How many african's can be put in a standard 125G tank?
- Thread starter sg1
- Start date
You should NOT go by the 1 inch rule, as it is obsolote these days.
The number of Africans depends on what kind of Africans are you thinking of getting? and what kind of filtration do you have.
Ehaim professional II Cannaster, 6ft of bubble wand, and weekly water changes every week.
This rule has been thrown out for awhile, specifically because of different species requiring different spaces. While you may be able to use the rule as a guideline for neons, you would never want to use the rule for cichlids. They are very territorial and require alot of "space".
To muddy the water, so to speak, sometimes it is helpful to "crowd" the tank, especially with cichlids, to spread out the aggression.
Just realize that a) the cute little guys at the store get bigger (some get a LOT bigger) and b) if you crowd the tank, you've really got to keep up the water and filter maintenance.
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90G African tank, rock and sinker cypress.
Just realize that a) the cute little guys at the store get bigger (some get a LOT bigger) and b) if you crowd the tank, you've really got to keep up the water and filter maintenance.
---------------------------------------------------------
90G African tank, rock and sinker cypress.
basically it depends on firstly whether we are talking about rift lake african cichlids, or e.g. riverine species.
taking the rift lakes, you would generally overstock Mbuna and Aulonocara species from lake malawi, but far less deep water Hapolochromines - these get way bigger. The reason for overstocking the Mbuna and Aulonocara, or Peacock species, is to prevent the fish from claiming territories in the tank; territorial aggression is fierce, particularly between mbuna conspecifics and overstocking to prevent is acceptable and in fact necessary.
Lake Tanganyika is actually another kettle of fish. You would not overstock to the same extent, and in fact generally these fish are less territorially focused, except during breeding. For Tanganyikans the major issue is conspecific aggression.
So, how many - how long is a piece of string really. The 125 is big enough to do something with pretty much any of these groups. You should decide what you want to keep and we can give you a better steer then. It's not just a question of numbers either; there are serious compatability issues. You wouldn't believe how obnoxious one blue fish can be to another
Anyway, just in case your question is related to Mbuna species, you could have a load of 'em in there...ballpark 30 to 40 fish anyway eventually I would suggest. You generally keep these in a ratio of 1 male to 3 or 4 females and keep one group only of similarly coloured fish. There are exceptions e.g. Pseudotropheus Demasoni should be kept with 1 or 2 males to say 8 or 10 females. One of the Mbuna strong points is that the females are generally as attractive as males so lots of colour. The overstocking requires rigorous and unbending tank maintenance by way of water changes - they are seriously intolerant as are all Africans of high Nitrates, any ammonia, any nitrite. You want the tank very overfiltered, and commit to weekly changes minimum of 25 - 30%.
Say Peacocks, similar enough numbers, perhaps slightly fewer, for the same reasons as Mbuna. A bigger tank of peacocks can be strangely more difficult visually than smaller set-ups, as again you keep the same ratio of male to female, avoid keeping similar colourations, but the females are pretty much universally unattractive which makes the tank perhaps less bang full of colour. The alternative is an all male peacock set up which is visually stunning but requires one or max two only of each specimen or the males of each species may kill each other, and again you avoid similar colourations; this can make it hard to fill up a big tank with attractive fish depending on what's available to you. Plus some peacocks will just never gain a good colour if they don't like their environment (mbuna will 99% colour unless there is a genetic or particular environmental problem e.g. water quality).
Different rules for larger haps - see what you like, if any are available to you and get back with some questions. Personally I prefer the smaller rift lake Malawis but that's just me.
Different rules for aquascaping - Mbuna like a whole ton of rockwork stacked all around the tank, while Aulonocara are less flexible and do need provision of more swimming space. The big haps obviously don't want to be jammed in between lots of rocks. This wouldn't be a problem in your tank though - you have the room to aquascape appropriately.
If you havn't kept rift lake cichlids before in your tank I'm going to suggest something Mbuna stocked in like 5 or so of :
Labidochromis Caerulus
Pseudotropheus Acei ( a group each of both kinds, purple and white-fin)
Iodotropheus Sperengae
Pseudotropheus Socolofi or Melanochromis Johanni
An albino species - albino socolofi are beautiful, Pseudotropheus Macropthalmus are nice too.
Labidochromis Hongi
That's a pretty good colour mix, they're all relatively widely available and you don't have any seriously aggressive fish, except perhaps the Johanni and even they should be peaceful in the absence of other blues. You can also add some individual specimens to taste - perhaps a cynotilapia afra or two as you have plenty of room, maybe some Zebra colour morphs. There is some trial and error involved with these fish; they all have individual personalities. Getting those 30 in though would be a superb stocking start point. You could also have some synodontis multipuncatus, even though these are from Tanganyika, if you like catfish....and who doesn't.
Tanganyikans are regarded as a bit more difficult, and its going to depend on what you have available locally - get back to us if you decide to go this road, and tell us what your options are. If you havn't kept rift lake cichlids before I would probably put a word in now against tropheus - they're beautiful, fascinating, cute, but very expensive and have more intricate requirments than your average Mbuna.
