# My First African Cichlid tank - all-male peacocks (55G)



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

First thing's first - Imugr album:


http://imgur.com/1nrEi


After a long 3+ week fishless cycle aided by seeded media, stability, and a little fish food, I stocked my tank yesterday with peacocks (and 1 pleco)! It's a 55gal tank, and I'm a first time cichlid keeper, so I tried to stock with peaceful peacocks that should stay under 6".

Here's the stocking list (all male, 1 of each):
Aulonocara stuartgranti Mdoka Orange "Ngara Flametail"
Aulonocara Maylandi "Sulphur Head"
Aulonocara (Rubescens) "Ruby Red"
Aulonocara Baenschi "Benga Yellow"
Aulonocara ethelwynnae
Aulonocara sp. Firefish "Dragon Blood"
Aulonocara Maulana "Bi-color 500"
Aulonocara "Apache" (Hybrid)
Aulonocara OB Creamsicle
Ancistrus temminckii "Black bristlenose pleco"

The Creamsicle OB came from a local breeder. It's an OB line that they selectively bred until they arrived at an all orange, no spotted variety. Very pretty fish (closeup:


http://imgur.com/2bnbeN7

). All other fish came from a very popular online mail-order company.

The Apache is apparently a mix between a Red Shoulder & Ngara Flametail, which was a bit of a last minute impulse purchase. It seems to have a little higher aggression level stemming from the Red Shoulder lineage.

The two biggest fish in the tank - the Dragon Blood and blue Apache - have been jockeying for "Tank Boss" from the beginning. It's fascinating to watch - no chasing or nipping - just a lot of passive aggressive occupation of the same spots with neither fish yielding to the other for long periods of time. They will chase other fish away but there's a cold war brewing between these two. Hopefully it will end in a peaceful disarmament and with a benevolent dictator in charge (I'm putting my money on "Big Blue").

My rockscaping is a bit of an eclectic mix. I didn't really have a plan when I started buying rock - can you tell? There are lots of different holes, caves, pass throughs and spots, but so far the fish have been jockeying for 3-4 specific ones. When water change time comes, I may need to mix up the layout a bit to calm things down a bit.

I'm interested in any of your thoughts and/or constructive feedback! Excited to be keeping cichlids for the first time!


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

While a 55 gallon is considered "acceptable" it's literally the bare minimum for peacocks. A longer footprint is pretty much necessary for a mixed all male peacock tank because they get extremely territorial and with less area to claim, the battles are going to be more frequent and more vicious. I have a 180 gallon with a benga yellow, red top lwanda, ngara flametail, dragons blood, blue regal, German red, bicolor 500, sulfurhead, an OB and a ton of haps but the peacocks are indiscriminate when it comes to bullying and vying for their little place in the sand.


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks for the advice... I'm aware that I'm on the edge of what is ideal. I made the decision to keep african cichlids after I already had the tank. But, what you say is one of the reasons why I've tried to select fish on the peaceful end of the spectrum and between 4.5"-5.5" max size... 1 or 2 of them may hit 6". I'm also trying to stay in the 9 to 11 range in number of fish based on a lot of advice, but realize that individual fish temperament will dictate a lot of what goes on. I'm already observing some territorial jockeying and settling in of the hierarchy in the first 24 hours, and am planning on making rockscape changes during the first water change to create a few more open areas with more sight breaks.

All of that said, I have no issues with moving up in tank size within a year or so.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Good deal man, glad to know you did your research, it warms my heart lol. I have a 110 gallon if you want to drive down to Houston! Just be prepared to do some switching around and trading off the overly aggressive ones or the really weak ones. My peacocks won't accept eurekas no matter what I've tried though, they hate them with a deadly vengeance. Oddly enough they accepted the red top even though they look similar...


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

Well, my blue apache is making life difficult for my dragon blood, so he's on my hit list at the moment, keeping an eye on him. I'm ok with him being the tank boss as long as he's just chasing the other fish away from his little spot. Appreciate the offer on the 110, will pass for now. Don't have a great spot for it right now but potentially getting a new place in the next year which would open up more space.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Chasing is going to happen and sometimes it just takes a little while for everyone to learn their place, but it only becomes a problem when all the aggression is focused on one fish and it starts hiding and not coming out to eat. Peacocks will defend their territory fiercely, except against blue dolphins lol. They just get out of the way and let them have their caves


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Yes watch the hybrids. They can be more aggressive and may not work in a 55G.


