Lake Malawi Species • FINALY Time To stock! will this all work?!

[mgreen44]

I have 7 in a 55 all male 5 peacocks 2 haps red emperess and lithobates be sure none of them look too much alike or it will be trouble. 12 or 13 would be perfect for your 75. Don't mess with females it will throw your whole tank off and stress you out watching them chase and fight and they are not cheap fish good luck. The red emperess is a really cool fish and great colors and does not cause problems even with smaller peacocks.

[jsmeesterr]

i am looking into buying a red empress. i just got 3 more yellow labs for a total of 5, 1 blue dolphin cichlid, and 1 dragon blood peacock! which joins my red should peacock and albino rainbow shark. but the store only sold them in trios so i couodnt purchase just a male.

well i already bought my yellow labs and im the sexing is correct, i have 4 females. those will be the only female in the tank so hopefuly just the male yellow lab will mate with them and the peacocks wont be interested. otherwise, bye bye females.

so far all seems well tho. I've always had just 1 female yellow lab and no problems have occured, but well see!

[DJRansome]

Red empress is a 9" fish and too big for a 75G IME.

[jsmeesterr]

Some people say a red empress is to big some say it isn't. The girl at the fishstore said that it wasn't to big. But next I want to try and find a red peacock, yellow peacock and then the Haps I listed.

My local fish store has a sulfurhead and a yellow Jake peacock, should I get a yellow Jake instead of a yellow peacock?
And Is a dragon blood peacock the same As a strawberry peacock

[DanniGirl]

The Red Empress really is too big for a 75 gal.

Options for your color choices:
Red Peacock: German Red
Yellow Peacock: baenschi or Blue Neon

Probably best to skip the Sulfurhead. Lemon Jakes tend to be more aggressive. You can get one and a yellow peacock, but you probably just want to stick to the original plan.

Yes, Dragonbloods and Strawberries are one in the same.

[13razorbackfan]

Here is another good one....used to have these around here all over the place but haven't seen any in years....

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1159

[jsmeesterr]

your tank is pretty cool 13razorbackfan. i like the combination. and i see you have a pleco in there as well. what kind of pleco is it? would you recamend me getting a common pleco for my 75 gallon to go with my peacocks/ haps/ and yellow labs?


and right now as mentioned already my stocking so far is
1 male red shoulder peacock
1 male strawberry peacock
1(i believe) male blue dolphin cichlid
5 yellow labs(i believe) 4 females 1 male
and 1 albino raibowshark.
right now the biggest and dominant male of the tank is my male red shoulder peacock. he keeps the smaller male strawberry peacock up in the corner of the tank all scared and i dont like that. id like to make it so none of the cichlids are forced into the corner(which i know is not predictable with africans). even tho im going to add more fish anyways, i am wondering if adding more male peacocks and haps will make it more of a neutral tank instead of the male red shoulder picking on just the strawberry.

[Michael_M]

Adding more fish should spread the aggression around more. In my all male hap/peacock setup Interestingly there seems to be two separate hierarchies. One for my peacocks (where a Aulonocara baenschi half the size of my Lwanda and Eureka Red is the boss... go figure) and one for my larger haps.

Since you've only got the two peacocks, the red shoulder can easily single out the strawberry. Adding more should help. As for more haps, I'd stick to smaller ones for a 75g definitely not a Red Empress (Mine is growing so fast). Maybe some of the smaller Lethrinops or Copadichromis?

[jsmeesterr]

im in the process of buying more fish for my tank, i just have to wait(which seems like forever!) for the stores to get some really interesting and beautiful peacocks and haps! im thinking about taking a trip to the store where liveaquaria.com is which is in kakauna, wisconsin i believe. or maybe try ordering some but the thing is my male red shoulder is the biggest of the tank and im not sure how he would react to other male peacocks that are smaller than him. which my strawberry peacock is smaller than him and i see how he treats him. i was also wondering if i could add a Moorii (Kaiser II) Cichlid. any thoughts on him?

[Michael_M]

I wouldn't try any kind of tropheus in a All-male peacock/hap tank for a number of reasons. They are strict herbivores where peacocks/haps are often carnivores, and I have found tropheus to be particularly nasty to new tank mates making adding/adjusting stock after adding one a nightmare. They also do better in single species tanks.

I also wouldn't order peacocks online as they usually come as unsex'd juvies. I'd definitely take a trip and make a day of it to track down some good breeders/fish stores, your probably going to keep the fish for the next 8 years or so, might as well get what you really want

Some of my favourite peacocks are Lwanda, Eureka Red, Baenschi, ruby red (has several common names), maluna bi colour and flamebacks.

[DanniGirl]

If you want to order fish online, you can easily purchase already sexed males but you'll be looking at a price jump. It would be best to order a few
(no less than 3) and introduce them at once. In fact, you're at the point now that it would be best to introduce any new fish in groups of 3 or more.

[jsmeesterr]

I have a dilemma and wondering what you think I should do!
I've added a few fish. My stocking right now is,

5 yellow labs(1male 4 females)
1 male strawberry peacock
1 male Aulonocara jacobfreibergi
1 albino rainbow shark
1 blue dolphin cichlid I think male
And 1 male red shoulder peacock. Which I'm not even sure if he is a red shoulder peacock. (I posted a pic of him in Unidentified cichlids, check it out please, share your opinions).
He is the dominant male of the tank.
And he's really agressive to his smaller strawberry peacock tank mate.
I have a few options but don't know which to go with.
#1. Just add a few more peacocks and see what happens and go from there( 1 German red peacock, 1 yellow peacock, then maybe 1 or 2 more fish).
#2. Move the dominant male to my spare 30 gallon for a bit. Then add him in the tank maybe a month or less later.
#3. Move my smaller male strawberry peacock to my 30 gallon.et him get a little bigger. (he is always hiding in my tank because if the Dom. Male sees him he chases him)
#4. Sell my Dom. Male
#5. Sell my strawberry peacock.
What do you think I should do?

More Info: the labs are fine. They stand there ground and aren't agressive, albino shark holds his own, even over powers some fish. And my new addition which was the Aulonocara jacobfreibergi, him and my Dom. Male fought really bad for dom. But he lost. And the blue dolphin holds his own

[jsmeesterr]

What should I do!?

[DJRansome]

I'd first try #1 and if that doesn't work I'd do #2 and then #4.

[jsmeesterr]

so I've added a few fish.
so the stocking is..
1- some kind of german red ob peacock or something. kinda looks like a red shoulder
1 strawberry peacock
1 aulonocara jacobfreibergi
1 sciaenochromis fryeri - hap ahli, electirc blue
1 male blue dolphin
5 yellow labs(4 female, 1 male)
and 1 albino rainbow shark.

my ob. which doesnt look like an ob, hes the fish I've been refering to as a res shoulder peacock, but as i remember the day i bought him the store said he was an ob of some kind. idk what he is, but he is the dom. male of the tank. and very agressive. to the point where my strawberry peacock is hiding in the corner always except when eating and the other 2 peacocks hide alot too.
im only looking to get 2 or 3 more fish. which will be some kind fo yellow peacock(lemon jake type) and then a red peacock (german red maybe), and then one of the haps i listed awhile ago.

im not sure how i can reduce the agression and have a tank of minimal chases and biting, and where no fish is singled out and is forced to hide. i see youtube vids of a perfect tank and i want that.

first i will get the 3 fish i want, and see what happens. but if things continue, i will either sell my female labs and replace with male somethings, or sell my dom fish(the Ob)