Population Density

[Mbuniac]

I have been told that African tanks should be fairly crowded so that particularly aggressive fish won't single out any one fish to pick on. Is that correct? My son has all different sorts and sizes of africans from many different areas and I find his tank more than a little chaotic.
Thanks, Sam

[CichlidPete]

Generally Yes. Just keep in mind that you need to overfilter if you overpopulate.

African tanks are like a bunch of hyperactive two year olds on speed :)

Pete

[Woot]

It depends partially on the size of the tank, if its a 55+ gallon setup then you can crowd it abit. I keep my 55 gallon stocked at 18-20 Mbuna in there. It has fairly aggressive Maylandia Lombardoi males in there so I keep it stocked fairly crowded. My 30 gallons I keep stocked at 7 Mbuna but right now it also has 8 more young Lombardoi too. The 30 gallon is stocked with less aggressive Labidochomis types and the Lombardoi aren't big enough to be too bad yet. By the way, the more you crowd it the more caves and rocks you're going to need for hiding spots. More frequent water changes will probably be needed as well. Just because these numbers are working for me doesn't mean that they will work out the same for you, but I hope it helps :wink:

[Mbuniac]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.
Sam