assorted questions

caz

I'm a Sinker!
Apr 7, 2003
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1. anyone feed their oscars and human food? like peas or something.
2. can anyone give me some pointers on convicts? im raising up 2 of them, and they are my first ones.
3. is a sand bottom better than a gravel bottom?
 
1.) Peas are okay for Oscars as an occasional treat.

3.) What are you keeping? If you don't keep something that will stir up the entirety of the substrate, sand is a bad option as it will compact and quickly obtain a very anaerobic layer.
 
so a no go with oscars then huh? well basicly what im trying to do is make my tank a little nicer. right now i just have the standard pebbles, but want something that looks a little nicer. is there like a better homes and fishtanks thing or something? i want to decorate my tank a little better, but i dont want to shell out for the overpriced castle and such. thanx
 
There are lot of sites on this--Google "shale in fishtanks" or "slate in fishtanks".

A lot of aquarists build large and elaborate rockwork for their fish, and it is a lot more fun and cost effective than the castle. Or, you could go with pre-made, artificial, rockwork so that it is lighter and less effort is required to create a work of art.
 
I would not recomend a sand substrate for SA/CA cichlids as they dig and it will turn in to one big mess. At one point in time I was thinking of doing a mixture of sand an pebbles but after looking around I decided to just use the pebbles. I feed my oscar peas, spinach, zucchini (although he some times spits that out) as well as raw shrimp and cut up bass that I catch in my uncle's pond (the bass that is the shrimp comes from the grocery store). This is in addition to a variety of pellets. I make a big tuperware bucket with Hikari Gold, Carnivore Pellets, Spirulina pellets and Tetra Cichlid Sticks and mix them all together. As far as rocks you can get them cheap at a Lowe's or Home Depot or even cheaper at a wholesale landscape supply store. I picked up one hundred an fifty pounds of gravel for about four bucks and the shale is ten cents a pound. Compare that to the LFS or home depot.;) For convicts I would give them a fifty five for a mating pair with some silver dollars or giant danios as target fish. You could keep them in a smaller tank but I think after a while the male would kill the female. Just my two cents I have never had a breeding pair of convicts. I had a male and he absolutely destroyed my 90 and had a JD and a Blackbelt cowering in the corner.
 
my friend has oscars with his sand

for convicts, i have seen a breeding pair in a 10 gal, but i would recommend at least a 29. just my thoughts
 
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