Mixed Cichlid Tank Size?

[chriscklam]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and this is my first post. I really like this site because of the large quantity of information it has. Anyways, i have a question and hopefully some of you experianced fishkeepers can answer it. So here goes. I have a 135gal cichlid tank. It is a mix of africans, south american, synodontis catfish and clown loaches. All together i have about 50 fish ranging in size from 3-6in. I have 2 eheim 2217 canister filters along with a magnum canister filter for water polishing. Plenty of hiding places and so on. I was wondering if it is ok to keep that many fish in my tank? Also what other fish are compatible with cichlids other than syno. catfish and loaches. Help would be greatly appreciated. :ok:

[chriscklam]

Can someone Please answer?

[Boilermaker]

Hi chrisckram,
I try to keep my stocking rates on the 135 to 20 or 30 fish. Do you have alot of females? I have noticed this really turns up the aggression.
As far as other fish what comes to mind is congo tetras and rainbows. S.Gypsy would have a better answer to this since she keeps a lot of the other oddball fish.

[stoopid]

Barbs can work as well if they're kept in groups of about 3-6. I was suprised my mollies are doing well. I'd figure they'd get nipped but the larger fish virtually ignore them.

Plecos are safe, and there's plenty of types/designs to choose from. I personally see plecos as a functionality thing, to keep the tank clean. While some look cool, most fancy pleco hide too much and are too sensitive to water conditions to justify their lofty cost.

[SGypsyMermaid]

Originally posted by Boilermaker
Hi chrisckram,
I try to keep my stocking rates on the 135 to 20 or 30 fish. Do you have alot of females? I have noticed this really turns up the aggression.
As far as other fish what comes to mind is congo tetras and rainbows. S.Gypsy would have a better answer to this since she keeps a lot of the other oddball fish.

i keep congo tetras and rainbows, but not with my cichlids...theyre in a planted tank with other tetras, barbs, rasboras, loaches, and algae-eaters(no plecos). i can't really make recommendations for this tank because i would advise moving the african cichlids to a different tank. we won't discuss my stocking levels.:D