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

Well, I decided to take action tonight. I removed the Apache hybrid and put him in timeout in my hospital/quarantine tank. I then rearranged about 75% of the rockscape, removing the disputed caves and opening up more space in the middle of the tank. The Dragon Blood swam around a bit and settled back down into a corner. Turned off the lights and hope that he'll de-stress overnight and eat during morning feeding. Fingers crossed!


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

It would be best to leave the lights off for a few days and really watch him because it's natural instinct for the others to attack weak or highly stressed fish. Sometimes they get their mojo back, sometimes they don't, sadly...


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

That's exactly what I'm doing right now. He didn't eat this morning either, not leaving one area at the bottom of the tank but isn't completely hiding either. He moves around a little bit with the lights off. I'm fortunate that at this point, the rest of the fish in the tank are all smaller than him and they're mostly still in the pre-adult stage. So while they're learning to parade their fins and colors, there's not any aggressive behavior at this point.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Yeah man, if he recovers, it may be wise to decide which one you prefer and get rid of the other... I've had to get rid of peacocks in a much larger tank because of aggression and you're working with the bare minimum so it's even more important to have some really laid back fish. If it were me, I'd give up the Apache because they're known aggressors and maybe try one later after you can get a larger tank.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

When you got your Dragon blood was he in a well lit tank with others or dim to no light with very few fish?


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

I don't know. Got him and all the rest (except one) mail order from Live Fish Direct. I doubt that his conditions were much different from any of the rest. He didn't eat at all today either but he has come out a little. Still breathing heavy. Fingers crossed that he'll be a little better tomorrow and he'll eat. On the good news front, I did see him poop, so that's good. Maybe he was backed up from the stress of shipment, acclimation, and harassment.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

What did the poop look like? White and stringy or food colored?


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

Food colored I suppose. It wasn't white. If I can't get him to eat today, I think I"ll put him into the hospital tank and treat him with Melafix and General Cure. Barring any other symptoms, my thinking is that those two meds are the first line of defense to try.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

I'd just use the general cure and skip the Melafix. General cure is just praziquantel and metronidazole. I keep the separate components because it's a heck of a lot cheaper to get your family doctor to write you a script for it lol. Also I'd add 1tbsp per 10 gallons of epsom salt to help clear out his digestive tract. Get some garlic guard, pour enough to dampen about 2 tablespoons of pellet food and mix a packet of general cure in the food and spread it out on a paper plate to dry, then refrigerate. He may or may not eat it but it's your best bet.


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

Good advice. Thanks. He's come out from hiding a little bit this morning but didn't show interest in food. Seems to not be breathing as heavy as before but still not normal. If he does not improve by this evening, I will move him and medicate with general cure & epsom salt in my 10 gal hospital tank. Will try to find some garlic guard if I can to entice him to eat. I don't want the stress of having to net him and move him to different tank conditions to make things worse either, so have been hoping that I wouldn't have to do that.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

I know what you mean, it's kind of a 50/50 deal right now but his best chance is to be in a isolation tank with a hiding place.


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

To make matters tougher, I only put the hospital tank in place on Wednesday. I'm using Stability with Prime to instantly cycle the tank while the troublemaker fish is in there. Have not done that before but it's supposed to work. My water test shows ammonia in the water but I'm using prime to neutralize it while the beneficial bacteria get established. Sad to say, but I'd rather have the aggressive $20 fish in that tank than the scared $30 firefish in there, in case things go wrong.

I do have a breeder box and am thinking of just moving the dragon blood into that at the top of the main tank so that he doesn't get stress from getting yanked out of the tank he's in. I can then feed him and watch him easily and I don't think the other fish will mess with him.


