# New 125 all male peacock and Haps tank with questions



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

Hi
I have been keeping Mbuna for several years but new to peacocks and Haps. I have a 125 72" setup with mostly peacocks and Haps with few Mbuna. Most of the fishes are around 2.5 to 3 and there are a few that are 4-5 inches. So far it has been ok, no fish hiding, everyone eats, there are chases but not damages that I can see. Wasn't sure what I was thinking when I added all these fishes but I kind of want to go all male no. Not sure how I should be going at this point.

My tank is 125 72" with 50 gallon sump growing a lot of ponthos in it. Ammonia and nitrite 0 and nitrate usually 20ppm in every 3 -4 days. I do 50% water change every 3-4 days. PH is 7.6, I used to buff it with baking soda and Epsom salt to 8.2 but now just leave it at 7.6. Fish seems to be ok with it.

I am also currently fishless cycling a 100 gallon 4 footer. Plan is to use it to house fishes I pull out from the 125.

My current stock list. Sorry for not using all the scientific name. Also, the one I don't mention as male, I am not sure if it's male or juiced.

German Red - 5-5.5 inch male. Currently the tank boss
German Red - 3 inch male
Red Empress - 4 - 4.5 inch
Red Empress - 3 inch
Redfin Borleyi - 3.5 inch male
Dragonblood- male 3 inch
Albino Dragonblood - 3 inch
Taiwan Reef - 3 inch
Albino Taiwan Reef - 2.5 
Red Shoulder Peacock - 3 inch male
Venustus - 3 inch
Venustus - 3.5 inch
Fusco Hap - 2.5
Fusco Hap 3 inch
5 Protomelas Spilonotus Mara Rock - 5 inch male, 4 other that are 3 inch
Sulfurhead Hap Hybrid? - 5 inch male
Neonblue peacock - 2 inch
Sulfurhead peacock - 2 inch male
2 Placidochromis Phenchilus Tanzania - 2.5 inch
Malawi Eye Biter - 3 inch
Yellow Lab - 4 inch
Yellow lab - 2 inch
White Lab - 2.5 inch
Demasoni - 1.5 inch, was hiding in the rocks and tried a few times, can't catch it
White Head Fryeri - 2.5 inch
Blue Fryeri - 2.5 inch
Ice Blue Zebra Greshakei - 2 inch male
Blue Dolphin Morii - 4 inch male
Blue Dolphin Morii - 2.5 inch
3 OB Peacock - 4 inch male
2 OB peacock - 3 inch
Eureka Red - 3 inch male
Eureka lemon Jack - 2.5
Victorian sp 35 - 2.5
Red Peacock - 3 inch male

I think most of them are male based on color but now I am not so sure based on what am read online.

1. I recently learned that there are cichlids that are juiced and the females can looks like male. Now I am concern that some of my fishes from LFS might be juiced. How would I know and how long does it take for the hormone to wear off?

2. I know I am way over stocked, should I be removing some of the fishes now or wait til they start fighting? If now, who should I remove?

3. There are few more fishes I really like and want to add to the tank, after I remove the fish. Let me know if they will work. 
Placidochromis Electra
Placidochromis Phenochilus MDoka
Placidochromis Johnstoni
Livingstoni
Aristochromis Chrysti

Thanks


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

I missed one fish I wanted to add. Tramitichromis (Lethrinops) intermedius.

I know there's probably a lot of fish I need to remove, so besides the 100 gallon being cycle, I can buy more tanks to house them but nothing bigger than 75 gallon, running out of room.

Also one more question, would it help if I add a canister filter like FX6 on top of the Sump?

Thanks


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Filtration and sumps are the same for 1 fish or 100 fish, that will not increase your capacity.

In 72" I like 18 males that mature <= six inches. So if you add those big guys, you would have less than 18.

I would remove all mbuna. What are the dimensions of the 100G? Four feet by what?

I would remove all duplicates and look alikes.

It seems like you could fill 2 72" tanks with haps and peacocks and the 48" tank with mbuna and still have leftovers.

I would wait until you have the extras removed and see how it goes before adding fish. I would expect you will find some look alikes like borleyi and empress, or closely related fish like the various Placidochromis or albino and non albino types will fight or one may not color up.

