Overstocked?

[bigred1989]

I was recently given a 46g bowfront. The previous was moving and didn't want to take it with them. I don't know much about stocking with cichlids and I was wondering about the current stock of the tank. There are currently 2 jack dempseys, 2 blood parrots, and one pleco in the tank. There aren't any problems with aggression surprisingly.

 

[HUKIT]

Congratulations on the tank but unfortunately the tank at some point is going to be quite overstocked. With each one of the fish having the potenial for hitting 8-10" mark between aggression and deteriorating water conditions the tank will fail. I'm not sure what size the fish are now but at some time they will all need a larger tank.

There loads of medium sized central and south american fish that can be housed long term. My two favorite genus that fit the bill are cryphoheros and archocentrus. There are literally hundreds of new world fish that can be kept, but the ones you've inherited would fill up a 125g.

 

[bigred1989]

That's what I was thinking. The blood parrots are about 4-5" right now, along with one of the dempseys. The other Dempsey is much smaller and get bullied pretty bad by the bigger Dempsey. I'm not sure what to do with the fish. I live in a very small town with lfs. Relocating is going to be difficult.

 

[HUKIT]

You could place a ad on Craigslst locally, ask your local fish store to trade for a store credit, or place a ad on this site in the classifieds(you'll need a few more posts but a option none the less). I use Craigslist to sell 60-70% of the fish I breed, the others go to local stores, and swap meets at local fish clubs.