Sorry But This Old Chest Nut Again

[cli83]

Hi I have a trigon 350l and want to know if I can get away with afew more fish in my tank my lfs shop says definetly but what do you guys think at the moment I have all the fish in my signiture in my tank my plec is aboute 12 inch and all the rest are juvinile apart from the convict and jade eye all get on realy well and have had no upsets as of yet I know my earth eaters are gonna get big and may have to re house them in another tank youre ideas on that as well would be help full,The only outher fish I would like is a pair of angels to fill out the top of the tank a bit as it is fish less and a pair of juwels and maybe some more german rams but would like to know what you all think .much thanx.

 

[nmonks]

Contrary to popular belief, you can't "eyeball" stocking density from lists of species.

For a start, there is ample evidence that water quality, not tank volume, is the critical factor. In your case, since you're keeping geophagine cichlids, you need to keep nitrate below 20 mg/l or eventually these delicate fish will get ill. So, you can TEST your stocking up front by doing a nitrate test. If the nitrate is above 20 mg/l, then you're overstocked (or at least not doing enough water replacement using zero nitrate water, e.g., rainwater or RO water).

There's a good case to keep territorial cichlids overstocked if you're trying to avoid aggression problems. The flip side to that is water quality and oxygenation become difficult factors to control. So I don't normally recommend that approach, especially when you factor in acidification if you have soft/acid water conditions.

In other words, its really complicated, and a lot of it has to come from observation, water chemistry/quality tests, knowledge of the sensitivity (or otherwise) of the species being kept, and whether you're interested in "stamp collecting" fish or actually watching their normal behaviours.

Cheers, Neale

 

[cli83]

Cheers mate not wanting to over stock for any reson there is no aggresion in my tank so that not a problem and it is just for the satisfaction of keeping these cracking little fish and to see theme in a natural as possible enviroment.I wanted a pair of angels just to fill out the top layer of tank as it is prety bare and most my fish are small like the ram's, krib's, and flag's and want as much colour in my tank as i can and luv the chiclids and would just like to finish of with the juwels and at moment with the fish I have my water is as follows PH 7.5, nitrate 0, nitrite 0, gh 14, and kh between 15 and 20. I use the 5 in one test strips when tank was cycling the titrite rose considerably but then settled again. so do you think the angels and juwels would be pushing it as the water is fine and tank doesnt look crowded but when I wrote down how many were in my tank it sounded a lot>
much thanx. chris

 

[nmonks]

What are the "flag cichlids"? Are these flag acara, Laetacara curviceps, or the "true" flag cichlids, Mesonauta spp? If the latter, do be aware that Mesonauta get quite big, certainly at least 15 cm in length and potentially a little more (though captive bred stock tend not to get as large as wild fish).

Most of your fish are pretty easy going, but the Central Americans obviously prefer different water chemistry to the South Americans, and at least some CA cichlids on your list will be very aggressive once mature.

Cheers, Neale

 

[cli83]

Hi and thanx for your reply's the flags are the curviceps but weren't under the acara title as my LFS said that they had changed name that many times
they were as aquidens curviceps are these the same as the acara. And as for the outhers at the moment they have established dominance and terrertory and are all living peacefully but I am aware that this may change the only real concern I have for the future are my geophagus,surinamensis as they are going to be the largest fish when mature and I am well aware that they may need to be seperated due to aggresion and space but all my outhers are only small and have plenty of cover and space so finngers crossed but in life things don't allways go as planned and I am more than willing to seperate at the first sighn of truble and am going to get anouther couple of tanks ready and waiting but I had a comunity tank of chiclids before with nearly same fish as now (had no earth eaters)and they were all fine together and only got rid of set up and fish due to split with ex and had to move out. but thanx verry much all comments have been taken on board and are verry help full.
chris