# Just curious ...



## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

As I sat in the lobby of a local hospital today, I was fascinated by a chiclid tank they had on display there. It was quite a large tank, 70-100g is my guess, with lots of rocks, a few fake plants, normal natural gravel substrate and a variety of different colored fish, some very large ... all in all nice looking. 

What struck me though is the amount of fish that were crammed in there. I've counted around 20+ varying in size from about 2 inches (only a few) to mostly 4-8 inches. I'm not into chiclids, I'm only guessing they were mostly Mbuna. The majority looked like "bumblebees" (black/yellow striped), a few larger ones were almost all black, a couple white ones, one yellow, some pale grey-blue w/yellow fins, a black-white marble looking pair, and one royal blue/black oddball (he looked a tad different from the rest, smaller but with a wider mouth, not quite the same body shape). Some of the larger ones were quite agressive, chasing the smaller versions into the rocks to hide. Fun to watch, but ... it just seemed overstocked. Or is it? Like I said, I'm just curious ...


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

I read somewhere that it is better to overstock/crowd cichlids as they wont be so territorial


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Your right Lexus.  
Malawis aggression is reduced by moderate stocking to prevent a particular fish from being bullied. (Note: if you do this with bettas you will probably end up with a war :lol: )


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

Thanks all! So what's a good stocking ratio? And how do you sex them, btw? Had my nose almost in the tank, still couldn't figure out which was which. Bettas are so much easier at least in that regard.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

Sexing couldn't be any easier when comes to Africans, males are the beauty's and females dull grayish color usually (in peacocks/haps anyway). Best to have overstocked then understocked as then go have some floaters then...

But doesnt sound overstocked too bad, usually show tanks have that many males to show.


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