# Family project: 75G Malawi Peacock tank



## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Here's a Full tank pic of my new 75 gallon Peacock tank.










It is a family project for me, my 12 year old son, and my 7 year old daughter. It used to be a community tank (and still has a few leftover yoyo loaches we've had for about 6 years and yes, you can even see a krib in the background on the left . I recently changed over from gravel to PFS. My son and I went to the local landscaping store and picked out over a 100 lbs of rock (didn't end up using it all!) and was pleased to get it all for about $8. He and I arranged the rocks together. It may be a little too structured, but as a mathematician it appeals to me. The pile at the left is actually a cave constructed on top of a piece of driftwood used as framework (preserved for the 3 bushy nose plecos remaining from the community tank).

I have been reading and lurking around here for quite awhile. I want to thank everyone for all the awesome information on this board. It prvided me with the know how and inspiration for this project which has been wonderful to share with the kids.

All 3 of us attended the GCCA auction this past weekend (what a blast!) and picked up 9 fish:

1 Auloncara Baenschi
1 Red Shoulder
1 Taiwan Reef
1 Flame Tail
1 Auloncara Walteri
1 Sulphur Head
3 Synodontis Petricola

I'm subpar on my photography so be nice  The pictures don't do the fish justice in my opinion, but I'm working on it. Here's a couple shots (a couple might even have been taken by my son):

Baenshci









Flametail


















Walteri


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## kriskm (Dec 1, 2009)

Beautiful fish! I think the aquascaping looks natural. You guys did a good job of picking out and arranging your rocks. It's a nice, neutral background for your eye-popping fish.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Thanks  We have a simple black background for that reason. I'd like to make a DYI background some day, but it was not in the cards and I didn't want to take away the tanks space for it right now.

I'll try and add a few more pictures as I experiment more with the camera. I plan on at least getting a few sectional tank shots added. The cave at left is pretty active with 10 juvenile Yellow Labs that we have bred ourselves from our 46G. The petricolas also hangout mostly around that cave (and sometimes the middle rock group).

The granite rock on the left was picked out by my son. We all (especially my 7 year old daughter) like the color it adds to the rockwork.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

I took a few more shots this afternoon:

Left side:









Right side:









Baenschi sifting









Yellow Lab Hangout









Petricola sighting


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## TheBanker (Jun 14, 2008)

nice tank, i like the way you scaped your rocks.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

I really like it. Very Natural, you didn't try and overdue it. Great job! :thumb: :thumb:


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Thank you both  I thought less would be more and wanted to keep as much swimming space as possible for the fish. I have a whole 5 gallon bucket full of rock we liked, but we didn't use. I'll save for the next tank (and there will be a next one, just don't tell my wife).

7 of the Lab fry are only about an inch and I figured wouldn't survive with the new larger peacocks. To my surprise they are doing reat and growing fast. Their mother (in our 46G mbuna tank) is holding again so we'll have to figure out what to do with all these fry. AND I came home to find one fo the Yellow Tail Acei in the same mbuna tank is also holding!


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## gliebig (Oct 1, 2010)

Beautiful tank. What kind of subrstrate is it exactly?


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Pool filter sand (PFS). $6/50 lb bag locally. The beauty was I didn't even have to wash it! I started to, but it was clear after the first bucket that it was unnecessary. We used 2 full bags.


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## snakedoc (Jan 3, 2008)

I really like this setup for all the same reasons already mentioned. I really like your choice of fish as well. I am considering a similar setup and wondered if you have had any aggression between. Thanks for sharing.

Rich


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Things were going pretty well until Thursday night as far as aggression goes. The Ngara Flametail is the Alpha of the tank. That was clear early. He had really only been asserting himself after feeding time, but he began picking on the Walteri pretty relentlessly for some reson. I had to pull the Walteri last night and put him in our 10G for his own safety (tail wazs pretty tattered). I'll be setting up a 20G just for him to heal in today.

Things seem to have settled down and the Ngara is better behaved now. We'll see what happens going forward. I'd like to re-introduce the Walteri and keep him, but I don't know how that's will go. I may have to rehome him.

Other than the above it seems to be going great. The Lab fry are growing out nicely. The loaches who I thought were coming to the end of their days with us after 6 years now look healthier than ever! The catfish don't come out much, but they do seem to be getting braver by the day.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Update:

After watching the Flametail terrorize the other fish for most of the morning I decided he was the problem. I pulled him and put him in the 20G iso tank and returned the Walteri to the 75G. The Sulphur Head spent about 10 mins making sure everyone knew he was taking over as Alpha. Now all is calm and the Walteri is showing full color and spread fins. His tail is of course is still a bit tattered, but he looks much happier and is using the whole tank rather than hiding by the filter.

