# Am i overstocked??



## Chevyman (Oct 27, 2011)

I have a 35 gallon hex. i currently have
1 livingstoni
1 kennyi
1 blue acara
1 honduran red point
1 yellow lab

My question is, should i be concerned about these guys starting to get aggressive? i am a huge newb in the fish world and went very crazy with my first tank so im having big regrets right now. Should i be looking for a bigger tank? please help


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## LegitFish (Nov 27, 2011)

Just try to keep it to about one inch of fish per gallon of water, you should be ok.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

It's a tough mix. One thing that I have found is that geography matters with cichlids. It's been a long time since the Americas and Africa drifted apart, and that's the last time the common ancestors of your cichlids met. And cichlids have languages - body and colour change languages - that are different in Africa and the Americas. Territoriality etc are expressed differently as a result of millions of years of evolution.
In a nutshell, your American cichlids are rough, but your East African cichlids are WAY rougher. They may not be able to sort out differences because they communicate badly. The acara stands to be killed first, then the red point.
If the kennyi is male, it'll rule, although I never kept livingstonii to know for sure.
So I'd say you aren't technically overstocked, although you are close. You are badly stocked for long term peace. I was never able to keep any South American or Central American cichlid with East African lakes cichlids for any long term. I was able to mix West African river cichlids with American cichlids, but that's a different story altogether. 
You have the makings of two cichlid tanks there...


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

I agree with navigator, you have cichlids from two parts of the world, and that may not work out. I disagree with the one inch per gallon rule as it is highly subjective and does not account for differences in the fish, as in one 4 inch fish may be very rotund, while another may be very slender


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## Chevyman (Oct 27, 2011)

Thats kind of what i was afraid of. i rushed into getting fish and didnt do proper research before i got fish. what should i do? get rid of some fish? or get a bigger tank to give them a bigger territory?


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

Cichlids get very agressive and territorial when they get older. Young Cichlids may get along fine but older ones can fight like hell. If any of your fish decide to mate, they may consider the entire tank theirs and harass your other fish to no end. In my opinion it's best not to mix Cichlids but have one species only. Congo Tetras and Rainbows usually get along fine with Cichlids, they are fast and large. Most of the larger Catfish should also be fine.


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## RonB (Nov 7, 2011)

Why don't you do 5 or 6 of one species. Preferably 1male and the rest females. I would go with the yellow labs or kenyi's.


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