# 75 Gallon Stocking Ideas - All male tank vs species groups



## vtgorilla (Aug 17, 2018)

Hi all, new forum member here!

I'm planning a new tank that I'll setup in the next few months and I'm trying to make most of my fish decisions before I actually buy anything. I had a tropical community tank about 10 years ago, some I'm not new to fish...just to cichlids!

My tank size will hopefully be 75 gallons. Filter, decorations, substrate will all be chosen to match the stocking decisions.

I've recently learned that I love the look of male Peacocks - I mean, who doesn't?! So I want to incorporate them in the tank somehow, but I feel like I need some guidance to help make the right decision. Right now, I'm leaning toward the following stocking options:

*Option 1: All male Peacock/Hap tank*
- Pros: beautiful and active
- Cons: Either a struggle to get all males by developing juvies and pulling females / or expensive to buy sexed males. Plus, potential ongoing aggression issues until totally established. I might need to order online to get proper variety even though my LFS is pretty solid.

_How hard will this really be? I'm already dreading the constant trips to the LFS (20 minutes each way)..._

*Option 2: OB Peacock species tank*
- Pros: Get a few beautiful OB males (I assume this is possible?), female OBs are decent looking, chance to watch breeding behavior
- Cons: Not as colorful as the other options. Still will have to do some gender filtering as they develop.

_Is this one reasonably possible? How many males might color up in a 75 with enough females? Will I be overwhelmed with OB fry?_

*Option 3: Mixed species tank*

Was thinking about the following, but willing to change based on your recommendations

1m-4f OB Peacocks
1m-4f Yellow labs
1m-4f Acei (or something else, not super attached to acei)
5-6 synodontis multipunctatus "cuckoo catfish"

- Pros: Variety and color
- Cons: still some struggle with getting m/f ratios

Let me know if any of these stand out as great or terrible ideas. Which is the easiest/hardest to achieve? Can I eliminate any of these options right off the bat?

Thanks and sorry for the gigantic post!


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## vtgorilla (Aug 17, 2018)

I think just writing out the options gave me some clarity. I'm taking Option 2 off the table.

Right now, I'm leaning towards a hybrid of 1 and 3 which would look like the following:


8-10 male Peacocks/Haps
harem of Yellow labs (1m and 3-4f)

That's only ~15 fish in a 75, which I doubt would be considered overstocking. I could throw in some of the dwarf cuckoo catfish, but that doesn't properly overstock the cichlids. What else could I look to throw in as an additional harem that wouldn't be too aggressive?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I like #3 best and it will be easiest. If you go with haps and peacocks plus yellow labs I would probably still go with 12 individuals...5 labs and 7 haps and peacocks.

If you do another harem you could consider acei but then only 2 spaces left for haps and peacocks.


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## vtgorilla (Aug 17, 2018)

I think I'm giving up on the Peacock idea for now. It seems to add incredible complexity that I'm not sure I'm ready for. I'm going to go with mbuna groups only.


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## ken31cayman (Apr 15, 2018)

> I'm already dreading the constant trips to the LFS (20 minutes each way)...


I seriously envy you. I have a 180gal and 450gal full of male Haps & Peacocks but I had to import them from the US since the pet stores here don't stock them. Each shipment traveled 60 hours, not to mention the added 22% duty cost, and the import permit process.


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