# peacock tank setup help



## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

here is a pic of current tank setup. in dec i will be getting a much bigger 2x the size(current 65)
i have had mostly all Mbuna afercans up till this year.i was woundering if/what i should change to make the peacocks "thrive" better. as in less rock caves no plants..i will be switching to sand asap


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## jimmie (Oct 23, 2002)

switch to sand..take out the plants.add some blue lighting to bring there color out..because all the white lighting wash out there color...peace and blessing :fish:


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

Make sure you pick all males so there is less aggression and no cross breeding. Take out some of your rocks so there is more swimming room for the fish.


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

i have 2 50/50 compacts in atm. and took pic with my iphone....
and i was going to spawn then a few times before getting rid of females. i will not be giving/selling ne of offspring so hybirding not a big consern for me. thanks for the advise guys


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

But at the same time I'd be worried about the aggression issues between the males. But as you said you are getting a bigger tank, what size will it be? Id leave the plants if you want them I have some in mine with no issues.


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

me and my freind(a glazer) are going to build a L one basicaly 4ft x 4ft. don't know the hight/depth yet but around 2ft for both iam moving in dec of this year and have half of a full basment to work with  iam switching to sand this weekend. i got some from my work site that i realy like(crushed granite) its a dark grey/charcole colour. iam just hoping not ne bad minerals in it to leech, will be cleaning thouroly.back to female in the tank. i curantly have agression problem with my ob males.. they won't leave my little red german alone!!! hides at top behind filter intake/heater. was going to get rid of 2 of the obs and my cool blue and yellow julie. think getting rid of females would help more??? about 7females/5males


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

Wait how many female peacocks do you have in the tank now?


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

6 females and posable +1 from a ob thats alot less agressive


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

Yeah if you take them out it should be a lot better.


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

iam in luck my freind said he would take the females to put in sep tank.he said he might tri using for spawnin and that i could have them back ne time i wanted them. so going to put sand in tommorow and some diff rocks and catch the females. its going to look real bare with out them  ill post new pic when its done and use my caamra and not iphone...


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

mk new set up haven't really done one like this ne critique on it is appreciated. and yea with my iphone again had no batteries for camra.









got rid of females and got some more hopfull males bout 6 juvies, 3 med males


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## jimmie (Oct 23, 2002)

that's good;keep it going,make sure you keep your water change up


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## PR_islander (Mar 26, 2009)

You could paint the back black or a dark navy blue.


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

will be getting a background soon. do u think i need more rock cover in there? looks kinda bare to me, or is that good room for swiming?


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

females are all gone and iam still having agression problems....... my peackocks are acting like aratus's should i have more/less hiding spots. my red peackock looks in real bad shape, he gets all the agression from the 3 bigger ones...


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

You need more fish in there to spread the aggression out equally.


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

hum.. ALL MALES 
3 large(3.5-4.5 inch) sunshine,ob,and red top cool bule 
2 med(3 inch) sunshine,red german
6 small(1.75-2 inch) 2x ereka,lwanda,koningsi,ruby green 
3 xsmall(1-1.75inch) taiwan reef,red empress,koningsi
and 3 chiness alge eaters,and loach(dunno what kind but holds his own)

This is a already over stock'd!!! once they mature a bit. guess just hope for the best till they all grow to close the same size.

ne other sudgestions. like seperating the tank for a bit till they grow. i don't want to get rid of my larger ones(as u might have guess'd)but don't want ne of the fish to be beat up on


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

One of the "rules" of all male peacock tanks is to be willing to remove bullies that don't play nice. sometimes you can give them a "time out" and return at a later time, but I've not found that workable. So who's the bully of the tank? Is he beating up your ruby red? You can also just remove the victim and try adding him later, as long as you add several others with him.

Another "rule" is that the fish shouldn't look like each other. So you need to remove one of the sunshines and one of the Eureka Reds as well as one of the konignsis.

Good luck.

