30 gallon fish tank help?

Question

What fish would be best for a tank with 30% live plants?

Can I put in some agressive fish like Oscars?

What would a good filter for this (remmber it's just a few plants, not a garden!)?

Substrate info... substrate goes below the gravel right?...& there should be 3 inches high worth of gravel (one pound per gallon).

Should I deduct the amount of substrate from the amount of gravel that that is required?

Answer 1

30 gals is about half the bare minimum size you need for an oscar.

I would go with a pair of Kribs & a pair of Firemouth Cichlids. They're both small / medium sized new world cichlids who don't dig in the gravel or eat plants. They're an appropriate size for a gallon also.

Alternatively, maybe a rainbow cichlid would be good. They accept a good range of water parameters & don't dig. They're a little bigger though (6 inches max).

You can also try to put 2 pair of convict cichlids in the tank with caves on opposite sides of the tank.. They're much more aggressive fish, but they will re-arrange the gravel, and may tear up plants in their line of sight coming out of their cave, but not as bad as an oscar. Many people often find that these little guys can kill an oscar several times their size. Any time I try to re-arrange stones around their caves, they try to bite my fingers... its cute. They're cheap & they breed like bunnies also.

I reccommend a magnum 350 filter. It doesn't disturb the water surface much, and can be used as an active diffuser for co2 by bubbling into its inlet. Since its motor is bottom mounted, it will not make any noise in this application or take up more space. bigalsonline.com has a good price on them. Nearly any filter will slow down in a very short time delivering well below the advertized gallons per hour. You may be able to do a magnum HOT, or an emperor 400. I have a buddy who also uses an emperor 280 on a 30 gal with success. Stay away from tetra brand filters. On my planted tanks, they would jam up in about 3 days with detrious, requiring a bag cleaning or change.

Substrate should go below gravel. Otherwise it will cloud up the water column. The height should be around 3 inches total (gravel + substrate) in a planted tank. Without plants, it should be very little gravel and no substrate. Gravel traps food particles & they rot down there.

Answer 2

Definately not oscars. They'll get way too big, and should be in a minimum of a 75 gallon tank. In a 30 gallon, you can probably get away with some of the smaller cichlids. Search on google to find out about the different types. Definately not an oscar though. As far as substrate goes, if you use gravel, that IS your substrate. The depth is kind of a personal preference if you don't have a planted tank (if you want aggressive fish I'm assuming you won't have a planted tank). Too much gravel can cause nutrients to build up and rot, which will poison your fish. Gravel does grow helpful bacteria in it too though, so you want a fai ammount. I usually have about an inch of gravel in my tanks. whatever looks good to you though. If you check your water parameters regularly with a water test kid and use a gravel vacuum regularly, it shouldnt' matter too much.

Answer 3

An oscar would not be suitable for a 30 gallon tank. Oscars are just too big, and they need a minimum of 60 gallons per fish.

For a 30 gallon tank, look more into something like an angelfish, or a pair of gouramis (like blue, pearl, dwarf, gold), or a pair of bolivian rams; and a dozen tetras like neon tetras or rummy-nose tetras or harlequin rasboras.

A power filter (HOB - Hang off the Back) would be just fine, one rated for 50-60 gallons to ensure adequate filtration.

Substrate is your gravel... whatever you use to go on the bottom of your tank. You can put a plant-specific substrate under your gravel, like geo-systems gravel or fluorite, but your plants will grow just fine in regular gravel. Anything between 2-3 inches is enough, so yeah, one pound per gallon should be adequate; or, if you put an extra layer under the gravel, do with 1" of plant-specific substrate and 1.5-2 inches of regular gravel.

Answer 4

Oscars only others no gravel should be level with the front and 1/2" at the back the best is get a mix of fish that will keep the tank clean

Answer 5

Well, it's obvious your Pleco's died, you squished them all into that tiny tank. First of all, Pleco's need at LEAST 55 gallons of water EACH, due to their massive size when fully grown. Your tank doesn't seem too overstocked apart from the Pleco's, but since you're turning it into an aggressive tank, you shouldn't add anymore fish into it. As for the algae problem, if you've just set it up, this could be why there is algae forming. Another thing you could do is get snails to clean off your tank, get a couple mystery snails or one apple snail. Make sure your tank lights aren't on for more than six hours during the day if there is a big algae bloom, and make sure your tank is away from direct sunlight. Apart from that, if your tank hasn't been cycling for three months straight, it's possible that your tank's bacteria haven't settled down fully yet, and this is what is causing the algae bloom. Good luck!

Answer 6

oscars like to pull up and shred plants so you need to get oscar proof plants. the type of plants you want would determine your substrate. usually the non-substrate plants are better with oscars. if they are tied and rooted to rocks oscars can't dig them up for you.

Answer 7

i don't know the answers to all of your questions on here but OSCARS will dig up every plant real or plastic you put in with them so NO to the oscar..