Over or UnderStocked 75 gallon tank

by **JT_Cichlid** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 11:21 pm

I was wondering how other people will stock there tanks in this case a 75 gallon.
Currently I have
1 kenyi
1 Cobalt Blue
1 Jewel Fish
1 Electric Midnight Blue Peacock
1 Orange Blossom Pecock
2 Yellow Lab
2 Red Zebras

Would this be under or overstocking the tank?

I have in mind buying a acei, a red shoulder peacock, a albino zebra, a jalo reef, a venestus hab, and a ob peacock.

What do you guys think?

by **seankh** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:18 am

i have 12 in my 55 gallon

by **bluestarmickey** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:23 am

I also have 12 in my 55 gallon tank

by **jweb1369** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:58 am

I have 8 in my 30. haha

by **rcgman35055364** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:01 am

na youre fine, you can add alot more if you want, as long as there are plenty of hiding spots. one of my friends who is a reputable fish store owner has a 90 gallon tank with no less than 100 african cichlids in it and the water quality is superb and the fish are healthy as can be!

yo not going to overstock a cichlid tank unless the fish have absolutely no room to swim haha

by **JT_Cichlid** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:40 am

thanks to all u guys i appreciate it
well u guys should check out my tank then tell me
all opinions and suggestions are welcome

by **miami754** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:07 am

Labs and zebras do not form breeding pairs. The males mate with a group of females. That is why you need more than one female per male (to spread the chasing and aggression around). The males will eventually kill the females if you have them in a 1:1 ratio. You need to either stick to one fish per species or get a 3 to 4 females per 1 male ratio. If you do not, your females are doomed (or subdominant males if that is what you have). It is never a good idea to have only two fish of any particular mbuna species.

Also, do not put any more peacocks in there. They will be toast as well. How big are your mbunas? They may not be showing their full aggression because they are not full grown yet.

Anyway, just some words of caution from someone who has been there. I love cichlids and they are amazing, but if you do not plan right, you will be sad in the end.

Good luck.

by **JT_Cichlid** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:36 pm

oh man i know i heard all these things about not mixing peacocks with mbunas but that has never happened to me i had the peacocks before the mbunas

by **miami754** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:47 pm

You can try it out, but I wouldn't hold my breathe. They may be fine for a while depending on the size of the mbunas, but not in the end. If I were you, I would do the following.

(1) Get the peacocks a separate tank or take them back to the store.

(2) Add a couple of more mbuna species to your 75 gallon tank (acei, for example) and then build up some groups (for example, add some more females of the red zebras and yellow labs) and add a group of the acei. I like this anyways and it is what I do in my cichlid tank (have some species only have one individual and other species have groups). You really get to see their group dynamics which is one of the things that make cichlids so cool. Without 4-5 of a certain species, you are missing out on a great deal of their behavior.

Just my suggestion. If you decide to keep your current setup, then keep an eye on the peacocks to see if they get any damage. Also, I just used acei as an example (they are the closest thing to a schooling cichlid you will get so it is a good contrast to the other species), but their are a ton of mbuna species of similar aggression levels to choose from.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Over or UnderStocked 75 gallon tank

9 posts