(I'd also take out the loach and the chinese algae eaters . . . )


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

hum thats going to be a hard "rule" the larger sunshine is my wifes.... as is the smaller 1. the ob is the main agresser to the ruby,but large sunshine will help out. the problem with the ruby is that its a slow swimmer compared to the others...this is one of the ones i realy want'd. but maybe the ereka will be more red than blue. the to erekas/konings i'am going to wait to see which one is better looking then ship out the other or set up a 2nd tank. thanks for the thoughs don't sound to easy. *** been keeping cichlids for a bout 17 years about 11 years afercans but never had ne peacocks/haps before. iam only 27 amt. but i LOVE fish. i won't even eat fish, when ppl ask me why not, i say i don't eat cat/dog either. most ppl don;t understand -.- getting long... thanks for help ill update when figure out what iam doing 

E: my poor red peacock cheaking out a female


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

> E: my poor red peacock cheaking out a female


I thought this was an all male tank? The presence of even one female will greatly distrupt the peacefulness of the tank and lead to all kinds of issues . . .

IME, ruby reds are particularly mild and often the target of aggression. I have, unfortunately, lost several over the past two years. I had to remove my gorgeous sunshine last attempt, as he wouldn't leave the ruby alone. Mr. Sunshine went to the LFS and the ruby red got to survive!

I don't do OB peacocks but I've read that since their lineage is suspect, they can be more "mbuna-like" than other peacocks.

Good luck


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

that was before i got rid of females 
and yes the ob is the main aggressor, well him and the redtop cool bule. this might be were i start. i have alredy gotten rid of 2 other obs. keep this one for the white. looks alot differnt than others(colour) but doesn't help that he's the bigest


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

well it has been about 1 month and i have been going through a lot of changes with the tank...
this is it atm 








looks bad i know. the 2 big ones almost killed my jacobfreibergi (Otter Pt.) i had him by him self,but changed my mind and put the 2 big ones togeter.








they were doing fine together till yester day when i added 4 more MS fish. my sunshine went mental!!! and he was in a differnt side.(mind u a few of them could swin from side to side) my ob is now in the featal posion. iam worried about opening the tank back up for fear of anarcy. iam i doing something to make them more aggresive? the mumbas i have had almost seem less aggresive.. iwas hoping to keep the big ones seperate till i move in end of dec. when i get my new tank(5ftx2ftx2ft) about a 100gallons. in hope that some of the smaller ones will grow faster and get better colour when not being molested by bigger fish.

current fish list
4 large(3-4 inch) sunshine,ob,jabcobfreiberg,ruby red(almost colurless) 
4 med(3 inch) sunshine(almost colurless), ruby red,ruby green(hap),elctra blue(hap)
small(1.75-2 inch) ereka,lwanda,koningsi,taiwan reef,all yellow peacok,Copadichromis azureus?
2 xsmall(1-1.75inch) red empress,spec #44(hap)

my lwanda may be a female plz let me know what u think (might be a late "bloming" fish)


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## Danzx6r (Oct 12, 2009)

Hello mate
Quick question: why are you adding more fish when you havent sorted the problems with the others?

As a safe bet & from advice I have picked up on here... I would do max 5 Peacock males & defo no females.

I would like your response as I am setting up an all male Peacock tank & would like to know how your getting on!

Cheers
Dan :thumb:


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

i have added more fish to the tank to 1. spread agression 2. get juvies acustome to other fish before to big of size diff. 3. so when i switch to new tank the fish will be simaler size.


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## Danzx6r (Oct 12, 2009)

Ok thanks for the reply!
This may help... 


> removing cave systems in a male peacock tank will reduce aggression due to lake of cave territory to defend


I have just read this in Aquaguides cichlid book.... may be of some use doing this rather than adding more fish!? :fish:

Regards
Dan :thumb:


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

removing my 3 biggest + 2 posable females and rescaping my tank with just to rock piles in each end seemd to be the fix!! my tank is now very peacefull with only my jacobfreibergi (Otter Pt.) being agressive at dinner time, and limited. he will only clear them out of a area not hunt them all day long. i have add some more fish to the tank all at about 2 inch's total fish is at 17 + to chinese alge eaters. i have gotten my new tanks glass order and i will be making the stand soon.  thanks for all the help guys


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

mmz3 said:


> females are all gone and iam still having agression problems....... my peackocks are acting like aratus's should i have more/less hiding spots. my red peackock looks in real bad shape, he gets all the agression from the 3 bigger ones...


