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overcrowding...what are the dynamics?

1243 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  zazz
im on the cusp of populating my 150g malwai tank and have read about the overcrowding approach reducing aggression ..but is the downside that you miss out on certain caves or territories being the domain of a particular fish.

the idea of each fish in an overcrowded tank swimming back and forth in the hopeless task of finding its own space doesnt really fire me up too much...

can anyone allay my fears??
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zazz said:
..but is the downside that you miss out on certain caves or territories being the domain of a particular fish.
This hasn't been my experiance in my overcrowded tank. Dominant fish will setup territories and protect them. Some fish and most females will always be just swimming back and forth and for some of the Mbuna this is natural. (Labs, acei)

The overcrowding has more to do with passing the aggression around. No one fish will take a lot of abuse. That doesn't mean you won't have any losses. The Mbuna's aggressive nature is one of the main reasons I like them. Always on the move. :wink:
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