Hopefully everything is fine now  I knew this was part of the deal when I set up this tank, but it didn't make it any less frustrating. I'll have to decide what to do with the Flametail going forward, but I have time.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Further Update:

Since removing the Flametail everything is nice and laid back. Everyone is getting along. The Walteri looks like a thug with his tattered fins, but he swims the whole tank strutting his stuff now. How long until the fins grow back out? Anything I can do to help with the process?

The Flametail is in iso in a 20G long until I can figure out what to do with him. None of my LFS takes trade ins  Any chance I can re-introduce peacefully later?


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## ws812 (Apr 17, 2009)

You may be able to put the flametail back in once the walteri gets a foothold in the tank. I wouldn't guarentee anything though and of course you'd have to watch them close knowing what happened last time. As far as the walteris fins go I'd say they'll grow back on their own but I know lots of people put melafix in the tank to help the process along. In my experience an aggressive fish will most likely always be aggressive. It's just a personality thing.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Here are a couple short videos of the tank:











We took these with my son's iPod Touch. Quality is not too bad I think. You can catch a glimpse of a nursery with 5 Labs and 10 Acei every now and then. ALso, forgive the presence rainbow shark :lol: He's a holdover from the tank's community past life. He's out of place, but is getting along well with others so we'll leave him alone for now.

The Walteri has healed up nicely. The flametail is still in time out. I'm going to give him a 2nd chance soon, but haven't decided when. If it doesn't pan out I'll have to rehome him somehow. Believe it or not our LFS(s) don't do trades so I'm left scratching my head if it doesn't work out.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Update:

Yesterday we lost our Baenschi to a case of bloat  I recognized the symptoms last weekend, but it was too late. I have kept Africans for 5 years, but only mbuna up until this project and never had bloat. Next time hopefully I'll recognize it sooner and be able to do something about it.

On a happier note, we will be attending the GCCA swap meet this weekend and finish stocking our tank. I'll update the list and post more pics some time next week.

We have also moved 4 yellow tail Acei from our mbuna tank to this tank to make room for some Metriaclima sp. "dolphin" (Ndonga). So we have lots of activity, but no abnormal aggression.

The peticolas have finally decided they like daylight and can be seen aptrolling the tank on a regular basis. At feeding time they come up to the top and swim upside down to grab their NLS rather than hoping some of it makes it to the bottom


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Attended the GCCA Swap this afternoon with my daughter. We picked up:

1 Lemon Jake (just starting to color)
1 Lwanda (F1 barely colored, will be fun to watch)
1 Albino Eureka Red
1 German Red (she paid for herself!)
1 White Knight Ahli (was able to trade the Flametail for this one straight up)

Tank is pretty packed right now. Plenty of time to get a bigger tank if necessary, but aggression may lead to thinning the herd anyway (been there!).

Here's a pic of the White Knight (beautiful specimen IMO). I know there is debate about whether it's a color variant or hybrid, but I won't be breeding him so it matters not to me. He looks amazing (peralescent body, powder blue finnage) and we're glad to have him  FWIW his eyes are silver with a black pupil, not red for those interested in the color variant/albino debate.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Still working on getting some decent pictures up. Here's one of our new Albino Eureka Red:










Here's a video of the tank in its current state:


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## CoolCichlid (Feb 12, 2010)

opcorn:

Amazingly beautiful! Love the rocks. :thumb:


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## irondan (Nov 22, 2007)

beautiful, well laid out tank and nice selection of fish


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Thanks guys! 

I have changed the rocks a bit since the original lay out. I added a few and had to rearrange some when I pulled the juvie Labs to move to a 20L grow out tank for my daughter.

Here's an updated video:






Current Peacock/Hap stock list:
Albino Eureka Red
Benga Sunshine (Baenschi)
German Red (which looks more yellow than red right now :roll: )
Lemon Jake
Lwanda
Red Shoulder
Sulphur Head
Taiwan Reef
Walteri
White Knight Ahli

Some recent pics:

Sulphur Head









Albino Eureka Red









Walteri









Taiwan Reef (starting to color up)









Lemon Jake (got his yellow, waiting on the blue)

















White Knight Ahli

















Lwanda (just starting show color)


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## norden (Nov 18, 2010)

BoilerFan said:


> My son and I went to the local landscaping store and picked out over a 100 lbs of rock (didn't end up using it all!) and was pleased to get it all for about $8. He and I arranged the rocks together.


hi sorry, i'm new. just wondering you say you bought rocks from a landscaping store? do you have anything to it before putting it in? like could i go get some rocks from lowes and just put them in my tank as decor?