 You should not need a divider IMO. Now you have enough rocks in there.

One thing to consider is the possibility of having hormoned females that appear to be males.

I would remove the OB. He is not really a peacock. He is a peacock/mbuna hybrid and Mbuna should not be mixed with Peacocks IMO.


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

Id lose the CAE they will suck the slime coat off the fish...


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

danielratti said:


> Id lose the CAE they will suck the slime coat off the fish...


lol really!!!  i don't mind them they are alot more active than ne plecos *** had. they sorta clean algee and they always clean the substrat of ne remander food.pluse the don't have long strings of red poo every were.



> You should not need a divider IMO. Now you have enough rocks in there.
> 
> One thing to consider is the possibility of having hormoned females that appear to be males.
> 
> I would remove the OB. He is not really a peacock. He is a peacock/mbuna hybrid and Mbuna should not be mixed with Peacocks


i have remove the divider and the OB and ruby and sunshine plus a lwanda and a jacobfreibergi. i belive my problem was having females and having to much of a size differnce. and rock setup for mbuna. also having all juvi's they get use to each other easyer than at adult hood. it has been a big learning curve for me but i think i have it figured out now. ill post u some pic of the new tank setup tommorow when the fish wake up :fish: i do have 2 ACEI in their and they seem to be doing fine with the haps/peacocks.


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

mmz3 said:


> danielratti said:
> 
> 
> > Id lose the CAE they will suck the slime coat off the fish...
> ...


 Yeah the acei should be fine. I'm still guessing the OB was the problem. I believe they are a cross with Zebras which are very aggressive.


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

neochromis omnicaeruleus could aslo be what OB peacocks are crossed with.


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

ok so here is my peacefull peacock/hap tank

stocking list is as follows
1 Aulonocara "Rubescens Albino" --->Dragon 
1 Aulonocara (Rubescens) ----> Comet
1 Aulonocara baenschi ---->Banana
1 Aulonocara jacobfreibergi (Otter Pt.)----> LIghting
1 Aulonocara jacobfreibergi (Chirwa Is.)/shallowtail---->Lemon
1 Aulonocara koningsi ---->Blueberry
1 Aulonocara maylandi ---->Match Stick
1 Aulonocara stuartgranti (Hongi Is.)---->Stratta
1 Aulonocara stuartgranti (Ngara)---->Midnight
1 Aulonocara sp. "Stuartgranti Maleri" (Nakantenga Is.)---->Sunny

1 Astatotilapia nubilus---->Happy
1 Placidochromis electra ---->Sky
2 Protomelas sp. "Steveni Taiwan" (Taiwan Reef)---->Reef/Firecracker
1 Protomelas taeniolatus (Namalenje Is.) Stripe
1 Sciaenochromis fryeri (Cape Maclear)---->Oscar
2 Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" (Msuli)---->Bert/Erinne
1 chinese algee eater---->sucker
1 golden chinese algee eater---->suckie
_yea my wife and kids helped name them_

and some pic's


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

As long as you're getting a bigger tank I see no issues with your stocking list. You should have a pretty good tank.


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## mmz3 (Sep 7, 2009)

danielratti said:


> As long as you're getting a bigger tank I see no issues with your stocking list. You should have a pretty good tank.


yup its a 150g 60"x24"x24"


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## danielratti (Feb 17, 2008)

If your looking into some morre fish try getting some from the Nimbo. family, and some from the bucco. family. My only concern if you were to do that is since those two fish hunt mbuna in the wild I'd watch your yellow tail acei. It would turn out to be a pretty cool tank.


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