had a question?
so i no a 55 gallon tank is ment for one oscar right. well say what if you wanted to add some silver dollars to the tank. would the bio load be to much? or would the silver dollars help out with the bio load by eating up all the food that comes out the oscars gills as he eats so that way the food doesnt just rest at the bottom of the tank? what do you guys think? to much bio load or no? and if not do you think i should just get one silver dollar or two?
cause i just came up on a 55 gallon tank and i think i wana get a oscar for the tank.

A 55Gl is the least room for one Oscar you can provide or that I could advice.
However if your filtation has a lot of overcapacity and you're willing to do regular large waterchanges I think you could add some SD's.
They're schooling fish though, would be best to get a few.
It will push the bioload up but they help with cleaning the visible mess an Oscar makes.

ok awesome
i think i will get a couple
will they have a huge effect on the bio load? cause if there a fish that shits alot i dont want them. i rather get another fish that would clean up the oscar food mess and not shit to much. any ideas of another fish that would be good for the job?

SD's will be fine, you actually don't see their poo, but it'll add up to ammonia nevertheless.
Mind you keeping up with frequent waterchanges will be nescesary, for SD's can grow pretty fast.
I think little catfish can help as clean-up crew as well, but I got no personal expierience there.

synodontis is lovely for that purpose.

That's what i meant...
And a smaller Syno will probably have less effect on your bioload then a lil'school of SD's.
I'm gonna have a real catfish someday, but my plecos and Gar use up all floorspace at the moment!lol

i love my synodontis, he looks so stocky and powerfully built for such a small fish, he is as tall as he is long lol.

If you do add another fish do a weekly water test for nitrate. If it goes above 40 before a water change them you will need to do larger or more frequent water changes

I'd recommend that you get catfishs too, i think they look really cool too although for some reason I've never had too much luck with them.

If you are pushing your bio load(which i think i might be in a couple of months) how frequently do you have to or is recommended to test your water? And how much more of a weekly water change i would have to make? 50%?75%?

Whenever I make a change in the bioload, I test more frequently.
Doing an extra change I'd say go for the 50% twice a week, if your readings go up, but oppinion mat differ here.

test your water before a weekly water change. If nitrate is above 40 then you need to do either bigger or more frequent water changes