Goodmorning, afternoon or evening depending on ur location

Like a week ago I got rid of my Uaru and parrotcichlids. I moved my tang to the aqua the uaru used to be in and now I have an empty 200 x 40 x 60 tank ( 400l – 105’ish gal ). The reason I start here probably already gives u a hint about what I’m planning to put in it. I’ve been reading various sites filled with tons and tons of info. Tough I have several questions unanswered or answered with multiple contradictives ( I hope that is the right word )

I’ll give ur a picture of my tank so u guys get an idea about what I am talking.

[img=http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/9545/oscarp.th.jpg]

As said before the tank is 200 in length, 40 in width and 60 high.

My arsenal of question.
Fish.
I read on several different sites, several different info’s. on the homepage of this site I saw someone saying it had to be 160 gallons at the least for 3 Oscars. At the same forum here I read someone having 6 Oscars in that mount of water ( although with good filtering system and waterchange-methods). I planned to get my big pleco in it who is about 20 cm, and 2-3 Oscars.
I hear u guys thinking, nono 3 is a nogno, but I’m willing to wait 18 months to form a pair, and then sell the one who is left out IF that becomes a necessity. If the advise is no, don’t even think about getting 3 from the start then I’ll surely take that into consideration. As I’m hooked to uaru’s as well I was thinking if those would make good tankmates, if there is still space for tankmates, else no. though, as they don’t grow as fast as Oscars I might have to find bigger ones first ( the reason I got rid of my old one was because the tank it was in was way to small for its size and he is now happily swimming in the Antwerp zoo with a bunch of his buddies )

Filtering.
My current filters are the onboard filter on the right and an outside filter from tetratec. 200-500 l / hr. the onboard Is stuffed with ceramic pipes covered with a fine mousse to keep the big filths out of it. Also the heater is in it which I read turns about to be a good thing against these little terrorists? My question just is simple. Will this be enough to support the amount of fish I have planned to keep.

Light
As u can see on the picture I have 2x 1.80m tl’s. I already figured by now out that for Oscars would appreciate one more. The problem I have here still is: the tank is located on my room therefore the tank can not naturally ‘awake ‘ with daylight light at sunrise, but it blinks on and blinks out in a split second. I read that this can be the cause of a couple of stress related diseases etc. any ideas on how I can get TL-bulbs to go on slowly ? or any advice on replacement lightning?
For shelter against light I read that there is a lot of shelter needed when u have the light I have atm. So I was wondering if giant flowerpots would do, covered with stones to give it a better look. I have some pretty wood pieces, but its hard to get in Belgium and the prices are enormous and the quality not always _that_ good 

Water
The water coming out of our tap is
GH 11
KH 4-5
PH 7.5-8
I’m not anti additives for this and that’s, like nitrate-eaters or whatever. But as soon as the tank gets going properly, then there is no need for it. So I try to keep the usage as low as possible. Now I know my tangs are pretty strong fish and they never had any problems with me poring 100 litres of water in it at once. Of course not straight from the tap, but it has rested overnight with an air stone and a heater in it. Will it do for Oscars as well or will the water not be good enough to cause no harm for them in terms of bad crap in it like chloride.
-For my tangs I never ‘changed water’ I only refilled as my filter systems do there jobs like they are supposed to. I figured out that as messy as they are, water changes are needed on quite a regular basis. Regular basis, that’s the term I find everywhere on the web. Anyone can give me just an idea of how much/month or week? I saw some kid who wrote 30% every 2 days but … normally I do 1/4th every week. Is that to few for 2-3 Oscars?
-Is it safe to keep the tang water for Oscars? They never have been sick or never had any diseases over the 4 years I had ‘m. so there is not that many bad stuff in it I guess. Second of this, would it be advised to redo the filters? Completely ‘reset’ them and start over again. Or would it be possible to just replace the water by water changes every day for a week

