Should I Overstock?

[lee420]

I got my 46 bowfront listed in my sig. They are peacefulbfor the most part but there is some aggression. Ive been told that overstocking will help with the aggression. What are your guys opinions on this?

This is what it looks like at the moment but ill be getting a big centerpiece rock structure today for it and was wondering if i should get more cichlids too.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

They are Malawi species (besides the BN), right? In that case, overstocking does help spread aggression a lot, but at the same time you need "mammoth" filtration to keep the water good for these African cichlids.
 
Hareem groups of something like 1 male and 3 females per species would be my general suggestion, providing all three species have very different colour markings. But you could get specific ideas from experienced Malawi keepers in the "Old World" section.
 
Your tank needs a good makeover though to make it Rift Valley lake friendly... Such tanks normally have "egg crate" on the tank floor (under the sand) and then a mound or multiple mounds of limestone rocks (or other rocks/slate) securely stacked up with fish size crevices inbetween them, to something like about 33-66% of the tank height.
 
Don't forget to drastically alter the rock piles if adding new fish after the makeover, otherwise the new fish will be seen as invading enemies.

 

[lee420]

Alright. Does it have to be real rock or can it be artificial such as a fake rock structure around 2/3 of the tank height? And as for filtration i have a fluval 306 which is rated for 100 gallons

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Artificial rockwork can absolutely be used and will probably be an awful lot cheaper, its more about giving the fish a more normal environment (meant to mention this in original post). But sometimes you can find bargains, where someone is looking to sell 25-50Kg of aquarium safe rock.
 
I suspect you will probably need another filter, because as these ~13 fish grow to become ~10cm SL each, their bioload will be a lot more than what it is as typical purchase size. Again actual keepers can advice you better, but I'm fairly sure I've seen some Malawi 4-foot setups involve a Fluval FX5 combined with a smaller external.