does it matter or? anything will do with a 55 gallon tank should I get a medium?

Test kit:
Just get a good liquid reagent complete master test kit that will test PH, Nitrites, Nitrates and Ammonia.Test strips are ok as an additional supplement only but you should always have the complete master test kit that is your primary kit for water testing. This will probably cost you $20-$30.

Water Vacuum: Comes in a variety of sizes from a variety of manufacturers. I suggest the Water Python brand myself and love them. It's the best on the market and has a detachable hose. You need enough hose to reach to the closest faucet you intend to attach it to and this works in both directions, both for vacuuming / water removal and then to refill your tank too. If your tap water is not too chlorinated, you may be able to refill right from the tap to your tank, treating the water in the tank directly to condition it but otherwise you will need to fill a 5 gallon pail with 2-3 gallons at a time, condition it to remove chlorine and then dump it into your tank. They come with a variety of vacuum Tube lengths too and the standard small one works or you can opt for something a tad taller too. if they have it, get the brass faucet adapter ($2) as the standard plastic one breaks easily. You can also vacuum right out an open window too which is what I do, so if you desire to do that, make sure the hose length reaches the window and beyond.

Bangerang103 wrote:


Do you want to communicate with dead fish or something? (Think about it)

Okay, there are lots of water test kits out there, I personally like aquarium pharmaceuticals. You get a lot for your money and the tests only take five minutes to come through. You use no more than two bottles unlike Tetra who utilises three for ammonia, and that test takes 20 minutes to come through.

If you go to your fish door, you should be able to buy a simple vacuum kit for very little money. 55 gallons is not a lot, it won't take a very long to do water change with a couple of large buckets and a vacuum/siphon kit. I've already mentioned the Python in one of the other threads. These attached to your tap. The strength of the water pressure governs how good is it sucking crap out of the tank. If you've got week water pressure, it won't even lift the smallest turd which isn't much good with Oscars. A lot of people, including me are on water meters, meaning we pay for what we use. To suck water art of your tank, you have to have the tap running. So if you're on a water meter, this is certainly not the sort of equipment to use. The other thing I don't like about it is all crap goes into the sink, not very nice if that's where food is prepared.

I just utilise a hose pipe with a vacuum on the end. It's got enough suction to lift all those big turds out as well. The Python I purchased a while ago is collecting dust in the cupboard

sounds good ill get one this week! thats really the only problem and I also found out my 210 I used for my iguana has a crack on the bottom so thats no good now unless I get it fixed but dont know how well that will go. only reason I didnt use the 210 off the start is my tank is upstairs and over 500 lbs is enough.

Well then it's good you decided to settle for just the one oscar, because you will have to live with the 55.

What variety of Oscar do you have on layaway there? a Red? Tiger? Lutino?

its an all back tiger has no color

Bangerang103 wrote:


It's quite common for baby oscars to start out all black (or black and cream for Tiger Oscars). Most likely you will wind up with what is known as a common Green Oscar, which is closely related to the original wild Oscar strain. Your fish (I'm betting) will become a nice green color, perhaps dark green or amost like jade green in places too. He won't stay black and within a brief month or two, you will start to see the green...

Tigers are usually two toned even as babies, so you may not have a tiger there or it could be he's only going to have a little tiger in him which won't appear until he's older. If he looks solid black now, chances are he's not really a tiger.

I have an oscar that it about 3 inches. He looks like a tiger but without the red tiger 'bits', but he does has a red eye spot. He has the two tone background that a tiger has. When i bought him he was in with some standard tiger oscars and the guy in the shop said a customer bought 4 in and he was the last one. Do you think this is a tiger without tiger colouring or this common green oscar you mentioned. When he gets bigger and i know his colouring has settled down will let you all know what he looks like


A while ago i bought a 1 inch oscar that was black and white patches that the shop called 'common oscars'. I found out that very small oscars do change colours. He is now 7 or 8 inches and a standard tiger. But i love him anyway

Not all Tigers are red.
Not all Tigers have the same amount of Tiger markings.
It's just too hard to call as Oscars change (sometomes dramatically) as they grow up. Black most likely will turn to green though in my opinion. Time will tell what you wind up with...

I know that this prolly should be in another post, but the statement was made here. Depending on the crack (a picture might help) but you can get another piece of glass cut to either the size of the inside measurements of the bottom of your tank, or one that overlaps the crack side to side by atleast 6" and goes the entire distance front to back of the tank. And silicone it in. The remaining glass will be stable enough to support the spread out weight of the new piece of glass siliconed in. Still highly suggestible to fill outdoors for the first time to make sure all sealing will hold. Then just make sure you have enough substrate to cover up the repair and you are GTG!!

That also sounds like an excellent suggestion and it certainly does seem feasable and easy enough to do.
In my mind I can picture it working and easy enough to silicone into place! Good suggestion!

I find this fixing of cracks interesting. When you say a piece of glass that overlaps side to side by 6 inches do you mean 6 inches both sides of the crack or 6 inches in total(i.e 3 inches either side). Personally i think i would go with a piece of glass cut to the size of the inside measurements of the bottom of the tank