well, I heard alot of complains on my tank on how bare and boring it is from my family. It's in the living room and they feel it should be prettier. My brother constantly feels like he should eliminates my lovely goldfishs to have an oscar in there which i continuously explaining to him an oscar probably need a 75 gallons. But anyway lol I decided I should add more plants to it and give it more of a natural looks. To do that I need to add gravel. and I really dont know if i should. I have seen alot of goldfish tank with gravel, and now i do know hte risk of getting it stucks in the mouth. I'm not worrying of the cleaning, I clean it every weak so it would be clean. And I would like to know if it often that the fish get a gravel stuck up there mouth. I want to give it a beautiful looking tank but safe for the fish also

If you want to go for the "natural" look, go for river rocks! They're big enough that your fish can't swallow them, and a lot easier to get your gravel vac around. It's also way more natural than plastic gravel.

I found mine at a farm supply store, but they should have them at garden supply stores as well. You'll probably get a much bigger bag than you need! You could also just go pick them up at a river, .

Test them with some white vinegar; if they fizzle, do NOT put them in the tank. Wash them VERY well; you should probably boil them, too. That will get off all the bad nasties that will come with them.

Thanks for the great Idea! That's probably what i'm going to do. You are right..it look very natural and the same tiem safe for fishes! Thanks.......why didn't I think of that... lol

And thanks for the precautious warning

They also sell river rocks in pet stores, too. They may not be labeled "river rocks", but if the gravel is large-ish and natural-colored, that's what you're looking for. By going to a pet store, you won't have to buy a 10 pound bag, LOL. Just make sure the stones are bigger than the fish's mouths, and you'll be good!

One of my goldie tanks has river rocks covering the bottom. Although it looks wonderful I am seriously considering reducing the amount to just a few scattered about. I spend alot of time cleaning the algae off of them. Unlike my bare bottom goldie tank which only needs a sweet wipe out every week.

I like my tank bare bottom. The fish are the stars that way.

Not sure how big your tank is but warn your brother that Oscars need large tanks (At the very least, 75G) with thick glass. I've heard stories of Oscars out growing 55G's and breaking them by ramming themselves into the side of the tank out of frustration from being in a "small" area. They'll also break glass heaters which can lead to electricution.

Oscars are awesome though. xD Loved mine until my brother killed him...>.> Now I'm just sticking to Goldfish because cold weather wont kill them. >_< Goldfish FTW! xD

I got a HUGE bag of river rocks for $10 at Home Depot. Though they got annoying to clean so I took them out of both my tanks and went bare bottom. If you're going to decorate it then I'd go very lightly with the rocks and scatter them with a bit of bareness and add some decorations here and there which can be held down without rocks.

thanks for all the reply, I'm aware of the algae growing but i dont think It would annoy me alot.

My tank is a 55 gallons and I wont be getting any oscar no matter what lol

I decided to go for thsoe river rocks now ^__^

I like my tank bare bottom. It's a little boring but easy to clean.

river rocks r great, gravel killed one of my fish so i try to avoid it for goldfish

Options for you hun.

River rocks are great for gravel if you need it.
But you can have plants in the tank with out having rocks on the bottom of the tank. You can get glass jars or Terracotta pots and place the plant in there with river rocks holding them down in the pots. Also sometimes you can find plants that are attached to rocks in the store so you dont need to do the whole gravel thing or pots thing

I personally love bare bottom tanks, so much easier to deal with and the goldfish look like there swimming in air

Thanks for the tips I might reconsidered about having rocks. I am not really sure how difficult it is to clean up lol. Like You said I might just plants it all in pots or jars.



yeah, that's why I'm scare of using it

barebottom tanks or with riverstones r defianently easy to clean!!

get the river stones, i got them from my local pet store... all ready to go, just rinse off with treated water... they're great!