How many cichlids per gallon of water?
- Thread starter Cichlidfever
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Depends what kind of cichlids. Some south american and and new world can be one per tank. Africans you can have several fish and different species in one tank with some hiding places. Need to be a little more specific as far as type of fish goes. Also, the inch per gallon rule should never have been invented IMO. Some people think they can keep a 12" gar and 12 1" guppys in a 30 gallon tank and they would be happy. They is just so much more to keeping fish than counting how many inches total that the kept fish occupy. Just my opinion.
Pertaining to large to medium size Central American/South American Cichlids. I understands that it is a lot of things that one might take into consideration, that is why I mentioned a good rule of thumb... I am just looking for a general idea...
a good rule of thumb is to research each fish and its requirements and "personality", then deicide if you think you want to risk it or not.
also if you plan on getting them as babies and keeping for life, and upgrading tanks throughout the time, thats another factor. No one can really tell you unless you have everything planned out, then people can help tweak. haha just MHO.
This is not directed at you.
also if you plan on getting them as babies and keeping for life, and upgrading tanks throughout the time, thats another factor. No one can really tell you unless you have everything planned out, then people can help tweak. haha just MHO.
This is not directed at you.
The general rule of thumb I use is a minimum of 5 g water per inch of fish. More is always better though, of course. That's bio-load only with 1 50-75% water change per week. If you don't want to change water that often then the 'rule' doesn't count. The biggest problem with SA/CA Cichlids is their territoriality (that's a word, I looked it up lol). Some of the aggressive ones don't care that they have the entire 6' tank-they're not going to allow any other cichlid in there, period.
What I am really trying to figure out, I have all the fish in my signature block together in a 360 tank, and I am thinking about weeding maybe two or three of them out. They all grew up together and living together as cichlids do with a small amount of aggression towards each other, but I am thinking that perhaps, I need to take away a couple to allow more growth and room for them... What do you think? There colors all looks good and they are all healthy fish. I just want to make sure that as they grow they have plenty of room.
That's an awful lot of cichlids even if it's 300 g. The way to good growth (aside from a varied diet) is low nitrates. It'd be awful hard to keep nitrates low once those fish get bigger. Their aggression is nothing now compared to what it'll be when they're more mature. My male Severum, male GT and male Flowerhorn were easy-going when they were little babies. Maturity hit and any one of them would take on a fish 3 times their size. Male horomones ruin the best of em'. Sigh.
When ever you ad new fish, or take some out, you change the dynamic of the hierarchy the fish have set up for themselves. Could turn out fine, or could let all hell break loose as the remainder vie for dominence.
If it's fairly stable now, why mess around.
The amount of fish that can be in a tank has to do with its size, frequency of water changes, filtration (and filter cleaning frequency), and the pecking order the fish have come to know and respect. (I know respect is a bit over the anthropamorphal top, but bet you know what I mean)
If it's fairly stable now, why mess around.
The amount of fish that can be in a tank has to do with its size, frequency of water changes, filtration (and filter cleaning frequency), and the pecking order the fish have come to know and respect. (I know respect is a bit over the anthropamorphal top, but bet you know what I mean)
Check out terd fergusons tank. He has a 358g with I believe more fish in it than you, and he has breeding pairs in it. I mean maybe everyones' experience isnt like that, and he even says that. But if its working....... What gave you these thoughts of changing?Cichlidfever;3187722; said: