[Scottyboy]

I have been successfully raising mbuna's in my back yard 250 gal pond for going on 3 yrs now!
Problem is they are raising too fast and too many for the amount of water they have! I am now battling the NitrAte level again and the ph has once again dropped.
When I don't have so many fish in the pond everything is perfect! The algae grows great and everyones happy!
I am guessing I have another 70-80 fish(fry, baby, small, medium & my original 5 full grown 5-6" adults!)
Fry = not sure? no telling! Lots of rocks and hiding places for them!
Babies = 20 or so?
Small = 30 or so?
Medium = 20?
Large = 5
I have a local fish /pet store owner that purchased almost 70 from me back on 05/08/2019! I was left with about 10 fish now within 4 months I am over run!

Question #1
What's the best way to safely glue the rocks together, so that every time I have to get rid of some I will not have to totally stress out the few fish I do keep?
Right now I just have a lot of flat rocks stacked on top of each other creating different size caves and pvc pipe pieces with drilled holes of different sizes
So every time I have had to remove all the rocks in order to net the fish. Then I have to re-do everything! Totally stresses me and the fish out! They have gone as long as 2 weeks w/o eating after doing so!
So anyway I would love to have glued rock sections that would be much easier to remove then replace, but I don't know what glue is safe? I have heard to use 100% silicone but all I have seen seems to contain mold resistant ingredients which are NOT safe for the fish.
Any experienced recommendations?

Question #2
How many mixed sized fish should I keep in 250 gallons?

Question #3
I am still trying to figure out if I am over feeding or under feeding!? I have so many different sized fish I feed different size sinking pellets for all of them at once 2 sometimes 3 times per day. They eat it all before it hits the bottom! And they would eat as long as I keep feeding. So at the time I feed them adding a pinch at a time to four sides of the pond for about 2-3 minutes. That may sound like over feeding to most people but they always seem happy and it's been a long time since I lost even one fish. BUT maybe the over feeding is helping to raise the NitrAte level?
NITRATE = Dangerously high @ 120-140 (but just done another 25% water change so should lower it enough to keep from loosing any fish?)
PH = 6-7
Nitrite = Always 0!
Ammonia = 0.25 always!
Man when the PH and Nitrate levels are perfect you can almost stand there and watch the algae grow! But now with sooooooo many fish not much algae growing anymore.

Thanks for reading!

 

[DJRansome]

Welcome to Cichlid-forum! You must live in a warm place where water temps do not drop below 70 degrees?

What is the length of the pond? That will determine a good number of fish.

100% silicone is good and just ENSURE there are no additives for mold. They do make silicone for aquariums which is a little more expensive, but guaranteed safe. I tried attaching rocks and even making a pyramid of PVC sections. It is easy to take out, but it also traps debris so I don't do this any more. With rocks, silicone also won't be 100% secure, especially with big ones.

Removing the rocks does stress the fishkeeper but my fish never seem to mind. Not eating for 2 weeks won't hurt them.

With mbuna 1mm pellets are the perfect size for all. If your water DOES stay warm, get 7 Synodontis multipunctatus to take care of newly spit fry.

Excess pellets will give you nitrate. Shoot for nitrate = 10ppm. Anything over 40ppm is not safe. But continue to do daily small water changes so the nitrate does not drop drastically all at once. One time daily and what they will eat within 30 seconds. Most people do overfeed.