# My Peacock is holding in its mouth! Please help!



## MyCichlidClique (Jan 31, 2013)

Hello I have a 55 gallon tank full of malawi cichlids and a couple weeks ago I picked up a new beautiful male electric blue ahli as a new addition. In his first day in the new tank he was chasing around my tangerine peacock and when he would get close, he would do that funky/seizure dance.... A couple days later, i noticed my tangerine peacock was behaving differently so i looked up close and noticed her mouth is bigger than usual and she won't open it! its been almost 2 weeks since i noticed that and she hasnt eaten a single flake when i feed my fish. I'm really excited about this so i just bought a 10 gallon tank and got it all setup but i never breed cichlids before... only fish i succesfully breed was a crayfish which is very different... Should i put both the male ahli and my female peacock in the new tank? How long am i suppose to wait till she spits them out? Am i suppose to strip her from her fry? what exactly am i suppose to do? Please respond if you have experience with breeding peacocks! Thankyou!


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## ITALIAN926 (Jul 31, 2012)

Uh oh.......


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

Do not put the male ahli in a ten gallon with her. It doesnt sound like the ten gallon is cycled so I would let her spit the fry in the main tank and they will likely be eaten. Do you intend on doing anything with fry besides keeping them for your own enjoyment? Hybridization is not a good thing typically, so do not distribute these fish. The male ahli (likely fryeri) will breed with about any female peacock and also kill male peacocks to keep the females to himself, so be fore warned.


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## NYEA (Feb 2, 2013)

If you intend to keep the fry which as was mentioned before these offspring will be hybrids, I would pull her from the main tank and put her in the ten gallon tank and observe her until she releases in the tank. When you notice she has released the fry I would remove her from that tank and either quarantine her for a few days so she can eat and regain herself before being added back to the main tank. If this is not an option then add her back to the main tank but observe her that she is not being harassed because she has not eaten for 3 weeks she will be weakened and not herself.


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

The concern that I had and mentioned was that the ten gallon doesn't sound like it is cycled. If that is the case, I wouldn't risk her by putting her in the ten. She still will give off some waste even without her eating.


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## NYEA (Feb 2, 2013)

Then use a breeder net to hold her in the main tank once she releases pull her out.


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## MyCichlidClique (Jan 31, 2013)

@k7gixxerguy i look at my male ahli as more of a peace keeper in my tank; the biggest fish in my tank but also the least aggressive. And yes im planning to keep the fries just cuz both my male ahli and my tangerine peacock are really beautiful and i really want to see how the babies come out. plus i work at a petstore, so when they get big, they will be profit for us.

and thanks for the response @nyea the female is in the cycled 10 gallon tank right now. Im either planning to strip her from her fries within a week or just let nature take its course and let her spit them out, i went to an aquarium store and the cichlid guy there recommended me to strip the fries around the 2-3 week period otherwise the female could accidently swallow them especially if you have food in the tank.


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## MyCichlidClique (Jan 31, 2013)

this is my male ahli and my female tangerine peacock hiding right behind him

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http://instagr.am/p/VLDU0XD180/


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

What are you going to sell them as? What happens when someone at the store says oh it's a tangerine peacock if they look like mom. That was the point about hybrids and losing bloodlines. Profit isn't everything and if you read on these forums there are plenty of disappointed people that were sold "pure" fish to later find out that they are hybrids and now have nothing to base what they are or will be on. You also said that the ahli is the peacekeeper. What else exactly is in the tank? He's only been in there for a couple weeks right? Hardly enough time to base a judgment on how he will be in the long run. Not trying to rain on your parade or anything, just trying to make you aware of considerations.


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## papasmurf (May 21, 2003)

This is going to sound really blunt but please do yourself and hobbyists everywhere that appreciate cichlids a favor and do not sell the fry....if you must keep them, please keep them in your tank. Like others have mentioned....the ahli/fryeri will more than likely dominate your peacocks...the fact that it has already spawned in such a short time is further proof of this.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

papasmurf said:


> This is going to sound really blunt but please do yourself and hobbyists everywhere that appreciate cichlids a favor and do not sell the fry....if you must keep them, please keep them in your tank.


+1


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## Michael89 (Feb 20, 2013)

what ever you do, do not sell or distribute the fry.

we dont want to ruin the hobby with hybrids.....


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## IanR29 (Dec 13, 2012)

As said above please dot sell or distribute those fry. Please please please. And working at a pet store you should know this is a huge no no.


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## k7gixxerguy (Jan 12, 2012)

I don't think the OP is coming back. From his YouTube description he appears very young and hopefully is mature enough to not look at a few bucks as reason enough to muddy the waters with these hybrids.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

It is exciting to have your first spawn in a tank. However, all of the posts above are absolutely right...Please do not take these to the pet store and sell them to the public. They will show up in the unidentified section and there will be upset hobbyist who purchase them. They are hybrids. If you want to keep them, keep them, just don't distribute them into the hobby.

My first spawn were hybrids. I allowed the mother to spit in the main tank, problem solved.


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