I have a 55 gal. with usually 2 Oscars, (now its 4 coz some idiot dumped 2 off on me today) and a barb, and it seems to me that it gets dirty within a day, I only feed them once a day but it still seems like I feed them 3 times with how much crap appears and I'm sure I'm not over feeding them. So I'll clean it every other day sometimes, usually every 2 days but no longer. Am I doing it too often? or is there no limit to how many times I can clean it, coz I think the cleaner it is the better it should be for them, but I could be wrong.

clean tanks are good as it keeps yr amonia leves low,but with u having 4 oscars in a 55g tank u wont be able to keep it clean and healthy for them 4 oscars need a 200g plus tank so im sorry to say that you would may be want to consider gettin a bigger tank or start looking for a home for two of the oscars.
its easier said than done as u get very attached to yr fish quickly and battle to give them away,but for yr sake and the oscars health it might be a beter idea.

Oh I'm definatly planing to get rid of 2, I've found a place for one already now I just have to get it there, and then find a place for the other one. I just couldn't not take in the 2 that were being offered to me today because the guy said he was going to flush them and they were just baby blueberry oscars, or I think that's what they're called. The two that I've had just seem to be dirty and I like to keep it very clean. I read that under gravel filters can make it worse and I have those so I was considering taking them out?

What filtration are you using in the tank.

Umm I think everyone calls it a SUMP... I may know what it does, but not it's proper name haha. and the under gravel as well, but as I said previously, I am considering taking that out today.

I have 2 external filters on my tank its 160 gal.Vbabys advice when i first joined was to get a bigger tank it used to bea 55 gal and glad i did thanks vbaby.I still do 10% water change every 3 days and 50% once a month and my guys seem ok,they actually like it.But you really do need to be lookin at upgrading you're tank a min of 75gals for two oscars alone,100 gals in my opinion.

There is nothing wrong with cleaning often. Undergravel filters will clog up quite quickly and need cleaning reguarly. Check out dinger sticky thread on reverse undergravel filters. I put this on my tank and it keeps the gravel really clean. I have had it running for a month or so and have not had to clean the gravel yet. All i do is take the large waste out when doing a water change(i run the gravel cleaner over it). Be careful with cleaning your filter too often. I have external filters and i clean mine every 6 weeks. I got to this frequency by experience of how dirty they get

I was going to get a 120 gal. with gravel, filters, heater and a ton of fish included for $350, but everyone I know advised me not to do it unless I was going to put it in my basement because they said it would fall through the floor after awhile. Those tanks are really expensive, where I am anyway. I took my undergravel filters out today and I could see how much waste was really in there because of them and it took me over an hour to clean it so I think I'm done with those. Thanks for the advice everyone!

my 5 ft one is in my bedroom and its fine never effected the floor or anything aslong as theres somthing under to spread the weight evenly itl be fine. if you have a basement i dout youl have any dry rot in your floor joist but to be on the safe side on the first floor ahve a quick look under . a house we recently renovated had the dry rot and his tank broke the joists and as u expect smashed his tank with loads of fish.

as delboy said cleaning yr filters to often could be harmfull to yr tank as u can desturb the active bacteria in yr filters.

work out a schedule that suites yr lifestyle in my case ive got 2 canisters on my tank and i never clean them both at the same time.i alternate them on a two weekly basis there is always a clean and a not so clean filter running on my tank.
this method preserves yr bacteria.

ive got 7 tanks ranging from very small to large and i do a weekly 25% water change on all of them.
remeber that most of the good bacteria lives in yr filter sytem,so when they say cycle yr tank they actually mean get the bacteria in yr filter sytem established.

hope this helps.

Depending how big these four Oscars will govern how quickly the tank gets dirty. If they're fairly big, there is no way you'll be able to leave their tank one week without a water change. The nitrates will be through the roof.

Sorry, not sure about your filtration but that will get dirty very quickly. When filtration clogs up, the water stops flowing through the media properly on your bacteria are put at risk. We've all seen how messy Oscars, small filters are just no good with them, unless you want to be cleaning them a couple of times a week.

i agree that as long as filters are not done too much, there is no such thing as to often.
i read in "practical fish keeping" magazine a few months ago that this scientist kept six 12" plus oscars in a 100g, there was no filter he just changed the water every day(took the level down so the oscars were flapping around on the bottom)
not that i would recommend it, even more so if your on a water meter!