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

Update - Firefish is in the breeder box at top of tank. Offered him some pellets and a flake, he hasn't touched them yet, but I know how many are in there, so I can keep count. Will turn the lights off and check in on him throughout the afternoon. Will get the garlic guard this evening from Amazon (same day delivery rocks!) and will try that with general cure on food pellets then.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Awesome man, I've been surprised how well that garlic guard works to get a fish to eat, plus it's great for the immune system. I soak their food in it and feed daily, my fish are spoiled to the point that some won't eat dry pellets anymore lol. As far as cycling is concerned, you're better off seeding your filter with a pad from your established filter. Seachem makes good products but stability is not really one that I recommend for "instant cycling." There's only one that I've used and had it work like it's supposed to and that's TLC StartSmart


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

I actually have a seeded media in there as well... was once a filter in my wife's beta tank, used it to help seed the 55gal, and now it's in the 10gal hospital tank. Figured that seeded media with Stability will help speed things along. Supposedly 7 days of Stability will help completely cycle a tank with fish in it... I saw a video where one of the top YouTubers (Jay Wilson maybe?) talked about how he used it to start one of his tanks.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

I used fritzyme turbo start, TSS, and stability and couldn't get my 180 to cycle for anything. Used three bottles of StartSmart at once and within a day or two it was cycled. Maybe just a coincidence lol...


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

So, I saw that the fish had a white stringy poop while in the breeder box. My wife thinks she saw another fish with a white poop too. So now definitely thinking internal parasite is affecting at least two fish in the tank. Going to treat the tank with General Cure to treat everyone and see what happens. Going to use epsom salt as well.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Yeah it's usually a good idea to treat the entire tank because internal parasites are transmitted through poop and we all know how much they love to put each other's poop in their mouth until they realize it actually isn't food. But by then the parasites have already been transferred to another fish


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

Ok, so I treated the tank with API General Cure and some epsom salt. I only dosed the salt by half since I already have Cichlid Lake Salt in the tank and I couldn't find any information online about using those together. I didn't want to over harden the water. I also added some Paraguard to get any external parasites that might be in the water from the poop. I also added some Melafix thinking that it would have a soothing effect for the fish and also preventatively treat any potential bacterial infections. Since I had the chemical filtration removed I thought in the moment it would be good to treat all of that at once as I know most people use multiple meds in QT tanks.

Of course now I'm concerned that I overmedicated the tank even though it should be safe to use all of those together. The dragon blood seems to be more stressed now and the other fish are hiding. They did eat, however.

Hopefully I haven't made a terrible mistake. Right now I'm paranoid.


----------



## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

If they are eating, try either soaking food in water with metro or Epsom salt. I've had good results with both.


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks, james1983. The fish with the most symptoms won't eat, even the garlic guard soaked food. That, plus the fact that I saw other white stringy poop on at least one other fish and in the tank led me to dose the whole tank.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

The epsom salt won't cause a problem at full strength, not sure if there are any contraindications for the meds you used but it's usually not a good idea to dose multiple meds at once. The general cure would take care of external parasites and the food the internal. Just monitor them closely and if they start acting stressed do a 75% water change and stick to the general cure only.


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

Well, everyone survived the night. I don't think that the fish are too happy with the water quality change due to the meds & epsom salt, but they seem to be ok. Everyone ate but the firefish, who still hasn't eaten since he arrived on Tuesday. Going to go out and get some bloodworms later to entice him. If I can get him to start eating, I'll probably do a big water change to clean up the water and give the next dose of General Cure mixed in food.


----------



## dfwcajunguy (Jun 21, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 - thought I would give you another update. Thanks again for your advice and support. I think we beat whatever was ailing the Dragon Blood and the other couple that I noticed stringy white feces on. I was able to get him to eat a few bloodworms Saturday evening, as well as pellets on Sunday morning. He started to show more energy that morning so I released him from the breeder box and he seems to be doing well back in the tank.

I also reintroduced the Apache peacock to the tank by transitioning him from the hospital tank to the breeder box for a while. I wanted him to get the final dose of general cure as a preventative measure. After leaving him in the breeder box for half the day (the other fish spent most of that time taunting him, haha), I released him into the tank and I hadn't noticed him bullying the other fish as much as before. Maybe the timeout for 4 days worked. We'll see.


----------



## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

That's great man, I'm glad to hear that there's improvement and thanks for the update. A lot of times when a fish gets stressed from transport and/or bullying it's immune system drops and parasites they normally carry without issue begin to multiply unchecked.


----------

