# ob peacock fry



## peteybertrand (Aug 20, 2014)

I am sorta new to keeping cichlids. I ran across some beautiful ob's recently and couldnt pass them up. Myonly concern is that the parents are really colorful and the fry are not. I bought these online and I am wondering if I got sold bogus fish or they just havent gotten color yet. Also, when do ob peacocks normally start getting color? The picture is of the same line of his ob's. But my fry have no color and some vertical stripes.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Males would get color with maturity the same as any Malawi cichlid. Females don't gain color much color. They should show some signs of having the OB gene, maybe unless they are less than an inch. Those in the pic are probably all males.

Now these OB hybrids are wild cards. There are no set "breed" guidelines. They do not seem to be a fixed line, they need to be selectively bred.

Do you trust the seller? I have no idea if your seller is good or not, but there are plenty who make claims that they have great line bred Peacocks or hybrids. They show a pic of their best male, but not all end up like that. Many breeders even tweek their photos, yes, some are not very honest.


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## peteybertrand (Aug 20, 2014)

these are the fry. The biggest onr is a tad over 1inch long.


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## peteybertrand (Aug 20, 2014)

another view of the fry


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

I'm not familiar with how OB peacock fry should look, but they need more space than a breeder net if they're at 1".


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## peteybertrand (Aug 20, 2014)

I have only one that is at about 1" the other 5 are smaller with the smallest being around 1/2". Sould I get more breeder baskets or turn them loose in my 75 gal? Im worried they may be eaten or beat up by my other peacocks or eel. Peacocks range from 2.5-3"


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

I'd put them up in a timeout/growout/hospital tank. You'll need one anyways if you do not already have one. Wait until they're at least 1.5" before adding to the main tank. Preferably 2". What kind of eel?


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## peteybertrand (Aug 20, 2014)

Its a 6 inch fire eel. He does not cause any problems other than curiosity. But you never know. A grow out tank is just a spare tank to keep them in? Just used for isolation and things like that? And what size would I need?


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

The spare tank doesn't necessarily need to be running all the time. Throw some established media into a HOB filter, or keep a sponge filter in your main tank and move that when needed. This will allow the spare tank to be safe and cycled when needed. I'd say a 10 gallon would be the minimum.

The eel is not the best fit for a Malawi tank. It may make snacks out of small fish.


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## peteybertrand (Aug 20, 2014)

Ok thatnk you for all the indo. When the eel gets bigger he is definately gone. And ill get a small tank set up for them. Thanks again


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