I Dont Understand!

[Ficious]

I was recently at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha Nebraska and was in the rain forest part. ive been here many times but never since ive been keeping fish.

This pic shows a small part in a huge biotope. it included tapers and monkeys as well as the areas shown in the picture.

hundreds, if not thousands, of african cichlids were in the area confined by natural barriers.

my first question is

1. How is this not overcrowded? all fish were healthy, none dead or beat up...diseased or ill.
2. How do they keep such a tank clean?
3. How do they control the stats and water quality. imagine the amount of poo that builds up in 1 day.
4. This goes against all the rules of fish keeping because, well, its just wayyyyy overcrowded!!

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Probably using a HUGE economy rated filtration system. African Cichlid tanks are normally crowded anyways.


Not sure how they clean the aquarium though. My guess would be people probably have to climb in with big siphons and do it.

 

[Corleone]

You say "natural barriers" - was the cichlid enclosure connected to a larger body of water in the biotope? If the barriers are only fish-tight and not water-tight, the water flowing through could provide a constant flow of clean water.

Also, the fish may not be spread out. Zoos will bait their exhibits during busy times to bring animals to ideal viewing spots. It's possible the fish are just congregating for feeding, and they aren't occupying the entire water area. Or even somebody approaching the top of the tank. If I took a close up picture of my tank when I approach, it would look like most of my fish were crammed into about a 20 gallon tank, not a 55.

It's also possible that it's just a bad exhibit and they need to replace lots of dead fish regularly.

 

[3ndl3r]

african cichlids are supposed to be kept like that. helps balance aggression.

 

[VictorMeldrew]

That tank looks like its got a huge surface area, couple this with a advanced filtration system and its possible to keep healthy fish like that.

 

[andywg]

1. How is this not overcrowded? all fish were healthy, none dead or beat up...diseased or ill.

More fish means any aggression is more equally spread out, hence why troublesome fish are kept in groups of at least 5, preferably more (such as exodons or many barbs).

2. How do they keep such a tank clean?

With staff dedicated to the upkeep of the tank. Most likely through water changes, filtration and maintenance similar to one would perform on a smaller tank.

3. How do they control the stats and water quality. imagine the amount of poo that builds up in 1 day.

What you see is the display. The chances are that there is a volume of water much larger than the display tank which keeps the levels stable and house myriad filtration equipment.

4. This goes against all the rules of fish keeping because, well, its just wayyyyy overcrowded!!

Many old world cichlid keepers "overcrowded" to keep aggression spread out. In addition, how do you define "overcrowded"? The only real stocking guideline is the 1" of slim bodied fish per gallon of water, but this is designed to help newbies with probably inadequate filtration and a less than rigourous maintenance regime. Many people on here have tanks over 2" per gallon without problems.

The tank certainly is not kept in a manner which many members of this forum would, but once you learn a little more on fishkeeping you find that almost no large displays/tanks are kept how the majority of those posting in the FW section would keep them.