the problem entirely so I had to add more rocks. and more.

Then I realized it so happens that SOMEONE'S favorite spot in the tank is just to the side of the intake. I also witnessed the same "someone" moving gravel around quite enthusiastically in that general area. Hrm, coincidence?

What the intake SHOULD look like:


What the intake ends up looking like:


I think not.

cheeky lil bugger
but amuzing at the same time lol
maybe clear the gravel from the intake
and just have the larger rocks or stand the
rocks up on a angle so it will be harder to get
gravel over them ?

thats pretty funny buitiful oscar

I had a HOB on my tank at one point and my O's HATED that intake... Every time I turned around they were ripping it off completely! I finally switched to the canister filter and they leave that intake alone!

Oscars are evil shits sometimes!

thats funny. nice looking O.

Your intake is too low. If you were unlucky enough to get a large leak in your cannister filter and you were out, your tank could almost empty resulting in a possibly dead oscar. If your intake is 4 or 5 inches off of the bottom of the tank there would be enough water for your oscar to stay alive in

Raising the intake would also solve the problem of the oscar covering it in gravel

Im not familiar with this type of intake.
looks a bit silly to me....gotta be better ones you can use

Its an eheim prefilter intake. I just happened to remove the prefilter since I got it second hand and it was rather... well used. I considered making replacement prefilter kinda thing to put in the intake, but I didnt want it reducing the flow rate too much, so I went with just the mesh. May have to consider other options though.

The eheim prefilter

that is an interesting pre filter. i have never seen anything like that. Does those work well when propery set up? Sand would probably get in there too easy though.

What is the benefit to a filter on the end of your filter then LOL?

Well, the theory is that you would need less mechanical filtration with the prefilter, thus allowing more room for biological filtration. Also, since you can set it up at ground level its easier for the solid waste to be collected, particularly if you have the spray bar set so it can push the debris towards the intake. Its a great theory, except when your fish apparently doesn't like the suction.



Yes that is a fake plant on the intake, and no I didn't put it there. My oscar did. :angry:

The day after i posted that your intake is too low, the outlet of my filter came off and dumped 3/4 of my tank water on the floor. If i had my intake as low as yours my tank would of emptied and i would of had a tank full of dead fish. Raise the intake to 4in above your gravel!!!!