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

You should clean/disinfect them before putting them your aquarium. Some people boil them and scrub them though there are mixed opinions on the safety of boiling rocks.

I ran mine (all 100+ lbs) through the dishwasher while the wife was out


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

BoilerFan said:


> I ran mine (all 100+ lbs) through the dishwasher while the wife was out


This might be obvious but it's important to note that they would have been run through the dishwasher without soap.

Beautiful tank! =D>


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Probably should have said that myself. We did indeed run them with absolutely no detergent of any kind. Worked like a charm.

Thanks


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## norden (Nov 18, 2010)

thanks so much, we went to a landscaping place today and got a bunch of rocks for only $.64 i couldnt believe it, i paid $15 for a rock from petland, lol never buying rocks there again. also thanks for letting me know about the pool filter sand, we've been wanting to change to sand but it was just so expensive, but the PFS was so cheap. Great tank btw =]


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

I'm glad the thread has been a help for you. I stole most of these ideas from other threads on the boards.

I wish I had all the money back that I've spent on rock at pet stores... I don't regret the holey rock for my mbuna tank, but the sandstone, lava rock, etc... is just sitting in a bucket in my basement. Ah well, we've all been there 

I read and lurked on these boards a long time before attempting all this. PFS sounded like an all around good deal and it definitely was. It was cheap and clean plus the fish love it.


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## DrgRcr (Jun 23, 2009)

Very nice tank BolierFan! :thumb: Good luck with the new inhabitants.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

FWIW I just noticed that the first picture of the Lemon Jake is actually a picture of our Benga Sunshine. The one immediately below it is indeed the Lemon Jake.


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## phorty (Oct 30, 2009)

Tank looks great! I was at that swap as well. Do you live in the Chicagoland area?


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

We live on the Indiana side of the border, but we're within an hour (or less) of pretty much anything we want to do in Chicago.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Small update:

I moved my Acei to this tqank (not sure if posted that yet) and they recently spawned and I caught it on video 






Our Albino Eureka Red has been showing signs of being overly stressed so I pulled him out for now. He's in my son's 10G with some tetras and getting along fine while healing tattered fins. He's always been sigh, but was looking overly stressed recently despite being pretty much ignored by the rest of the tank. He may need to be rehomed, but we'll give him a chance to heal up and grow out more first.

On a sad note, our dwarf bushy nose pleco died a couple days ago. We had him for about 3 years. I thought he had been doing fine. I probably should have been supplementing his diet with wafers though there is a healthy supply of algae in the tank. His belly looked OK when I found him, but it's hard to tell after death do to bloating so I'm not sure.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

We now have a 2nd Acei female holding in the tank!

On another note, both the Lemon Jake and Benga Sunshine appear to be less colored than when we got them about 6 weeks ago :-? This is discouraging to me. The Lwanda appears to be coloring up slowly as is the Taiwan Reef which we have had for almost 3 months at this point. I feed NLS exclusively. If anyon has any thoughts on this I'd be interested in hearing them. I assume I just need to be patient, but the backward trend puzzles me, but I assume it is related to the hierarchy in the tank. I have no reason to believe the fish were hormoned as they were bought from GCCA breeders though I suppose it's not impossible.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Here's an updated video of the tank including some java fern we added this past weekend.






One of the Acei moms spit in the ank at night and we lost all her clutch. I did strip the other and found 36 fry! Big mouthfule her size IMO.

Here's a few shots of the fish:
Lwanda starting to show some nice color








Lwanda








Taiwan Reef starting to show color








Benga Sunshine also coloring up








FTS


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Got the camera out again last night and got a few "good" shots.

Lwanda - starting to see blaze coming in on anal fin and tail:



















Benga Sunshine is starting to color up nice and showing some blue on his face finally.



















"Red Jake" I picked up at the LFS, likely a hybrid, but maybe a Eureka Red. (Won't be breeding him so it doesn't really matter to me).










Some Acei shots. Tried to get a good one of my male, blue blaze on fins, feathering on the dorsal. He's much more impressive live. He wouldn't hold still!



















Female Acei (apologies for the green spot algae, need a good scrubbin'!)



















Enough for now


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## 60gallon (Dec 14, 2010)

I saw your video and man that's a nice looking tank!! Love your peacocks too! I have a 90 gallon all male peacock tank but I'm not happy with my rocks. I went from arkansas creek bricks to Colorado river boulders to holey rock and now to some rounded Mexican river rock. I love the colors in the river rock but it's hard to make piles that look natural.