You can mix Malawis and Tanganyikans with some success...but its not best practice. In your tank you definitely have room to mix Peacocks and Mbuna (maybe take one group of mbuna out of the list above and substitute a group of Peacocks - 3 or 4 males).
Just on the inch per gallon rule - it is particularly discredited in the case of stocking African rift lake tanks.
I am also going to make you aware that I have not personally stocked a tank of that size (125g) with Africans (or any other fish for that matter lol), so anyone who comes on and says they have and that I am talking nonsense should be listened to until proven wrong
Hope that helps.
taking the rift lakes, you would generally overstock Mbuna and Aulonocara species from lake malawi, but far less deep water Hapolochromines - these get way bigger. The reason for overstocking the Mbuna and Aulonocara, or Peacock species, is to prevent the fish from claiming territories in the tank; territorial aggression is fierce, particularly between mbuna conspecifics and overstocking to prevent is acceptable and in fact necessary.
Lake Tanganyika is actually another kettle of fish. You would not overstock to the same extent, and in fact generally these fish are less territorially focused, except during breeding. For Tanganyikans the major issue is conspecific aggression.
So, how many - how long is a piece of string really. The 125 is big enough to do something with pretty much any of these groups. You should decide what you want to keep and we can give you a better steer then. It's not just a question of numbers either; there are serious compatability issues. You wouldn't believe how obnoxious one blue fish can be to another
Anyway, just in case your question is related to Mbuna species, you could have a load of 'em in there...ballpark 30 to 40 fish anyway eventually I would suggest. You generally keep these in a ratio of 1 male to 3 or 4 females and keep one group only of similarly coloured fish. There are exceptions e.g. Pseudotropheus Demasoni should be kept with 1 or 2 males to say 8 or 10 females. One of the Mbuna strong points is that the females are generally as attractive as males so lots of colour. The overstocking requires rigorous and unbending tank maintenance by way of water changes - they are seriously intolerant as are all Africans of high Nitrates, any ammonia, any nitrite. You want the tank very overfiltered, and commit to weekly changes minimum of 25 - 30%.
Say Peacocks, similar enough numbers, perhaps slightly fewer, for the same reasons as Mbuna. A bigger tank of peacocks can be strangely more difficult visually than smaller set-ups, as again you keep the same ratio of male to female, avoid keeping similar colourations, but the females are pretty much universally unattractive which makes the tank perhaps less bang full of colour. The alternative is an all male peacock set up which is visually stunning but requires one or max two only of each specimen or the males of each species may kill each other, and again you avoid similar colourations; this can make it hard to fill up a big tank with attractive fish depending on what's available to you. Plus some peacocks will just never gain a good colour if they don't like their environment (mbuna will 99% colour unless there is a genetic or particular environmental problem e.g. water quality).
Different rules for larger haps - see what you like, if any are available to you and get back with some questions. Personally I prefer the smaller rift lake Malawis but that's just me.
Different rules for aquascaping - Mbuna like a whole ton of rockwork stacked all around the tank, while Aulonocara are less flexible and do need provision of more swimming space. The big haps obviously don't want to be jammed in between lots of rocks. This wouldn't be a problem in your tank though - you have the room to aquascape appropriately.
If you havn't kept rift lake cichlids before in your tank I'm going to suggest something Mbuna stocked in like 5 or so of :
Labidochromis Caerulus
Pseudotropheus Acei ( a group each of both kinds, purple and white-fin)
Iodotropheus Sperengae
Pseudotropheus Socolofi or Melanochromis Johanni
An albino species - albino socolofi are beautiful, Pseudotropheus Macropthalmus are nice too.
Labidochromis Hongi
That's a pretty good colour mix, they're all relatively widely available and you don't have any seriously aggressive fish, except perhaps the Johanni and even they should be peaceful in the absence of other blues. You can also add some individual specimens to taste - perhaps a cynotilapia afra or two as you have plenty of room, maybe some Zebra colour morphs. There is some trial and error involved with these fish; they all have individual personalities. Getting those 30 in though would be a superb stocking start point. You could also have some synodontis multipuncatus, even though these are from Tanganyika, if you like catfish....and who doesn't.
Tanganyikans are regarded as a bit more difficult, and its going to depend on what you have available locally - get back to us if you decide to go this road, and tell us what your options are. If you havn't kept rift lake cichlids before I would probably put a word in now against tropheus - they're beautiful, fascinating, cute, but very expensive and have more intricate requirments than your average Mbuna.
You can mix Malawis and Tanganyikans with some success...but its not best practice. In your tank you definitely have room to mix Peacocks and Mbuna (maybe take one group of mbuna out of the list above and substitute a group of Peacocks - 3 or 4 males).
Just on the inch per gallon rule - it is particularly discredited in the case of stocking African rift lake tanks.
