Am I Over Stocked?

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littlewolfpaw

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Mar 28, 2010
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Ill be getting a 120 gallon soon and was wondering if Itll be over stocked when my cichlids get big. i dont think it will be but I want to get some other opinions. I will be keeping my Clown Knife in there too who will hopefully hit 18 inches by the end of the year so that will obviously be a problem but lets just concentrate on the cichlids for now.

I have a cobalt blue, electric blue johanni, convict, and two kribensis. Is that to many in the 120 gallon? Iv never had cichlids before so i dont know much about adult sizes. Now if space is an issue I have a twenty gallon long tank that can house a cichlid or two, is that to cramped for even one adult cichlid?
 
I imagine the Cichlids will be fine in a 120. The real question is how happy will an 18" Clown Knife be in the same size tank with them.
 
kc overstocks the 125 alone it has potential for 2.5 feet as for the rest of the cichlids should be fine but why mix africans with convicts should not be a problem but seems odd to me as they have no chance of ever running into each other in the wild this may present a problem in the future keep an eye on them
 
Ya, the mix was a complete accident, so Im hoping for the best. They seem to be doing ok so far as addolecents. The CK is of course the quishton of the day. Hes still very young yet so hes got some growing to do yet.

Is it possible to keep a cichlid in the 20 gallon long or is that to small for an adult cichlid or two so that way i can make space for the CK.
 
I would wonder how long those kribs can live with an 18" clown knife before they become a midnight snack, but the stocking level wouldn't be too high in my opinion.

Naldo
 
The kribs would be happier in the 20 long. The mbuna might kill each other in a tank that small.
I think you have a mix that will not work out forever.
 
you could easily have way more than that...you could have 30+adult sized fish in that large of a tank...especially since the cichlids you have now don't grow much larger than 5-6"....so with more mbuna and even some utaka/haps...you will be just fine...but i would reconsider the knife...i'm not sure how that will work, he could eat your smaller fish, or get shredded by the large number of aggressive mbuna
 
Ok so If I were to seperate I would put the kribs in the twenty gallon. See my hopes are since all the cichlids will have 'grown up' with each other that theyll except one anothers presence, surprisingly its worked out great so far. Iv heard only a few of these cases. If you cant tell Im quite an amateur :( The cichlids should also grow with the CK, theyr all about the same age. Does anyone think that any of these cichlids full grown would fit in the CKs mouth? Im thinking they should be big enough by the time the CK is capable of eating decent size fish, that was my thought process at least.
 
See what happens is the fish are ok until maturity hits then the real aggression begins. Having them grow up together rarely works out. The kribs will be small enough to be eaten by the clown knife. The cobalt will get close to 6 inches and the johanni will end up around 5". The convict will be about the same. I don't know a whole lot about clown knifes but considering how big they get I'm willing to say they will be able to eat the cichlids. Especially the mbuna since they are more long than tall.
 
*sigh* I sold all my Mbunas today, the johanni and cobalt, and I even sold the Convict...It was becoming to much. They were chewing on my Clown Knife and that just wasnt gunna fly. Lesson learned I guess. So now all I have is the CK and an Oscar. I do still have a few other small fish like the kribs, a bristle nose pleco, and two corey cats but I can see them all becoming snacks one day when the oscar and CK get big SO im sure ill either sell them or seperate them...what a mess I have for myself haha
 
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