How Many Is Too Many?

[Luke78]

Hey guys I have had my 55 gallon stock now for a week or so. Everything going great. Right now I have:

5 labs
3 afra cobue
5 cobalt
3 acei
1 OB Peacock
1 Feather fin Cat
Filtration in 500gph

I feel that I am Done! The guy at my LFS has been keeping African cichlids for over 30yrs and he said that I should have around 20-25 in a 55...that seems like too many. Don't want to start an argument, just want some opinions.

 

[Texasreef]

I have about 18 in my 90 gallon. Hopefully someone with more experience will comment because I've been wondering the same thing

 

[jondamon]

I'm not too sure but I think the reason for overstocking slightly on cichlid tanks is to reduce aggression.

I'm not sure as I said though so I hope no one bites my head off. Lol.



Jon

 

[christine2012]

I'm not too sure but I think the reason for overstocking slightly on cichlid tanks is to reduce aggression.

I'm not sure as I said though so I hope no one bites my head off. Lol.

Jon

You nailed it. Overstocking African cichlids dwindles aggression in that the pursued fish can blend into a crowd hiding from the bully. In my 55 I currently have 3 afras, 2 acei, 1 lab, auratus, maingano, 2 jewels. My tank is 103% stocked according to a tank calculator. However when I get another canister filter I plan to stock my tank by about %50 more. Overstocking, not to be confused with ultra stocking lol. Your stock looks fitting. You may need adjustments down the road, but I probably wouldn't add much more.

 

[Fishie]

I'm not too sure but I think the reason for overstocking slightly on cichlid tanks is to reduce aggression.

I'm not sure as I said though so I hope no one bites my head off. Lol.

Jon

I would say you are right they stock for aggression.

 

[Fready]

Yep overstocking is done to reduce aggression
But that doesnt mean you should do that..

A proper stock selection and decoration according to the species and tank size will get you allot further than to use a backdoor

 

[Terrance]

The downside to overstocking is that you get polluted water. Frequent water change is a must, but most hobbyist will not be able to sustain this long-term. Filtration only gets rid of ammonia and nitrite. There are hundreds of dissolved pollutants in a weeks time.

Fish in a overstocked tank tend to die prematurely, does not grow to max size, and lose all the behavior that was acquired by nature. Pretty sad IMO.

 

[bettaowner]

If you overstock You will also need a very strong filter.

 

[Convict2161]

From my experience,I would say DON'T overstock your tank. I have a heavily overstocked 75g African tank. And I can only speak for myself but it's not really cutting down on anything. 50% water changes weekly with sometimes 20% maintenance changes during the week. Over filtration, fx5 and a AC110 running on the tank. I've lost some good fish and still have some good ones left. Sometimes I'll get a dead fish everyday for a week!

And what's that mean? More water changes! So I get the overstocking to reduce aggression but how about this idea. Stock the tank with the proper species of fish that can coincide with one an other instead?

I went the other way and it's been a battle at times. You live and learn. You of course do what you want, I'm just speaking from what I've been through. It's not worth it IMHO in the long run.

Here's my overstocked tank. Do I love it? Yes o course! Would I do it again? Nope, I would do more research and stock properly and do the male to female ratio as well.

Again this is just me. But there will be unneeded deaths of some the right way and you and your fish will be happier then just throwing a bunch o Africans in a tank to hopefully cut back on aggression (which I did) when I stocked correctly you may not have any issues and just be able to relax and enjoy your tank rather then netting dead fish every few days and re homing a couple here and there.

I admit my faults but at the same time love my tank. At the moment there are some major battles going on and 4 females holding which makes it 100 times worse. There thinning the tank out themselves as they see fit.