# Is PH of 9 too high for peacock cichlid



## nirmal (Jul 2, 2019)

Hi Guys,

I am palnning to setup a 50 Gallon tank(l-36 x H-18 x W-18) and wish to keep peacock cichlid. There is very limited variety of peacock available in my city. Some of them are Bicolour, Electric blue, yellow sunshine, livingstonii, OB. Now the major problem is the PH of my tap water which is around to 8.8. I am not sure whether these varieties of peacock can survie this PH level. Do i Need to lower the PH to setup the tank.?
Also would like to tell that i am planning to use small stones as gravel. they do not have any kind of sharp edges and so they wont cause any harm to fish. Howvere they are very dirty and I plan to use muriatic acid to clean them. Will this cleaning process help to lower the PH for long term?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

8.8 is OK African cichlids but a 36" tank would not work for any of the fish you mention. It would not be ideal for the vast majority of Lake Malawi cichlids.

I would remove all muriatic acid from the stones and pray they are not porous.

With a 36" tank and a high pH I would consider Tanganyikans like a pair of julidochromis and a colony of shell dwellers.


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## nirmal (Jul 2, 2019)

appreciate your guidance.. However would like to add more

the length may be 36'', but as the width is 18'' , shouldn't that help the fish to take easy uturns and swim freely. I came to understand with some research that my tank size is almost similar to 40 breeder tank which has more surface area compare to 55 gallon normal tank(L-48'')and peacock been free swimers in nature will be able to swim freely till they reach a size of 5inch.

all my gravel stones do not have any pores. However i understood your concern. Once i treat the stones with muriatic acid , i will rinse it and dry it under sunlight 3 to 4 times and will later trat it with bakin soda to neturalize the left over acid effect if any.

My major concern was the high PH level of tap water, but as you said its OK, i can proceed.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The length is most important. The territorial fish will relentlessly chase for the entire 36". It is not square footage and it is not gallons. It is also not fish length.

My 33G tanks are 48" long and do work for most Malawi. My 38G tank is 36" long and does not work for most Malawi. I have tried peacocks in the 36" tank...it did not work well.

The 36" tank could be used for grow-out but once the fish start spawning (as small as 1.5" but almost always by 3") they should be in a larger tank to provide room for territories and manage aggression.


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

I miss my eight foot long tanks! But for the fish you want, at least a four foot tank is needed. After all the dominant fish may pick a territory dead center of the tank so that even a four foot tank can be tough. You mentioned deeper tanks having more turnaround room. It may be possible in those to create opaque partial dividers blocking line of sight but at least one will have to be attached to the front of the tank. Three feet can be a grow out tank for fry and young juveniles, but you can't keep them in it all that long.


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