Overstocking

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
My other 125 gallon tank has x1 texas, x1 pink convict, x1 salvini, x1 cuban, and a synodotis cat. I was planning on putting my red devil in this 125 as it is a more aggressive setup and most of the other fish in there won't get to big aside from the Texas. Any thoughts on this? I do have an empty tank as well if needed.
 
Well, to be honest I don't think the second tank stock list will work long term either, especially if the red devil is a male. Maybe you will have some luck, but my prediction will be conflict between the texas, cuban, and RD once the fish are mature.
If you often find you are very busy and can't do water changes regularly, overstocking is probably going to be a disaster in that situation. If you had to go a month without water changes when the fish are adults, they are going to start having health problems, particularly the Oscar which will develop Hole in the head disease/HLLE. They really need very clean water, and an overstocked tank with weak maintenance schedule is a recipe for a sick fish.
Your best bet would be to sell off about half of your fish to be honest, both setups will not be sustainable long term. For a while you will be OK but not for a permanent situation.
 
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Gourami Swami said:
Well, to be honest I don't think the second tank stock list will work long term either, especially if the red devil is a male. Maybe you will have some luck, but my prediction will be conflict between the texas, cuban, and RD once the fish are mature.
If you often find you are very busy and can't do water changes regularly, overstocking is probably going to be a disaster in that situation. If you had to go a month without water changes when the fish are adults, they are going to start having health problems, particularly the Oscar which will develop Hole in the head disease/HLLE. They really need very clean water, and an overstocked tank with weak maintenance schedule is a recipe for a sick fish.
Your best bet would be to sell off about half of your fish to be honest, both setups will not be sustainable long term. For a while you will be OK but not for a permanent situation.
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Agree with the above.
Beside the very relevant info above from Gourami Swami
Almost all cichlids (all yours included) are extremely territorial, and the larger they get, the more territory each one will need for itself.
In nature any one of those cichlids would use a territory of about 250 gallons or more, each.
 
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Ok thanks. My rd and Texas were together in the old tank and did pretty well. Texas got moved to the new tank and is doing great right now. My cuban cichlid is pretty fiesty but is much smaller than my texas and rd as of right now. Im pretty sure its a female. Im usually on top of water changes and maintenance but had a small study abroad trip for college and wasnt home. I had someone feed the tank and check on it but no one to clean it. That was a one time thing though so im not too worried about maintenance. I would just need to keep an eye on the aggression when i move my rd over and as the cuban and texas get bigger. Thanks alot for the good info
 
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Yea it defiantly is. Hopefully it works out but we will see what happens in that tank once the rd is introduced. He seems to be relatively calm for a rd. He is aggressive but not to the point where he is injuring other fish. He usually just chases ocasionally to show he is most dominant. We will see if he works out or not in the near future ?
 
You can always overstock as far as the bio load is concerned, if your willing to put in the extra work in water changes. The problem in keeping all these different species together in a confined space, is the changing attitudes and personalities of each individual fish as they grow. What might be fine for a while may change at any given time, and it always seems to me that one fish ends up being the punching bag for the rest. If you take that fish out of the tank the next 'weakest' fish in line then becomes the new victim. Other than my community tank with Angel's, tetras, and rainbow cichlids, I have really gotten away from multi species tanks. Preferring to keep bonded breeding pairs of individual cichlid species that can live together without the endless battles over pecking order.
 
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Yea that is a valid point. The tank may end up getting changed at some point but hopefully it works out. Thanks again
 
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