Food.
I’m still a little bit unsecure about food even with reading all the valuable info and hints on this site. I’m planning on getting juveniles. I found a store here where they sell hikari gold and more stuff like deep-fried grasshoppers or crickets etc, it’s by far the best store in the country although it’s a giant end for me to go over there . but my biggest insecurity is how to feed the juvies without making ‘m pop like a balloon. One site says u cant feed pellets or hard food, the other says fish, then no fish… greens, soft stuffs etc… I cant decide anymore on what I should and what I shouldn’t. I think mini pellets from hikari gold and the tetra dorlim as said in the ‘food ‘ section would do the trick, or is it possible to just feed ‘m on pellets. Do they need anything apart from dried food ? like some worms, or some whitefish brine shrimp and krill, or is a varaiety of pellets and dry food just good.
Sand or stone
I’m quite happy with the sand for easy cleaning and such but for working away the air bubbles and some other stuff its easier to go for gravelish material. Although that brings a lot more of risk to the tank considering dirt can be left behind. I just want some opinions from guys/gals who already are experienced with one or both and who can advise me what would be better / best
Under the sand of my tang I have a very solid foam plate to keep the weight of 500 kilos of stone from crushing the bottom of my tank. I’m planning on taking it out as for the Oscars the more water the better, and I wont be having such a big layer of sand rocks as I had in tang. But would it still be advisable to put a small layer of foam to prevent against scratches from Oscars juggling and playing hockey with rocks / flowerpots. Its not as solid as what is in now and I think when they get upon the bottom it will be teared apart in no time which off course is not that healthy

I think that’s about it ( sorry for the shitload of text )

Thx in advance for your help, if any of u have anymore hints / tips feel free to send and sorry if my English is crap here and there.

fristeh wrote:


On the subject of the number of fish... I have always been a firm believer that two is company and three is a crowd.. the reason being is when they do start to get close to adult hood they will start to pair off and the pair will in turn pick and possibly injure or kill the third...

also with a large pleco they do produce a large amount of waste... especially a large one. thus in turn boosting your amonia levels. which is bad for the oscars... I would not recommend having a pleco in there... besides the large ones to tend to be lazy.

As far as any other tank mates... with the size of your tank 110 us gallons I would only recommend having the two oscars and maybe some type of catfish, LaceCat, Black spotted cat, or something like those because those will help take care of the left over food...(just make sure that you have good cover for them to hide during the day....

fristeh wrote:


the filtering that will be required for your oscars,especially if you do more than just the two is three times what the tank calls out for... example if you have a 100 gallon tank then you should have enough filtration for a 300 gallon tank... I would definetly keep the heaters away from the oscars.

fristeh wrote:


as far as the lighting goes I know that my local fish store has aquarium lights that are on timers so that they simulate the sun rising and setting and then they even have whats called the moon lighting(I like these a lot they look sweet). You might want to check with you local fish store(LFS) to see what they offer or what they can order...

For shelter: I think that the large flower plants would be a great Idea.. it not only gives them shelter at night when they sleep but also it could give them a nice hideaway to have babies...

You just want to stay away from sharp objects ... the oscars might hurt themselves on it

fristeh wrote:


As far as your water parameters and the water changes: I have a 110 gal tank and I have two oscars in it. I do a 25% water change every third day. Doing this in my tank keeps the water parameters in near perfect conditions.

I would maybe use half of the tang water and I definetly would not redo the filters(other than a filter cartridge change). The filters have the good bacteria in them already built up and if you redo them then you would have to recycle your tank even longer to allow for them to regrow

fristeh wrote:


As far as the food goes: I use a blended diet of cichlid pellets and frozen foods... The reason I do this: I give them the pellets on a daily basis for there vitamines and minerals that they need. and I give them frozen foods like Krill for their healthy dose of protein every other day... I try to stay away from feeder fish like gold fish and rosies because they are known to have diseases, unless you breed your own.

As far as the phome bottom I would not use this for two reasons. 1: the oscars will eventually dig through the substrate and find the Foam and possibly tear it up(Not healthy). 2: the foam padding will also soak up left over food and waste from the oscars which in turn will become a problem when they start to rot.. Making the oscars very unhealthy

I hope that all of this helps.. I too can sometime become long winded forgive me for that. Let me know if there is anything else that we can do for you

thx alot for your replies helping out a ton

not a problem man any time