# HELP! Hybrid Peacocks, aggression, breeding - so lost.



## jwest3494 (Oct 26, 2016)

Pics and videos of my tank - https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/YoHDNnKiAkStuUrv12nnIiRQAPQMO3Y43RJv1rg9KoH
Last fall we were given a 75 gal, 5ft long tank and a group of 16 juvenile "peacocks" by someone who used to own LFS. I didn't know anything about cichlids at the time, but love fish and always wanted a nice aquarium but for the cost to start, so thought this was perfect. I had just assumed that the brood we were given was a pure line, being they came from a store owner's personal home tank. I had assumed peacock was just a common name for a certain species. We were subsequently given a firefish coloration, and a yellow lab - both unsexed but nice color as young adults. Well it's been a year and I learned along the way that these fish are actually hybrids of various generations of peacocks and haps that were in the original tank - most are offspring of a milomo x peacock. I've spent so much time reading and self-educating, stalking this group lol, and I understand the problem of spreading hybrid genes. *I'm not trying to breed, I just want a beautiful tank with interesting, happy and healthy fish.* And here I am now with 3 - THREE TANKS! and absolutely no plan. I'm at my wit's end trying to figure out where to go from here.

75 gal - 5ft long
15 -Milomo-Peacock hybrids:
[*]5 male
[*]8 female
[*]3 unsure
1 Yellow Lab - male?
1 Firefish - male?
1 Bristlenose Pleco - female
1 Rainbow Shark - male

The dom male peacock has been terrorizing the tank for the past 2 months as he started turning into a horn-dog. The tank is 5' long and he occupies 4 of it, constantly chasing down fish that are already facing away on the other side of the tank, hiding in the corner. He's pestering all the ladies and bullying the other males, scars and missing scales are the only damage so far. I had 4 holding females in the past month (with the first one, admittedly stupidly, we kept the fry in a 10 gal maternity tank - something about being the first). I had a 30 gal set up in the bedroom intending to move those 9 fry there as they grew, but Big Daddy's been so crazy and causing so much stress in the tank that I felt bad for the other holding females and thought I maybe could get them to spit in there, eat some food and go back to main tank able to hold their own. I'm a pet person, I have dogs and grew up showing horses, so I'm probably placing emotions on these fish that are unrealistic, but I want an animal in my care to be comfortable. I caught 2 of the 3 currently holding and moved them there as they've been holding longer and hang together most of the time anyway. Well neither lady has released on her own, and one I've tried to strip twice by rubbing her throat, but no go, and yes, she's still holding. Now I feel awful that I stressed her for no reason. Ugh.

I don't want 1000 fish. I don't want constant fighting, injury and death. I want colorful fish that move about freely. That in mind...WHAT THE F AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH ALL THESE **** FISH? LOL

Big Daddy (dom) and Darkness (#2 male) are both gorgeous looking fish, and I'd love to keep one or both of them if conditions permitted. From what I've gathered, males of the same species or even color? shouldn't be kept together without a harem of females each and I can see that my ratio of possibly 10 females to 5 males of kind is off. I also don't want a ton of fish that all look the same. Diversity would be nice. Say we were able to get rid of fish (the other big problem is that I have no idea what to do with them) - should we:
A) try for an all male tank of different colors/species
B) try keeping one of my dom peacock males and 3 females, and add new M:F from other species, let nature take it's course with fry or get a fry-eater.
What do I do about the firefish and lab? (I'm pretty sure the orange one is male, but they would both require further confirmation to be sure) Would I be forced to get females for them too? I'd prefer to pick some more interesting fish and have to admit I would be a little disappointed if I were limited to just 4 colorful males for a number of years and two of them were _basic_ (said with a laugh). 
C) start over LOL
D) Suggestions?

Sorry this was such a long rant, I just really need to have a plan as this current situation just doesn't seem like it's going to work longer term and I don't want to flub it up any further.


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## FireHorn123 (Apr 16, 2017)

if you are trying to breed them you should take out the yellow lab also remove all males only keep females. Also the red shark should be taken out.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would do "A" and realize that hybrids can be more aggressive so you may need to euthanize any male that remains aggressive after females are out for a month or so.

Choose 12 that look nothing alike.

Let us know how many you have left from your original stock after removing females and hyper-aggressive males and we can recommend fish to add if you need more to make 12.


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## jwest3494 (Oct 26, 2016)

FireHorn123 said:


> if you are trying to breed them you should take out the yellow lab also remove all males only keep females. Also the red shark should be taken out.


Definitely NOT trying to breed. Shark and pleco are only ones who seem happy all the time and don't get bothered by big boy.


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## jwest3494 (Oct 26, 2016)

DJRansome said:


> I would do "A" and realize that hybrids can be more aggressive so you may need to euthanize any male that remains aggressive after females are out for a month or so.
> 
> Choose 12 that look nothing alike.
> 
> Let us know how many you have left from your original stock after removing females and hyper-aggressive males and we can recommend fish to add if you need more to make 12.


Thank you. Option A, since all the males seem to present the same coloration would basically leave me with 3: one of these milomo-peacock hybrids, the firefish and the lab.

Any suggestions on what to do with the rest? 
I don't know how euthanasia is viewed in light of all the stress that's given to not spreading hybrids around. I'm assuming the fish store won't take them, i don't care about money or credit, i just don't know what the right choice is supposed to be.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I try not to determine who is at fault and in this case it does sound like you were left with a bad situation. I also recommend going to an all male tank. But that is the end of my easy going part. The rest sounds really nasty but then I grew up around farms and learned early that there is no good way to deal with mistakes of this sort. So I make it quick and as painless as I can. We get all kinds of recommendations on how to not "scare" the fish and such but when I look at it in real terms, I'm not at all sure there is a ways to catch a fish in a net and not give him as close as possible to the ultimate scare. So I don't try to avoid scaring the fish and simply give it one good solid whack which is enough to be sure of death in the quickest way. 
But then I might also look at what I might do to lessen the need to kill a bunch of fish, especially if they are fish that I might enjoy if they behaved better. 
Maybe some thoughts on modding the tank to better deal with the rowdies? There may be some cheap, reasonably easy things to cut the aggression. One is to remove as many females as possible as all the males will get excited every time any female is ripe and putting hormones in the water. 
But I also find it works much better for me if I keep far more hiding than the normal tank so I might start with that and see how much effect it has. If your area has limestone laying loose, start picking some and build a big pile in the tank so that there are hiding spots everywhere you look. Not stacked but a jumble like might fall off a truck works better to give the wide variety of types and sizes of hiding so fish can actually get out of sight and feel safe, not just duck behind something. 
There are times when fish will actually give up chasing everybody he might see if those fish tend to just disappear. Maybe doesn't work but at least it has a chance and the other option is still there for those who don't cooperate?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

If they are hybrids you need to keep them in your home for their lifetimes.

If they are killing each other, better to do it humanely.

If you have a red peacock, you could add a yellow one and a blue one.

What color is the milomo-peacock? Blue?

You could add other haps of the various species such as Placidochromis electra.

You could do a breeding group of yellow labs.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

i read somewhere that also to reduce aggression is a good idea to remove the more aggressive and put him like in a time out type of deal, for a week or two may be even three weeks, re-arrange the rocks wood or whatever so have in the main tank and try again, they say sometimes it works sometimes it does not...

but at least is another option...

please keep us informed of any developments...


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## jwest3494 (Oct 26, 2016)

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It's a lot of fuel for thought. I definitely can try rearrangement and creating more hideyholes. The male tank sounds most appealing long term, but I'd need to dispose of the others. Anyone wanna come over for a fish fry? Hahaha @pfunmo appreciate the candor. Thanks again.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

jwest3494 said:


> Thanks for the advice, everyone. It's a lot of fuel for thought. I definitely can try rearrangement and creating more hideyholes. The male tank sounds most appealing long term, but I'd need to dispose of the others. Anyone wanna come over for a fish fry? Hahaha @pfunmo appreciate the candor. Thanks again.


The African natives do probably think we are pretty weird to take what they eat for lunch and put it in a glass tank in the house!


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