I live in Houston and we have several rock places but again it's Houston and one might be in Houston but 45 mins away lol. Do you happen to remember what your landscaping company called your rocks? I'm going to see if I can call around and find some.

Tell your son and daughter they did a great job!! : )


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Honestly, I don't remember them being labeled anything other than landscaping rocks. There were 2 pretty big piles in the middle of the area of 2 different sizes. We chose 1 "big" rock and all the rest came from the smaller pile including the obviously granite rock. I wish I could be more helpful than that, but outside of a return trip when it warms up a bit (which I can do, it will just be a month or so, we live 5 mins away) I don't have more info.

Some updates from recent activity:

The German "Red: we picked up in November is pretty much yellow to the point of me suspecting that the breeder mislabeled his stock at the swap meet though he was careful to point out a picture of a German Red when I mis-spoke and referred to it as a Ruby Red when my daughter asked about it. It's likely a Benga Sunshine, but perhaps it's just a bad line of German Red. The only frustrating thing about it is the Benga we picked is not coloring up now because of it. When I had the German "Red" out for a bloat treatment, the Benga really started to color up (see pics above), but has since lost most of its color.

The "Red Jake" from the LFS has lost most if not all of his color. At 2" this leads me to believe my original concern about hormoning at the LFS (or more likely their supplier).

We added what looks to be a Ruby Red from the LFS yesterday. They of course labeled it "Red Peacock" so I can't rule out any hybridaztion, but it looks exactly like a ruby Red. I am worried that it was hormoned as well, but it's about 3" so it's coloration may legitimately coming in. We'll see.

I'll post a question in the Malawi forum because it will get more response than the photography forum, but if anyone has info on hormoning and it's affects on the fish and future coloration I'd be interested to hear it.


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## phorty (Oct 30, 2009)

Good luck figuring out what you have in there! Do you plan on attending the swap next weekend?


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Can't make the swap this time around. It's our 18th anniversary and the wife has told me in no uncertain terms that we will NOT be attending 

My only fear at this point with the "Red Jake" and "Red Peacock" is that they are actually female and they were hormoned for early coloration. If they are males and eventually color up the way they were at the LFS when I bought them then I'm OK with that. I may frequent the store less or at the very least open up a discussion with the staff about my concerns, butI'm not too worried about IDing them because I believe I am right about that (Eureka Red, and Ruby Red) and I don't intend to breed these two particular fish. All they have to do is look good and play nice with others.


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Attended the GCCA auction on Sunday (May 22).

We picked up some new additions:

*Taiwan Reef (adult)* - $6 I was surprised at the lack of bidding on him. Granted, his color was pretty washed out in the bag, but he is a full 6+" and has colored up nicely since release.

*Aulonocara Koningsi "Blue Regal"* - $21 Plenty of bidding on this one. He was fully colored in the bag and is pretty hard to find around here. I haven't ever seen any ads on the GCCA website for one.

*Deepwater Hap "Electra" * - $1 (yes!) He was originally baged as part of a breeding pair, but the female died on site, but was removed from her separate bag prior to bidding. He was almost completely washed out in the bag. I have wanted one of these for over a year now and was thrilled that I even had the chance at one. To get him full grown for $1 was a steal.

*Sulphur Head Hap* - $12 He was pretty washed out in the bag (forehead blaze was visible, but not really yellow per se) and was mislabeled "copadichromis mloto" My kids liked him and despite not being able to figure out which "mlot" he really was I bid on him. He colored up pretty quick in the tank and his coloration blew me away. I did some research and found the Placidichromis Spilonotus (Mara Rocks) and he's a dead ringer. We hit a homerun with this one. He's just gorgeous.

*Otopharynx Lithobates Z-Rock 5 juvies *- $1 The price was too good to pass up  I'll grow them out, keep the best male for this tank and maybe put the rest in my vacant 40G breeder.

Ruby Red Peacock juvenile - $4

I'll post some pic when I get some good ones, but here's an updated video of the tank:


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## newforestrob (Feb 1, 2010)

what ? only 2minutes and 51 seconds ! I had to watch it a few times,great update :drooling:


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## BoilerFan (Jun 20, 2010)

Managed shoot some decent shots (for me anyway) this afternoon.

FTS









Center Shots


















Taiwan Reef


















Suplhur Head Hap (Protomelas Spilonotus Mara Rocks)


















Deepwater Hap (Electra)









Aulonocara Koningsi

I played with the brightness on the first one, it was under exposed. (You can see the Z-ROck fry in the lower part of the picture)


















Lwanda









Walteri


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