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dealing with overstocking
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2025 10:18 pm
by southly
I just had to get rid of one of my red zebras, he went nuts and killed half my fish. So I'm overstocking now. I've added a yellow lab, two kenyis, two afras, a birchardi, two jewels, and one of those black ones with white dots - you know, the ones I always forget the name of. I've also got an icy blue zebra in a breeding net, he was being too aggressive. All these fish are about 2 inches, by the way. My tank's a 46 bowfront with a fluval 306 and aragonite sand for pH.
I've got a few questions: Should I add even more fish to really overstock? Should I get rid of that other zebra too? Anything else I can do to keep the aggression down? For now, they're all getting along pretty well, just the occasional short chase.
Re: dealing with overstocking
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2025 12:16 am
by nerdy_9
I'm not a fan of mixing Jewels with Malawis, to be honest. What's your male to female ratio looking like, and what kind of filtration setup do you have going on?
Re: dealing with overstocking
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2025 1:05 am
by southly
Jewels with malawis, still a bit of a concern for me. What's the male to female ratio looking like in your tank? You mentioned a fluval 306, that's a good start. Weekly 10g water changes, might not be enough, have you considered upping that to 15g or more?
Re: dealing with overstocking
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2025 2:41 am
by flinta
You're mixing some pretty feisty fish in there, I'm not sure that's a good idea. If you're talking about the Tanganyikan brichardi, I'd advise against keeping it with the others. Kenyis can also get pretty aggressive, so that's another thing to consider. How's the rockwork in your tank, is there plenty of hiding spots for them?
Re: dealing with overstocking
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:14 am
by southly
I've got a pretty large fake rock setup that covers a good chunk of the tank, and a few cichlid stones that are hollowed out, so the fish can hide in them.
Re: dealing with overstocking
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:34 am
by nerdy_9
southly wrote: ↑Wed Jul 02, 2025 10:18 pm
I just had to get rid of one of my red zebras, he went nuts and killed half my fish. So I'm overstocking now. I've added a yellow lab, two kenyis, two afras, a birchardi, two jewels, and one of those black ones with white dots - you know, the ones I always forget the name of. I've also got an icy blue zebra in a breeding net, he was being too aggressive. All these fish are about 2 inches, by the way. My tank's a 46 bowfront with a fluval 306 and aragonite sand for pH.
I've got a few questions: Should I add even more fish to really overstock? Should I get rid of that other zebra too? Anything else I can do to keep the aggression down? For now, they're all getting along pretty well, just the occasional short chase.
Jewels and malawis, not a good mix. What's your male to female ratio looking like? And what kind of filtration are you running?