Overstocked?

[Slevin]

I have a 55-gallon tank with 2 JDs and 4 convict cichlids. Is this overstocked? I do weekly 30% water changes.

[ddot]

my jd is around 8-9". Two takes up alot of space, but if the fish are happy and you stay on top of water changes it should work. Watch out though, dempseys will breed with those convicts if given the chance. Then you are talking 100's

[TML29]

Your tank is probably overstocked. Whenever your convicts start breeding (provided that you have both females and males) then there will be some fighting for sure. Not too sure which one will win the battles since both JDs and convicts are agreesive and territorial.

[Slevin]

Actually there is very little aggression. The breeding pair does chase the other fish away from their territory but nothing serious. The only problem I really have are with the jack dempseys. The larger male chases the female a lot but it is getting better.:)

[bluekrissyspike]

doesn't sound overstocked to me...they say an inch of fish per gallon

[rmcder]

Not for cichlids!!!

[craglord]

The main issues here are obviously the aggression between fish and and the waste produced, ie the water quality. You say you do 30% a week, what are your params for ammonia nitrITE and nitrATE? If these are at acceptable levels and agression is minimal, I would say, no your tank is not overstocked, if you can keep up with ensuring the water quality is good.

[Slevin]

right now all my params are fine but my fish are still pretty small. I think I might get rid of on of the JDs.

[musho3210]

may you define fine please? Exact measures help us a lot

[Slevin]

sorry. ammonia and nirite are at zero. I'm not sure what my nitrate is at though because I dont have a test kit right now. These readings were taken right before I did my weekly tank cleaning.

[kjr928]

Is there any sort of 'rule of thumb' for stocking cichlids? I am thinking of eventually starting a cichlid tank and I really have no idea how to know how much is too much.

[danzig]

Its not overstocked given excellent filtration and a strict pwc schedule.
The only problems that may arise would be aggression/territorial.
Keeping your water params excellent shouldnt be a problem but keeping the fins from flying may be.

[danzig]

Is there any sort of 'rule of thumb' for stocking cichlids? I am thinking of eventually starting a cichlid tank and I really have no idea how to know how much is too much.

There is no set rule of thumb, your best bet is to look for stocking suggestions/advice from veteran cichlid keepers. Everyone will have their own personal opinions but majority will lead you the right way.
Also try researching each fish you want to keep.

[jm1212]

as soon as aggression starts appearing, your tank will be overstocked. how big are all of them now?

[craglord]

Probably good move loosing one of the JD's. It makes your life easier with the water changes. Really should get a nitrate testing kit though. Thats the one you have to watch, as long as your filtration is good enough you ammonia and nitrITE will be at 0, like yours and even if you dont do many PWC's. But nitrate is the problem in the long run. I like to keep it down below 25ppm, just to reduce the risk of getting things like HITH. The only really efficient way to reduce your nitrATES is pwc. Remember if you do 30% a week, it takes your nitrATE level down that much also. SO you may think about doing a larger one every so often to complement your current regime. Your tank may have low nitrATES, and if this is the case keep on with the regime. Get a nitrATE tester and test regularly.

[Slevin]

Ok, thanks craglord. All of my convicts are about 2 inches and my two JDs are three and four inches. Someone told me that this is when JDs are the most territorial but not sure if this is true because they really haven't been that aggressive.

[craglord]

All cichlids are most aggressive when spawning, but yes as juveniles they can be aggressive. You have to be prepared that there may be quite a lot of territorial issues when/if they get spawning!

I have found that putting many landmarks/territory markers like stones etc can be of some help when reducing aggression. In my experience the cichlids like to stick around their own rocks more. If you put quite a few of these territorial markers in, it may reduce the size of each territory, and maybe less aggression will occur. I can't be sure this will work for you, as I'm sure you know every fish has its own personality!!! I

[jgavlock]

I would either stick with just the JD's or one of the JD's and two of the convicts.

[Slevin]

I just put the smallest convict in another 55-gallon that has 3 firemouths and another convict. The breeding pair of convicts aren't even bothering the other fish in my tank and the two JDs are getting along fine. So right now in my tank I have almost zero aggression besides some territorial squabbles.:)
I do have lots of rocks in the tank and rearrange them every time I clean. This helps keep the aggression down I think.

[rmcder]

I do have lots of rocks in the tank and rearrange them every time I clean. This helps keep the aggression down I think.
I would expect just the opposite, as they are going to be continually jockying for territory, but if it's working out, then it's hard to argue with success.

[Slevin]

lol, right after I put the post up about my tank having about zero aggression in my tank I went and looked at it and found that my female con from the breeding pair ate all of her eggs and was getting bullied around by the other female in the tank and her ex-breeding partner. She used to be the dominant female in the tank but the other out grew her when she was protecting her eggs.

[Weezer]

Iam not a beliver in getting alot of small fish to start then giveing them away when they get bigger..Yes a setup may tend to look empty for awhile but all will be alot happier and grow faster from lask of stress..From what ive read and IMO......:)

[Slevin]

Yeah but heres the story of my tank. I was just gonna have two JDs in it but when I got them one of them grew way faster than the other and started bullying the smaller one constantly. The poor little guy (or girl) had to spend all day and night in a corner near the top of the tank cowering from the larger,dominant JD. To disperse the larger JDs aggression I got three female convicts as target fish. This worked, the smaller JD still got chased around but not nearly as much and it didn't have to cower in a corner all day. After a while I decided to breed the cons figuring that all the babies would get eaten. After I added the Male I started to worry that my tank was overstocked and I started this thread. As you have probably read I got rid of one of my female cons and my tank was almost aggression free :). But as you have probably read aggression has shown its ugly face in my tank once again:sad:.

[Weezer]

Yep..some fish are more or could be less aggressive than there profiles suggest..our electric blue should be agg,but is the most peaecfull fish.{at this time} we have..Time will tell....:)

[mee-mee]

Is there any sort of 'rule of thumb' for stocking cichlids? I am thinking of eventually starting a cichlid tank and I really have no idea how to know how much is too much.Actually there is kind of a 'rule of thumb' for stocking cichlids. New World or South American cichlids are not compatible with African cichlids. PH ranges are wayyyy different. The majority of New World cichlids only goes as high 7.0 in the pH range. And african cichlids are only good with african cichlids. All the research I have done, they all say the same thing. No New World with African. the atmospheres are completely different, south american rain forest africa dry and arid totally different water climates

[Slevin]

Just removed another female convict so now its just 2 JDs and a breeding pair of cons.

[TBergy]

You might want to watch out if the JD's pair up, when mine did, they went from peaceful and hiding all the time to killing everything else in the tank including a picus cat and a pleco, now they are in the 55 alone, the survivors were moved to a different tank.

Travis

[Slevin]

Yeah, I think i might have seen some breeding behavior so i've been watchin em pretty close.

[Slevin]

Good news, the two cons paired up again and since I removed the other female convict harmony has returned to my tank.:)