Am I Over Stocked?

[Snake42490]

Hey guys I was just wondering how many fish i should be ok to keep in my 55 gallon... Right now I have

4 Yellow Labs

4 Red Zebras

4 Kennyi

6 Synodontis Petricola

right now i would say they are all 1.5 inches... some little under some a little over.

Filtration is Penguin 100 bio wheel on the back.

Aqual unimax pro 250 uv canister

and an XP3

Thanks Seth

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[corey01]

they look like lake malawi cichlids. your no where near overstocked at the moment . but with malawis your supposed to SLIGHTLY overstock to subside agression. you will need a strong external filter though

 

[Ferris]

Thats pretty much spot on for a 55 gal with Mbuna and you are over-filtered so looks good to me.

 

[Snake42490]

im fine with the tank right now and how everything is... should i add more to even out aggression? i know right now they are still young and mostly all swimming together.. some of the reds and kennyi are showing aggression at each other but nothing major.. if i were to do that would i add more of the same species or a new fish? thanks seth

 

[mark7616]

I wouldnt add any more but then again I wouldnt keep Lombardoi in a 55g they get to big and they are to aggressive for this size I would say a 75g for lombardoi.

 

[dthoffsett]

I agree with everyone else, your stocking level is fine, I wouldn't add any more. However, I highly suggest adding a lot more rocks. Once your fish reach sexual maturity they will become a lot more aggressive, and a lot of territories will help. Take a look at them members tanks to get some ideas.
http/www.fishforums.net/Members-African-...ks-t169788.html

 

[Snake42490]

how many more rocks do you think i should be adding? right now i have 4.. 2 lava and 2 limestone... i think i could fit 2 more without stacking... does that sound like it will be enough rocks? about how much longer do you think until they will start showing aggression towards each other? thanks seth

 

[Snake42490]

when looking for more rocks should i be looking for size of rocks? amount of holes? how high it is.. how long it is? right now all the local places dont have much for rock so i might have to wait or try to find something online.

 

[dthoffsett]

Did you look at the link I posted? You could easily put in 100lbs of rocks in your 55gal, and stacking is pretty much the way to go to make caves.

As far as size and number of holes in the rocks, it's really just what you like, I try to pick larger rocks to stack and smaller rocks to add interest.

Garden centers and landscaping places are probably the best/cheapest way to get rocks. Or finding rocks is free, just be sure to clean them well. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=55806

They should hit sexual maturity around 2-3 inches.

 

[borissimo]

Talking of overstocking in general - I was advised to put a lot of cichlids in my tank to avoid aggression. Fine, except they are breeding like rabbits (some types breeding more than others, of course). I do not want to give them away as I then cannot be sure they will go to good homes. Hence I am spending a fortune on tanks. They are on their third tank now (290ltr corner tank)

 

[dthoffsett]

Talking of overstocking in general - I was advised to put a lot of cichlids in my tank to avoid aggression. Fine, except they are breeding like rabbits (some types breeding more than others, of course). I do not want to give them away as I then cannot be sure they will go to good homes. Hence I am spending a fortune on tanks. They are on their third tank now (290ltr corner tank)

Are you pulling the holding females from the tank? You can always leave them to spit in the main tank, less fry will survive with the adults to prey on them. You could also introduce some syno. catfish, they are quite adept at hunting down all fry.

 

[borissimo]

No, they are all together. I don't know what ratio of fry are surviving but we see a lot of young fish hiding under the rocks and when they get bigger they come out. I am embarrassed to admit that I do not know a lot of the species names - they are all Malawis - but most of the fry seem to be light orange (zebras I think), or brownish striped, or blue striped. I was pleased to see a Johanni female baby, but there is only one of those. Unfortunately the most attractive fish do not appear to breed as we bought them when they were too young to tell their sex. There are two synodontis catfish in the tank - I am not sure if they eat the fry or not. The cichlids sometimes give them a hard time but I have no other tank suitable for them as my other tanks have small cory catfish.

 

[caboose_122]

Thats pretty much spot on for a 55 gal with Mbuna and you are over-filtered so looks good to me.

seems good to me, i wouldent go any farther then that as the kennyi and red zebras are pretty aggressive fish.

 

[PufferFishRule]

i have a 55 cichlid setup as well i could stand a few more fish...mainly females as most of mine are males...only because i didnt have the 55 setup yet there old home the 29 is now a home to a pair of kribs and a pair of keyholes and they love it..i wanna put a syno or 2 in the 55 but i can never find any i like...right now i have a plec in there....algae has started to become a problem...but on to the topic at hand i think your just fine!