Thanks guys. I went with 10 Asst. African Cichlids. They are all babies so it should work. Will wait and see. So far so good. They are all eating and getting along.
How many?
- Thread starter TheBigBadWolf76
- Start date
Great! What types of fish? Care to post some pics?
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See I'm crazy n I heavily overstock mine. I have a 75 gallon tank n have 60 african of all 3 lakes n loch, Pleco, and featherfin catfish
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In my tank there allot of hiding places so mild aggression
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I run 4 filter to keep nitrate down. A 405, 2 350magnum and a c4 and weekly water change
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I hope I don't start an argument, and I mean no disrespect, but filtration does not effectively reduce Nitrates. Ammonia and Nitrites, sure, but not Nitrates.
Nitrogen Cycle:
Fish waste and respiration produces Ammonia
Nitrosomonas converts Ammonia to Nitrites
Nitrobacter converts Nitritres to Nitrates
Nitrates is at the end of the cycle
Only partial water changes effectively reduce Nitrates. True that some plants may feed on Nitrates, but not significantly enough to reduce levels in a closed system like an aquarium. Some canister filters and anaerobic filtration systems claim that they reduce Nitrates, but if you do some down-deep investigation you will find that they do not replace or even reduce the frequency of good old PWCs.
This is the reson to consider whether overstocking is the right solution. Admittedly, overstocking can disperse (rather than reduce) aggression, and it can yield a very nice-looking and busy tank, but I would only consider overstocking if there was adequate time to do sufficient water changes (and had a larger tank). Investing in a good quality water test kit is a must when overstocking.
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Nitrogen Cycle:
Fish waste and respiration produces Ammonia
Nitrosomonas converts Ammonia to Nitrites
Nitrobacter converts Nitritres to Nitrates
Nitrates is at the end of the cycle
Only partial water changes effectively reduce Nitrates. True that some plants may feed on Nitrates, but not significantly enough to reduce levels in a closed system like an aquarium. Some canister filters and anaerobic filtration systems claim that they reduce Nitrates, but if you do some down-deep investigation you will find that they do not replace or even reduce the frequency of good old PWCs.
This is the reson to consider whether overstocking is the right solution. Admittedly, overstocking can disperse (rather than reduce) aggression, and it can yield a very nice-looking and busy tank, but I would only consider overstocking if there was adequate time to do sufficient water changes (and had a larger tank). Investing in a good quality water test kit is a must when overstocking.
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Oh water change is a must. Weekly 25-30%. No nitrite or ammonia either. I check it every week. Nitrate does get high because of so much food has to be given but never to high to harm the fish. There even mating all the time so water quality is excellent
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Good point there. Ammonia and Nitrites need to be no more than zero. Nitrates should really get no more than 30 ppm. Rob3rtPhan, you might try NLS Cichlid sometime. It does not disintegrate like flakes do, so it should not raise the Nitrates at all. My water quality increased significantly when I switched to it. Plus it's really the most recommended Cichlid food available.
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