# how many species in 150 gallon tank



## cichlidman_404 (Aug 8, 2014)

hello, CF members

im fairly new to the hobby of keeping African cichlids and just got a 150 gallon tank I wound like to know how many I can put in there? most of my stock is dwarf mbunas that get no bigger than 4inches. my guess was about 50 fish but any other insight or info would be helpful also thanks a lot....


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

What are the dimensions of the tank?


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## clhinds78 (Jul 27, 2012)

Some say one mbuna per two gallons. I think that is a bit much, especially if you have a lot of males. I think 50 is a good number. I'd just watch out for aggression and remove excess males if needed. With plenty of rocks and females you should be ok tho.


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## cichlidman_404 (Aug 8, 2014)

the dimensions are 72-1/2''L 18-1/2''W 29-1/2''H


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## scooter31707 (Aug 24, 2012)

you probably can get away with 6 species in that tank. You can do 6-7 of each species, that will give you around 40 fish, then a group of 5 Syno cats. I have 6 species, totaling to 36 fish in my 6ft 125 gallon. I have 1m/5f of each species and I haven't seen any issues or aggression except for the normal breeding aggression. Hope that helps!!


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## cichlidman_404 (Aug 8, 2014)

wow!!! that's awesome! thanks scooter that helps a lot I only wanted about 5-6 males in there anyway mostly the peaceful mbunas and a lot of females.. thanks for the info buddy!


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## scooter31707 (Aug 24, 2012)

You are welcome. Now on that note what works for me, might not work for you. If you notice in my signature I have Labeotropheus Trewavasae Ochre Chilumba and Williamsi North Blue Lips which can get to 7 inches. I will probably rehome the Labeos and get something smaller. I have a lot of hiding places also my males are really laid back for right now (knock on wood).


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## hose91 (Mar 5, 2014)

Scooter makes a good point. Also, given that you generally only want one species from any given group (i.e. one metriaclima, one labidochromis, etc) AND you don't want any males and females that look alike (i.e no Demasoni and say, Saulosi, because males look similar), you can have a hard time finding 6 compatible species groups. 4 or 5 species with larger numbers of each also works well, especially given that you have a pretty large tank, and I'm assuming appropriate filtration for that size tank.


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## TTUhouston (Jul 22, 2013)

As another point on the curve I have 7 species in my 150g. Some are large and some are small. It works for me, but it is a busy tank and most are still juvies. When they get larger I will have to remove at least 1 or 2 species to make it work.


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## Borsig (Nov 21, 2012)

I have in my 180:

Labs
Acei
met. dolphin
met. callainos OB
cyno SP lion mara
4 synos.

I could probably do one more species, just dont kno what it would be. maybe rustys


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## cichlidman_404 (Aug 8, 2014)

are synos sum like plecos?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I like 5 species in a 72" tank. Don't go by gallons. Synodontis are nothing like plecos. Google Synodontis lucipinnis to get an idea.


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