target or dither fish..

[Sarahs]

Hi all
i have 4 red zebra, 4 yellow labs, 4 ps 'acei'.. I'm adding at least 4 more cichlids.. I realize it is 'overstocking' but i have 'over filtration' ........ I'm lookign to add target or dither fish, to spread the current agression out. I don't want anything overly big.. Any suggestions?? I dont want giant danios.. i want something pretty to go with my africans!!

Sarah

[Melody]

That many Cichlids will distribute the aggression fine without victims called target fish....lol. Dither fish are for their calming effect, but targets are going to be very miserable.

I don't know the adult size of all your fish, but keep in mind that filtration & clean water is only part of the picture - there's also only so much oxygen in there and only so many territories.

Good luck! :BunnySmiley:

[Sarahs]

max size of the fish are 4-5". Target and dither fish are commonly used in the cichlid tank to calm agression/spread agression. "target and/or dither" fish aren't persay 'victims' Tiger barbs, mollies, platties, danios, tetras, are commonly used for these purposes. I'm aware of the other factors other than the filtration. I really just wanted suggestions for pretty 'dither or target' fish.. just because they are used for that purpose does not mean in all cases they are killed by the cichlids. I don't want to use mollies or platties, I don't care for tiger barbs or danios... you can keep plecos, rainbow/red tailed sharks successfully with them w/o any problems. Needless to say i've done my research... on what dither and target fish are used for.. I was just hopeing some suggestion of speices that are 'pretty' to add to my beautiful tank. I'm a Moderator on another fish forum, I was just looking for more of a local opinion on a pretty speices, as well all know Canada isn't very friendly to us Hobbyist... for range of speices.
Sarah

[Melody]

I just meant that anything that isn't as aggressive as the fish in the tank is going to be picked on. If it isn't of equal aggression, like Mollies, Platy's or other community fish, it is going to be miserable in there and stressed to the max. So my suggestion is to select fish of equal aggression. I'm sure more specific suggestions will come along soon. :yes:

Ameca Splendens may hold their own in there, or X. Eiseni, in the Livebearer department.