Question About 27 Gallon Cichlid Tank

[attibones]

My sister does not believe in real research for her fish she believes that aquatic calculator website is the best thing in the world and totally accurate. So today she told me she has returned all her guppies and tetras and picked up an acai cichlid, a red zebra, and an auratus. Her tank is 27 gallons. She crushed up her coral so she could keep these guys, but I'm worried that they are not suited for her tank. It should be around 75 gallons, right? Research I've seen says that some of these guys are fairly social and need small groups of each species.

What do you guys think?

 

[lrhodes]

oh boy... I have recently set up a cichlid tank... 2 kenyi, 2 red zebras, and 1 auratus...
 
mine are in a twenty nine gallon. And yes they are suppose to be in a bigger tank... But you also have to overstock the tank...
 
Mine are doing great! For now... But they are still on the younger side...

 

[attibones]

I understand about overstocking, but what about stunting? I dunno. I've never kept any of these guys before.

 

[lrhodes]

I don't think you'll stunt most of the Africans. They stay around 6 inches. Most of them anyways. But a bigger tank will reduce aggression. And give more swim room and bigger territories.

 

[mark_lad]

i got told this from a repatuble lfs  if you think your tank is stocked nicely add half again and your about right  also heard the other "rule" take your tanks water in gallons half it will give you number of fish for an african cichlid tanks obvs the shellies you can count two as one  your med fish like your demasoni, labs as one and your bigger stuff like your frontosa's as two   hope this makes sence
 
mark

 

[SimpleDog]

Generally yes you want to overstock a ciclid tank, but 29g isnt really adequate space to do so. As your lady is only wanting to add 3 fish, that is asking for a world of problems considering they arent the same species. What is going to happen more than likely is the dominant fish will kill the other two, or stress them to an ich outbreak. I'm speaking from experience on my first cichlid tank, where I had 3 fish and a very very mean blue zebra.

 

[BrianMcC]

hey I agree with simple dog and the cichlids will eventually kill the rest!
B

 

[Ryan.lathbury]

From talking to certain people I know that keep these and looking to keep these myself these type of fish need to be kept in decent numbers in a good size tank.I think 27 gallons is on the small size guessing a 27 gallon tank is round 67 litre tank. The one I am ordering is round triple this, but even in a bigger tank in numbers these fish can still be quite aggressive. I think a bigger tank is needed to be invested in but that my option of what I be been told from people I know who have kept these for year, that are given me advice at the moment.

 

[CSnyder00]

Africans are nasty, no matter the species. 29 gallon is no where near large enough unless you are breeding and you know for a fact you have a male and two females. You should have double or triple that for Africans. Kept them. Bred them. No longer have them. Their aggression is unmatched. VERY TERRITORIAL!

 

[SimpleDog]

Africans are nasty, no matter the species. 29 gallon is no where near large enough unless you are breeding and you know for a fact you have a male and two females. You should have double or triple that for Africans. Kept them. Bred them. No longer have them. Their aggression is unmatched. VERY TERRITORIAL!

Completely agree. I had a 75g Malawi tank and even though I have about 20 or so labs, blue zebras and haps, i had an aggressive blue zebra and occasional deaths from violence. Had a lot of rock work and hiding spaces and it still happened. A tank as small as yours would end up in massacre.