Yea I see any ways to have more that 4 fish in the tank without "overpopulating" the tank I want my tank to be as alive as possible
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South american cichlid amount in one tank
- Thread starter Wochoa3
- Start date
Yea I see any ways to have more that 4 fish in the tank without "overpopulating" the tank I want my tank to be as alive as possible
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Cover/ sight breaks goes a long way too. Adding target fish can help the tank feel more alive as they provide movement and constant reset buttons to take cichlid focus off each other.
That's what I do. I used to feed my adult fish 2 times a day. I would get algae build up within 2 weeks. I stopped feeding them 2 times a day now to once a day. Huge difference. I do water changes once every 2 weeks. I am running 2 fx5 in a 240 gallon. Water is clean and fish are happy. In my 240 I have 2 tiger oscars(6-7"),3 Geos(2-3"),1 Geo Balzoni(3-4"), 2 Flagtails(4-6"), 1 Jaguar(6"), 6 tinfoil barbs(4-7"). Never had a problem with aggression or diseases. The oscars are the king of the tank and the jag understands that. Been with that setup for about 3-4 months. now. Dithers help with aggression as my Oscars are more focused on my tinfoils.
Nice setup. Definitely over filtered and under stocked (until they grow up), so that explains why once every two weeks works for you. Not sure what species of geos you have, but that balzanii isn't going to grow much more than 4" and will eventually fall prey to either an oscar or the jag.
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Biological filtration changes toxic ammonia and nitrite, into less toxic nitrate.
The important words here are "less toxic", and thinking a filter is the entire answer is not realistic.
A nitrate level of 20ppm and above, puts stress on fish, and though it doesn't directly kill them, or burn gills like ammonia does, it weakens their immune system and creates other problems.
Natural non polluted waters have nitrate levels generally of less the 1ppm, the other cycles (sulpher, carbon etc) along with plants, sunlight, etc beyond the nitrogen cycle are responsible for much of this.
While working as a water chemist it was my job to test Lake Michigan water quality, nitrate only crept above 1ppm during high pollution type events such as snow melts and sewage overflows.
Fresh water fish constantly urinate, adding (as stated above) many other components to the water, that are only removed by water changes.
Water changes also add important minerals to water, for plants etc.
Changing 30% per week, would be akin to letting every kid piss in the pool all week, and swimming in it after changing only 30%.
Your fish might live through it but....
The important words here are "less toxic", and thinking a filter is the entire answer is not realistic.
A nitrate level of 20ppm and above, puts stress on fish, and though it doesn't directly kill them, or burn gills like ammonia does, it weakens their immune system and creates other problems.
Natural non polluted waters have nitrate levels generally of less the 1ppm, the other cycles (sulpher, carbon etc) along with plants, sunlight, etc beyond the nitrogen cycle are responsible for much of this.
While working as a water chemist it was my job to test Lake Michigan water quality, nitrate only crept above 1ppm during high pollution type events such as snow melts and sewage overflows.
Fresh water fish constantly urinate, adding (as stated above) many other components to the water, that are only removed by water changes.
Water changes also add important minerals to water, for plants etc.
Changing 30% per week, would be akin to letting every kid piss in the pool all week, and swimming in it after changing only 30%.
Your fish might live through it but....
Haha your dead on. The jag hates the Balzanii with a passion but there's enough room for him to hide.
But yeah I do 40% water change every 2 weeks and feed those fish once a day or even once every 2 days. The Oscars are the ones that are pigs. Hate it. Thanks for the comment.
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Well don't be surprised one day when it's gone. The balzanii may be fast and evasive today, but one day that jag is going to get lucky and it will be lights out for the gymno.
I had a similar water change schedule with my old 125 when it was stocked with some very small geos, angels and severums. All were no more than 2.5". I think there were only a dozen of them in there at the highest stock level. Only changed 25% every two weeks because the nitrate levels would only be at 10-15ppm at the end of every two weeks. No sense in stressing out the fish with an invasive water change if there wasn't a need for it.
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