is my tank overstocked?

[Northerly]

55 gallons
1x socolofi
3x maingano
5x red zebra(2 ob)
1x yellow peacock
3x yellow lab
1x common pleco (4 inches)

i know its fairly heavily stocked, but is it overstocked?

[kaybee]

Not sure what the differences are with heavily stocked vs overstocked.

I think 8-12 mbuna's in a 55gal is a decent stocking level.

Give or take, 13-15 and you're approaching overstocked levels. 16+ overstocked. Some may consider exceeding decent stocking level as being over stocked (i.e., 13+ mbuna's=overstocked).

I've never owned a common pleco before but I've seen some huge one's. From the bio-load stand point you're probably overstocked at this point.

I'd remove the common pleco and peacock due to potential incompatibility issues with the mbuna's, and any excess mbuna males (keep one male per species, rehome the excess males or expect trouble as they mature...).

[sheamurai]

+1 to all of the above.

[Northerly]

good points made, but the peacock so far has been 100% compatible. He fits right into the group, which seems fairly tight-knit. originally i had some worries about him seeing as he is very different from the other fish, but it is working out so far. i am aware this might change when the fish mature. i see some normal aggression, chases etc. but for the most part its not an issue at all. i do provide plenty of caves, with alot of variety in. i use cichlid stones(basically just synthetic hollow stones) and some 6x6x2" rocks which i got from home depot which i made a sort of.. cave unit out of. the fish are 1.5-2" now, and i do plan on moving them up to a larger tank(75-90 gallon) once they get older. as for the pleco, he will be moved to my new 75 gallon once it is set up and has been running for a while, and i will be adding a green and/or blue phantom pleco to my malawi cichlid set up. Filtration now is an emperor 400, i will be adding a fluval c4 AND a fluval 405 once the money is there to do so.