Question on stocking and Ciclid growth

[sly2kusa]

There was a thread on another board where some bleeding heart was going off about a tank he had observed at a local chain pet store which he said was "overcrowded" and "torturing" the fish.

Forgive my ignorance here (as I am raising natives and not trops or otherwise), but would a 35g tank be too small for 4 or 5 good sized Ciclids? It does sound small to me, but the whole "torture" thing was explained to me as being crule to the Ciclids because it would stunt their growth, and at worse cause them to grow internally and not externally.

Is this all true? I probably would agree that this many would probably be better off in at least a 90g tank, but your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

[rottbo]

depends on what cichlids you have in there... there are some that you could put 10 in a 30 gallon

 

[Chad55]

4-5 medium sized africans would work in a 35 gallon.

Chad

 

[JDM]

just depends on the type of cichlid, the sizes vary widely depending on which fish you want to keep

 

[Ash]

YAh thats true, I mean if you got a bunch or Ram's you could get tons of them in a 30gal or you could do a bunch of smaller african tangs in a 30gal it really depends on what fish it is.

 

[sandtiger]

Like others said, it depends on the species. If it's 4 or 5 oscars than yes, the water quality would drop, they would stunt and than die. It's very cruel. With medium size Africans in the 5-6" range it would be a bit cramped but if you kept up with the qater quality they probably would not stunt. Smaller cichlids like African shelldwellers would do fine in a 35g and you could actually add more than 4 or 5. It's important to remember, tank size WILL NOT stunt a fish, WATER QUALITY will. It's hard to keep up with water quality with overstocked tanks, skimp out just a little bit and your fish are in danger.

 

[ChileRelleno]

Like others said, it depends on the species. If it's 4 or 5 oscars than yes, the water quality would drop, they would stunt and than die. It's very cruel. With medium size Africans in the 5-6" range it would be a bit cramped but if you kept up with the qater quality they probably would not stunt. Smaller cichlids like African shelldwellers would do fine in a 35g and you could actually add more than 4 or 5. It's important to remember, tank size WILL NOT stunt a fish, WATER QUALITY will. It's hard to keep up with water quality with overstocked tanks, skimp out just a little bit and your fish are in danger.

Well said ST! Well said...
And poor water quality is a primary culprit in so many bacterial infections it ain't funny...
Moderate stocking with appropriate filtration makes for happy fish and keepers.

Whazzzup ST, I finally came out of lurker status hereat MFK.