What percentage of water do you take out of your Oscar tank during your weekly water change? Would it be similar to my Malawi tank water changes (50-60%) once per week. Or is it less i.e 20-30%?

Thanks

i'm doing 1/3 every 4 days. think i'll do 1/4th every 3 days when they become bigger, tho my filters have most of it under control.

I'm a little pushed for time due to work so i can only do one a week, I do all my water changes on my tanks on the saturday as this is the only day off from work, All the other days i work 12-16hrs a day so it's nearly impossible to do anything but get home and drop down in bed.

I'll do a 50% water change once a week then, Same as my malawi tanks.

I do have a decent filter on my set up so that's in my favour i suppose. It passes the full aquarium capasity 9.2 times in 1 hour

changing a third of the water is normally enough on a sensibly stocked tank.

What I try and get across to people is that it is best to under feed your fish, rather than give them too much. Fish are not like a household pets like dogs, they do not need to be fed on a daily basis. If you are pushed for time and water changes/maintenance is a problem then I would strongly advise feeding maybe three times a week. This will certainly reduce the amount of waste going into the water and nitrate levels shouldn't rise too quickly.

On all my tanks ,I change 40%-50% weekly. I may do 2 25% a week or 1 50%. Most of the time I do 2-25% changes. I believe you'll do fine with 1-50% change per week.(unless your overstocked in a tank, like 2 large Oscars in a 90 gal. Then I'd do 3 20% weekly)

Good points to remember OFL!

OFL wrote:


Yeah don't worry i never overfeed my fish haha. What i usually do is feed them twice a day with a small amount. Then one day a week i don't feed them so they can digest all there food and get it all out their systems. This is what i do on my malawi's anyway.

OldMedic wrote:


I am overstocked, Well... not at the mo but within a few months i will be. I have 6 small 3 inch tigers in a 4ft at the moment, I'm growing them on then 2 will go in my large 5ft (119 US gallons) and another 2 will go in a 6ft that i'm buying soon and then the last two will be given to a oscar enthusiast. Hopefully someone on here.

not to be rude, but you buy 6 fish you ( most likely) gonna keep the 4 most beautiful and we can take care for your leftovers?

Thats why I like my LFS so much.
When I started out he gave me the opportunity to take a group of Oscars and return the rest after a pair had established.
Now I sometimes still wish I had...
But no complaints about my tank.
I do a 50% WC weekly and vacuum the whole tank, but its more for the looks than
the waterparameters.
My 5 foot biofilter does a good job!

i dont mind yellowish water due to the wood in it. makes it look natural imo. and for the poop, i learned at the zoo that cleaning is ok, cleaning to much is far from healthy ^^

fristeh wrote:


How do i have any say in which fish pair up? for all i know i could have 6 males or 6 females now couldn't i. The choice is not up to me, its upto the fish. And even if i do say so myself all the fish look nice, See the video: