Stocking a 150 Gallon

[gordo]

I have heard many things about stocking a tank. Like the 1" per gallon rule. I have also heard that if you have ample enough filtration and hiding spots that you can go over that limit with ease. I have 44 fish currently in my 150 Gallon. About 1/3 of them are full grown. The ones that aren't full grown vary from 3" to 4.5". It doesn't seem to crowded but it is over the limit. They are mostly Cichlids from Lake Malawi. With a few Africans in the mix. I have about 15 more fish to add in about 6 months or so. They are still juveniles so i want to grow them up a bit first. And i heard Lake Malawi's do better in larger groups. It reduces their aggression. There are a few fish i have in mind that i would like to sell to reduce the count if need be. I want to get other peoples opinion on what they think is the "true" rule about the amount of fish to stock a tank with.

[rED O]

in inch per gallon is a rule of thumb that dose not always apply. you can not stick a silver arowana in a 33 gallon tank. But for malawi africans they will do fine heavy stocked. The more mbuna the less aggression there will be. My 90 gallon had 30 mbunas in it. In a 150 gallon you will be fine.

[gordo]

in inch per gallon is a rule of thumb that dose not always apply. you can not stick a silver arowana in a 33 gallon tank. But for malawi africans they will do fine heavy stocked. The more mbuna the less aggression there will be. My 90 gallon had 30 mbunas in it. In a 150 gallon you will be fine.

Will it decrease breeding though?

[rED O]

in inch per gallon is a rule of thumb that dose not always apply. you can not stick a silver arowana in a 33 gallon tank. But for malawi africans they will do fine heavy stocked. The more mbuna the less aggression there will be. My 90 gallon had 30 mbunas in it. In a 150 gallon you will be fine.

Will it decrease breeding though?

I am not sure what your asking? if you have caves for them to dig and places to lay there eggs they will still breed.

[gordo]

in inch per gallon is a rule of thumb that dose not always apply. you can not stick a silver arowana in a 33 gallon tank. But for malawi africans they will do fine heavy stocked. The more mbuna the less aggression there will be. My 90 gallon had 30 mbunas in it. In a 150 gallon you will be fine.

Will it decrease breeding though?

I am not sure what your asking? if you have caves for them to dig and places to lay there eggs they will still breed.

What i'm saying is... will the breeder fish be to stressed by the amount of fellow fish in the tank to breed?

[rED O]

in inch per gallon is a rule of thumb that dose not always apply. you can not stick a silver arowana in a 33 gallon tank. But for malawi africans they will do fine heavy stocked. The more mbuna the less aggression there will be. My 90 gallon had 30 mbunas in it. In a 150 gallon you will be fine.

Will it decrease breeding though?

I am not sure what your asking? if you have caves for them to dig and places to lay there eggs they will still breed.

What i'm saying is... will the breeder fish be to stressed by the amount of fellow fish in the tank to breed?

the fish you got from me might not breed for a bit because they are stressed from the move. if you give them time and places to lay eggs they will breed for you.

[Boom]

sgordon, to get even a half decent answer to your question, you need to be far more specific on what type of fish you have and what type you wnat to breed. There are 800 different species of fish in lake Malawi. You said:

They are mostly Cichlids from Lake Malawi. With a few Africans in the mix. I have about 15 more fish to add in about 6 months or so.

Well lake Malawi is in Africa so that makes no sense. What fish are you wanting to add?

I will have close to 50 fish in my 180 gallon right off the hop, and will likely add / exchange a few more.

Maybe redO knows something that you havn't stated but you need to supply some more info. Typically, breeding fish will become very aggresive towards others and can cause damage. Yes, many africans do fine in a heavily stocked tank (mbuna esp.), but if you want to breed fish, a overstocked community tank is not the best set up. That's why I do all males!

Boom :boom:

[Vallisneria]

If you are planning on breeding them you need to be very careful in what species you mix together. Hybridization is very high with africans. If you post a list of all the species you keep and their numbers that would help.

[Fishful Thinking]

Africans allow you to overstock. If you want to breed, I would stick to that species. With a ton of different fish, especially ones that look similar, you risk interbreeding and a lot of interruptions of the breeding act.

I have something like 30 fish in my 150 rift lake tank and they do fine, and keep in mind that some of them are 6"+ range. With the Malawi's you have to be ready to remove a fish that is going to town on one of the others or remove fish that are too weak in temperament to survive.

Good luck with the mix!

[gordo]

sgordon, to get even a half decent answer to your question, you need to be far more specific on what type of fish you have and what type you wnat to breed. There are 800 different species of fish in lake Malawi. You said:

They are mostly Cichlids from Lake Malawi. With a few Africans in the mix. I have about 15 more fish to add in about 6 months or so.

Well lake Malawi is in Africa so that makes no sense. What fish are you wanting to add?

I will have close to 50 fish in my 180 gallon right off the hop, and will likely add / exchange a few more.

Maybe redO knows something that you havn't stated but you need to supply some more info. Typically, breeding fish will become very aggresive towards others and can cause damage. Yes, many africans do fine in a heavily stocked tank (mbuna esp.), but if you want to breed fish, a overstocked community tank is not the best set up. That's why I do all males!

Boom :boom:

They are mostly all from Lake Malawi except the convicts i believe are from CA. Here is a list of all the fish i currently have in the tank.

1 albino peacock 5-6 inchs

1 sunshine peacock 5 inchs

1 large male yellow lab 5-6 inchs

1 large yellow tail acei 6 inchs

7 yellow tail acei 3 inchs

1 large male red zebra 5 inchs

1 f1 mosobo 3 inchs

1 large Pseudotropheus elongatus 5-6 inchs

1 large female Pseudotropheus elongatus 5 inchs

2 cobalt blue zebras 3-4 inchs

1 large male red zebra 5-6 inchs

5 yellow labs 2-4 inchs

7 large red zebras 3-5 inchs

2 small red zebras 1-2 inchs

1 small red empress ( unsexed) 1-2 inchs

5 convicts 3-4.5 inch

1 f1 electric blue

1 male jewel

1 female jewel

2 unknown

The fish i will be adding in a few months will be

2 buffalo heads

2 lemon jakes

2 ruby reds

3 lwandas

i decided i'm not going to add more electric yellows or convicts so only 9 more will be added. I'm willing to sell off a few zebras and acei. i will keep in mind the fact of Hybridization and i will monitor them closely to see which ones are more temperament than others. i guess my main question was will all of these fish be fine together in a 150. or should i thin some of them out to avoid problems in the future. ie. diseases from stress.

[dghofer]

I had problems with my jewels. I had a female an a male and they killed off the rest of the fish when they were spawning.

[Boom]

I think you'd be fine. However, having said that, you may have problems with agression from breeding fish. I have that many (maybe more?) fish in my 180 as of last night. But they are ALL MALES so I have no breeding to worry about. We'll see how it goes for me.

If I was you, I'd ditch the convicts and the jewels as they will likely be the ones to cause the most problems when breeding anyway. That and they are your only non-Malawi fish.

What do have for filtration? Overstocking with Malawi's is good, but your filtration needs to keep up with it.

Boom :boom:

Edited December 3, 2008 by Boom

[gordo]

I'm running a Rena XP4 right now. Shes good for up to 175 Gallons. Defiantly not enough for the amount of fish i currently have in there though. I 'm keeping up with the water changes every week. I will be getting an additional used Fluval 404 in about 2 weeks or so. Money is kind of tight right now otherwise i would get it right away. I'm keeping a close eye on my Nitrates at least until i get the other filter. I probably will eventually put a sump in for it but we'll see when that day comes.

What do you got for filtration in your 180?

[Boom]

I have a 33 gallon sump. And will likely add a bit more.

You can read about my set-up, including my opinions on filtration, HERE.

I'm running a Rena XP4 right now. Shes good for up to 175 Gallons.

No, actually it's not.

Definitely don't add more fish till you at least have that fluval 404, I would advise.

Best of luck with your decision!

Boom :boom:

[soliver]

The Rena XP3 is good for up to 175 Gallons

The Rena XP4 is good for up to 260 Gallons