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r/Cichlid•
strobexp

Question about Overstocking Africans - is this something you do all at once? Or is it better do increase stock gradually?

Afr | Help

I currently have 7 Africans (mainly Zebras and Johannis) in a 75 gallon tank - things are well enough, though they do seem to be getting more aggressive with each other.

I recently read on this forum that I should consider overstocking to lower aggression levels. If I were to do this, do you suggest dramatically increasing the numbers all at once? Or is it better to add stock more gradually? I don't want to shock the system..

Secondary question: about how many would you recommend in a 75 gallon tank - expected to stick w mbuna / peacock - 20? 30?

Posted Jul 26, 2021, 2:40 AM UTC · edited

27
Dhamma2019•

I added 4-6 at a time to my Malawi tank. I’m now at 16 in a 90 gallon.

At 13-14 fish I noticed the tank aggression being more evenly distributed.

How many you add depends on budget, how you manage the jump in bioload & availability of fish you want.

Depends on how you cycled your tank also.

Fish are expensive & hard to get in Australia right now & adding all at once would have been difficult without compromising what I wanted.

3
[deleted]•

Ok, so I am no expert at all. In fact, I’m at the beginner level if anything. I have noticed that having more at once definitely reduced the aggression. I had one cichlid that my husband was literally going to kill, then we got a bigger tank and many more cichlids and now he is so tame that I can’t even believe he thought about killing it.

2
strobexpOP•

How dramatically did you increase your numbers? All at once?

1
[deleted]•

It was very dramatic. It was an additional 6 and a HUGE pleco. My super aggressive one went from aggressive to docile in about an hour.

We also switched from a 65 gal to a 90 gal today.

2
Hannibal_the_dentist•

I've kept mbunas for ages with the occasional peacock, for a 75 gallon tank, you really want to start out with 12-16 fish depending on whether you're going to have more mbunas or peacocks. And over the next year you should keep adding fish and weeding out females and the occasional rogue male until you have between 20 to 30 fish. Whenever you remove a fish, be ready to add at least 3 more fish. You can't really strategically plan this out, you just have to keep these basic guidelines and wing it.

Or you can take the easy route and fill the tank with 20 confirmed males from day one.

2
BankSharp2687•

I don’t keep Africans anymore but kept them for years tooo much maintenance for me so SA only but overstocking is always the way to go in my opinion if it’s not really a species only tank even then I would still over stock Africans because they are relentlessly mean and even when overstocking that might not stop the dominant fish from hating one fish in particular so my route would be to super over filter and continue adding fish until you find harmony best of luck

2
diamondhands_dev•

I have SAs currently geos and honestly I had 2 at first and they were super aggressive to each other and I added a few more and finishing the school at 7. In my opinion and this is with any cichlid, I definitely recommend overstocking even if it’s slightly just so the fish don’t target the weaker one.

2