Lake Malawi Species • Should I start over?

[laney_miller85]

Hello!

I'm having some real issues with aggression in my Benga Sunshine Peacock tank. My tank details are:

-55 gallon
-528 gallons per hour filtration (2 canisters)
-Heavily rocked with lots of caves (lace rock)
-Aragonite Sand Substrate
Temp: 78 degrees
PH: 8.0

Stock:
-7 male benga sunshines
-3 female benga sunshines
-1 syno cat
-1 bristlenose pleco

My dominant male was ripping my sub-dominant apart. I temporarlily removed my dominant to give my sub-dominant a break and a chance to heal, and now my sub-dominant is bullying everyone else! I really need to do something to reduce the aggression. The only options I can think of is adding 5-7 more females or trying to rehome most of my males. Getting a bigger tank is not an option at the moment.

What would you do if this was your tank?

Thanks!

[DanniGirl]

Welcome to the forum

The aggression is a result of too few females for the number of males; the males view each other as competition. Cichlids are harem breeders so breeding groups are stocked in ratios of 1m:4f-7f (depending on species). For Bengas, aim for a ratio of 1m:4f. I'd suggest to remove a male and add 5 more females.

[laney_miller85]

Thanks!

I didn't intend to end up with that many males...I bought them as fry from my LFS and it just ended up that way. I'm going to order 5 more females and increase the number of caves in the tank. I'll wait and add the dominant male back to the tank after I get more females. Maybe that will help a bit. If that still doesn't work I'll try to rehome my sub-dominant.

How many fish do you think my tank can handle with my current filtration? (55 gallon, 528 GPH canister filtration) Would I be able to add as many as 10 more females? That would put my stock at 20 Benga Sunshines, 1 syno cat and 1 Bristlenose Pleco. Too much?

[DanniGirl]

Thanks!

I didn't intend to end up with that many males...I bought them as fry from my LFS and it just ended up that way. I'm going to order 5 more females and increase the number of caves in the tank. I'll wait and add the dominant male back to the tank after I get more females. Maybe that will help a bit. If that still doesn't work I'll try to rehome my sub-dominant.

If you want to keep a third male, I would suggest 2-3 more females in addition to the total, so you would be looking at 10-11 females.

How many fish do you think my tank can handle with my current filtration? (55 gallon, 528 GPH canister filtration) Would I be able to add as many as 10 more females? That would put my stock at 20 Benga Sunshines, 1 syno cat and 1 Bristlenose Pleco. Too much?

The footprint of the tank would be ideal for 10 peacocks, 1 syno cat and 1 pleco. I would recommend sticking with a smaller group of Bengas. The numbers aren't based so much off filtration (although it's important) it's based off the space requirements of each fish. African cichlids are territorial so tanks are stocked according to their footprint. So, a 6' 125 gal. would be ideal for a group of 20 peacocks and smaller haps.

The filtration will do for a smaller group of Bengas, although most prefer a turnover rate of 7-10x an hour.

[laney_miller85]

I think you have my m-f ratio backwards. I currently have 7 males, 3 females. Will it be best to rehome 4-5 of my males and make sure to replace with females in the 1m-4 female ratio?

[DanniGirl]

Will it be best to rehome 4-5 of my males and make sure to replace with females in the 1m-4 female ratio?

Yes, it would be best to rehome at least 4 males.

If you want to keep 3 males (out of the 7), then up the female ratios 10-11. If you only want to keep 2 males, then shoot for a total of 8 females.

[laney_miller85]

I currently have a 55 gallon species specific Benga Sunshine cichlid tank. By chance I ended up with 7 males and 3 females. There is WAY too much aggression in the tank. I'm faced with getting rid of at least 4 of my beautiful males and replacing them with more females. That will really leave my tank dull as the females are brown. I also am not really interested in breeding my fish because I wouldn't know what to do with all the fry.

My other option is to get rid of all fish except my best male and starting an all male peacock/hap tank. Decisions, decisions....

I would love your opinions...

[13razorbackfan]

In a 4' tank I would only want one male of a specific species of peacock and if breeding 4 females. So having 7 males is not going to work. If you want to breed them then take back 6 of the males and add one female. Then add something else that won't crossbreed. If not wanting to breed them keep one male and take all the rest back including females and get 9-12 more docile peacocks and haps that stay at 7" or smaller. Get no two that look alike. There are several different options you could look at. Just so you know....doing an all male in a 4' tank can be very tricky so you would want to have another tank set up as a backup or timeout tank.

[laney_miller85]

If I am able to, I am leaning towards starting over and going to an all male tank. So, if I keep my best Benga Sunshine Peacock, could this stock work?

-1 Aulonocara Baenschi
-1 OB Peacock
-1 Aulonocara Regal
-1 Aulonocara maylandi sulferhead
-1 Copadichromis Borleyi red fin
-1 Aulonocara Maleri "Rubescens" Red
-1 Aulonocara albino sunburst
-1 syno cat
-1 bristlenose pleco

Other suggestions are welcome! I made the list based off of what is available at my LFS.

[Mschn99]

Copadichromis Borleyi will get way too big for a 55 gallon.

[laney_miller85]

Ok, no Copadichromis Borleyi. All look good otherwise? Any others that would work?

[13razorbackfan]

Ok, no Copadichromis Borleyi. All look good otherwise? Any others that would work?

OB and Albino Sunburst will likely be aggressive so I would look at something else although you can try and see what happens. The Maylandi may not color in a all male tank. You should look at a Z-rock Lithobates for a fish with a nice yellow stripe down its head. You could go with an Electra and Azureus as well. You could also look at a Bi-color(maulana) as well.

[DJRansome]

You don't want look alikes. So a benga and a baenshi are look alikes. Think in terms of one yellow, one red, a couple blue as long as they are different (like a light blue turkis and a dark blue regal).

Shoot for 8 cichlids. Fill in with haps like razorback suggested.

[laney_miller85]

Thanks for your help! The baenschi on my stock list is the one I have already, I know not to mix fish that look alike. I think I have some really good ideas where to start now, but I'm going to have some trouble figuring out what to do with my current fish as the LFS went out of business and I can't take them back :/

[13razorbackfan]

Thanks for your help! The baenschi on my stock list is the one I have already, I know not to mix fish that look alike. I think I have some really good ideas where to start now, but I'm going to have some trouble figuring out what to do with my current fish as the LFS went out of business and I can't take them back :/

I use Craigslist with pretty good success.