cichlids and tank size

Without specifying which type of Cichlid you are referring to..I do tend to agree with the idea of giving Cichlids more room in general.

The 'inches of fish per gallon' rule should be tossed when a person is talking about Cichlids.


Newbies tend to overstock a tank without trying. The adult size of the fish should be considered when stocking and that's not a common event for the novice.

Someone advocating that a person overstock a Cichlid tank to control aggression only compounds the problem. Some Cichlids just don't take well to over crowding and that isn't going to be readily apparent to the newbie.

Newbies also tend not to spend the necessary resources and time on a tank to properly overstock it. I consider the kid that buys the 55g kit at Wal-Mart and then wants to put 20 or 25 "assorted Cichlids" in the tank because they read on the 'net where someone else did it.

"Assorted Cichlids" aren't always Mbuna and it's easy to miss the fact that more needs to be spent on just filtration and regular maintenance..than what Wal-Mart wants for the complete kit.

The quickest way I know to turn someone off on the hobby is to allow them to set-up a tank and then have them dip dead fish out till only one or two are left.


Yes..unless a person is an experienced fish keeper..I am not a fan of overstocking any tank.

I'm also in a minority with that point of view..I expect.

The rule I usually go by is this. Adult miximum size, no more than one inch of fish for 12 sqare inches of "surface area" This should be an absolute minimum for cichlids, and I also recommend doubling up on filtration. Another major factor to consider is tank width and length of fish. If you get ciclids that grow close to or above 12" you don't want them in a 12 inch thick tank, no matter how much water or surface area they have they need to be able to turn around without bumping the tank. agood example would be the tank I getting ready to set up. 115gal 48x18x31 I will put no more than 2 oscars(14"each), 2 dempseys(7" each), 1 firemouth (7" each) I will probably keep a small pleco and a medium cat of some kind. This is borderline on too crowded for anyone without a lot of experience, and a lot of time for maintenance. Obviously there are ways to crowd a tank and make it work but they require more than I wish to do, and are best left to the experienced hobbyist.

Also remember diferences in behaviour. Mbuna and peacocks are not terribly 'rooted' to a particular piece of territory, so in a large tank controlled overcrowding can work. S, C Americans in contrast are often rooted to a particular territorial marker such as a cave, root, tank corner, and don't like anything entering their territory. I have recently seen a suggestion that for large aggressive cichlids you assume they need a territory 8 times their body lengh in diameter to feel comfortable. Therefore for a foot long oscar you'd need an 8 foot tank not to have other fish being intruders. This seems a little excessive, but you get the point. It's not just bioload.

Daveedka's comment about fish size to tank size I think is important, and many of the comments above relate to large cichlids which I haven't kept for over 20 years now.

I use a combination of tank size and volume. For example, I have a 20 long now with 3 bolivian rams, 3 black phantom tetras, an African butterfly fish, and a Chaestoma pleco. They're all younger now (except for the ABF a hang over from a former krib tank who is just too cool to displace for the current South American dwarf set-up). These are all small fish with small body mass, so with heavy filtering and weekly water changes it will keep well when they're all grown up. I like to keep fish that are about a third in length of the width of the tank when the fish are adults (i.e. - Bolivians rams max out at about 3 to 3.5", my tank is 12 inches wide, AFB max out at 4 inches, etc.).

Overall, I think the fish length to tank width ratio (I always go for long tanks so length isn't my big concern) keeps the fish in proportion to their enclosed universe, gives them a decent amount of room, and also looks nice to the outside eye.

Since I keep smaller fish, I also try to keep just below the one inch per gallon rule. If I kept bigger cichlids, I'd still use the fish length/tank width ratio, but I'd dump the one inch per gallon concept and minimally stock the tank.

Just the small cichlid keepers perspective here, and it's only my opinion to boot!

Eric

Hey Banzai, I just wanted to let you know that if someone buys a tank at wally world it can mean more than just being a newbie. I have two such setups and have never lost a fish yet! What it boils down to is price! So what if the filters don't meet your standards. I can upgrade and still be ahead of the game. However, I think filtration is over rated and takes second place to water changes. Wally world tank packages are fine by me!