I am also going to make you aware that I have not personally stocked a tank of that size (125g) with Africans (or any other fish for that matter lol), so anyone who comes on and says they have and that I am talking nonsense should be listened to until proven wrong
Hope that helps.
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nice....
agreed about the inch of fish rule being bogus... you can overstock african cichlid tanks to minimize aggression, but if you do something like an oscar, you can't keep very many at all (2-3 at the most) so the species will determine your stocking capacity...
What kind of fish are you looking for?
:iagree: we need to know what you are looking into. and dont follow the inch per gallon rulebasically it depends on firstly whether we are talking about rift lake african cichlids, or e.g. riverine species.
taking the rift lakes, you would generally overstock Mbuna and Aulonocara species from lake malawi, but far less deep water Hapolochromines - these get way bigger. The reason for overstocking the Mbuna and Aulonocara, or Peacock species, is to prevent the fish from claiming territories in the tank; territorial aggression is fierce, particularly between mbuna conspecifics and overstocking to prevent is acceptable and in fact necessary.
Lake Tanganyika is actually another kettle of fish. You would not overstock to the same extent, and in fact generally these fish are less territorially focused, except during breeding. For Tanganyikans the major issue is conspecific aggression.
So, how many - how long is a piece of string really. The 125 is big enough to do something with pretty much any of these groups. You should decide what you want to keep and we can give you a better steer then. It's not just a question of numbers either; there are serious compatability issues. You wouldn't believe how obnoxious one blue fish can be to another
Anyway, just in case your question is related to Mbuna species, you could have a load of 'em in there...ballpark 30 to 40 fish anyway eventually I would suggest. You generally keep these in a ratio of 1 male to 3 or 4 females and keep one group only of similarly coloured fish. There are exceptions e.g. Pseudotropheus Demasoni should be kept with 1 or 2 males to say 8 or 10 females. One of the Mbuna strong points is that the females are generally as attractive as males so lots of colour. The overstocking requires rigorous and unbending tank maintenance by way of water changes - they are seriously intolerant as are all Africans of high Nitrates, any ammonia, any nitrite. You want the tank very overfiltered, and commit to weekly changes minimum of 25 - 30%.
Say Peacocks, similar enough numbers, perhaps slightly fewer, for the same reasons as Mbuna. A bigger tank of peacocks can be strangely more difficult visually than smaller set-ups, as again you keep the same ratio of male to female, avoid keeping similar colourations, but the females are pretty much universally unattractive which makes the tank perhaps less bang full of colour. The alternative is an all male peacock set up which is visually stunning but requires one or max two only of each specimen or the males of each species may kill each other, and again you avoid similar colourations; this can make it hard to fill up a big tank with attractive fish depending on what's available to you. Plus some peacocks will just never gain a good colour if they don't like their environment (mbuna will 99% colour unless there is a genetic or particular environmental problem e.g. water quality).
Different rules for larger haps - see what you like, if any are available to you and get back with some questions. Personally I prefer the smaller rift lake Malawis but that's just me.
Different rules for aquascaping - Mbuna like a whole ton of rockwork stacked all around the tank, while Aulonocara are less flexible and do need provision of more swimming space. The big haps obviously don't want to be jammed in between lots of rocks. This wouldn't be a problem in your tank though - you have the room to aquascape appropriately.
If you havn't kept rift lake cichlids before in your tank I'm going to suggest something Mbuna stocked in like 5 or so of :
Labidochromis Caerulus
Pseudotropheus Acei ( a group each of both kinds, purple and white-fin)
Iodotropheus Sperengae
Pseudotropheus Socolofi or Melanochromis Johanni
An albino species - albino socolofi are beautiful, Pseudotropheus Macropthalmus are nice too.
Labidochromis Hongi
That's a pretty good colour mix, they're all relatively widely available and you don't have any seriously aggressive fish, except perhaps the Johanni and even they should be peaceful in the absence of other blues. You can also add some individual specimens to taste - perhaps a cynotilapia afra or two as you have plenty of room, maybe some Zebra colour morphs. There is some trial and error involved with these fish; they all have individual personalities. Getting those 30 in though would be a superb stocking start point. You could also have some synodontis multipuncatus, even though these are from Tanganyika, if you like catfish....and who doesn't.
Tanganyikans are regarded as a bit more difficult, and its going to depend on what you have available locally - get back to us if you decide to go this road, and tell us what your options are. If you havn't kept rift lake cichlids before I would probably put a word in now against tropheus - they're beautiful, fascinating, cute, but very expensive and have more intricate requirments than your average Mbuna.
You can mix Malawis and Tanganyikans with some success...but its not best practice. In your tank you definitely have room to mix Peacocks and Mbuna (maybe take one group of mbuna out of the list above and substitute a group of Peacocks - 3 or 4 males).
Just on the inch per gallon rule - it is particularly discredited in the case of stocking African rift lake tanks.
I am also going to make you aware that I have not personally stocked a tank of that size (125g) with Africans (or any other fish for that matter lol), so anyone who comes on and says they have and that I am talking nonsense should be listened to until proven wrong
Hope that helps.