In any case I think to add fish even after removing duplicates you will have to swap fish out.


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

Hi
It's 49"x 19" x 31" give or take. I will move all the MBuna to my MBuna tank. Then move the duplicate one to the 100 and donate the extra to my friends.

For the fish that I should remove, I obviously should keep the largest male, but what about the one about the same size that I am not sure which is male? Any tip how to choose?

Thanks for your help.

I should have do the research before buying all these fish. Was thinking to overcrowd like MBuna and figure I have a extra tank to store the extra one. Some how got out of hand.


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

By the way, can you tell me if this is a Red Empress? If so is it a female? It's about 4-4.5 inches.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Do you have another mbuna tank, or are you talking about the new tank?

Not always the largest. Venting is best, read articles in the Cichlid-forum Library. Tricks that might/might not work? Brighter colors. Pointy dorsal fin.


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

I have another MBuna tank that's been running for 5 years. All MBuna started off with 5 pure species but I think now some of them are hybrids. A lot more fry survived than I expected these years and they all grow up and some of the original one died. Some how the population is staying pretty even, so at this point I just leave it and no longer bother trying removing fish or keeping male / female ratio.


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

Ok, so this is what I will aim for, please let me know if this will work.

I will move all the MBuna and Victorian to my Mbuna tank.

For the 125, I will aim for the following fish for now and remove if necessary. 19 total but expecting to remove 3-4 fish in the end?
Red Empress
Redfin Borleyi
Dragonblood
Albino Dragonblood
Taiwan Reef
Albino Taiwan Reef
Venustus
Fusco Hap
Protomelas Spilonotus Mara Rock
Sulfurhead Hap Hybrid
Placidochromis Phenchilus Tanzania
Malawi Eye Biter
White Head Fryeri - 2.5 inch
OB Peacock
Blue Dolphin Morii
Placidochromis Electra
Placidochromis Phenochilus MDoka
Placidochromis Johnstoni 
Tramitichromis (Lethrinops) intermedius

Move some of these peacocks to the 100 once finished cycle. 13 total and remove as needed?
German Red Peacock
Red Express
Red Shoulder Peacock
Neonblue peacock
Sulfurhead peacock
Placidochromis Phenchilus Tanzania
Blue Dolphin Morii
3 OB peacock
Eureka Red
Eureka lemon Jack
Red Peacock

The rest I will donate to my friends.

Thank you for your help.


----------



## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

In the Haps tank, it's probable that the albinos won't compete that well with the other fish. There are exceptions of course, where they work out fine, but often they don't. Keep in mind, that these fish have individual personalities... what works in one tank, won't in the tank beside it, even if there are no variables. With an all-male tank like this, it's always going to be managed, and some fish just won't work with each other, and there is no predictability behind that... have a hospital tank ready.

For the peacock tank... you've got German Red, Red Express, Red Peacock...all the same fish basically. You want fish that are less alike, as these will probably fight with each other. Also, I'm not sure what an Eureka Lemon Jake is... is that a hybrid between the two? Sulfurheads aren't very aggressive, and probably won't do well in this mix... if it's a pure Aulonocara maylandi.


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

Thank you for your input, for the Hap tank, I will monitor closely and remove fish as needed, but sounds like it might be doable as a starting point for me list?

For the Peacock tank, I will donate the Red Empress, Red Peacock. I meant Lemon Jake Peacock, it's yellow with blue face.
Would the rest be a good starting point and remove as needed?


----------



## Medgertor (Mar 29, 2018)

Aggression and the bloat that follows are what makes keeping African Cichlids challenging. The thing is that you can have say a red empress and it can turn out to be fairly docile. On the other hand you may get a red empress that turns out to be hyper aggressive, as was my experience. Venustus can also be docile, or they can get pretty aggressive. They also grow pretty fast and get pretty big. When they do get big, they can be pretty nasty. That has been my experience, but that may not be the case for others. It is kind of the same with mixing fish that look similar. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I have found a few things help. I wouldn't keep any mbuna in a peacock/hap tank other than yellow labs. I also don't keep the lights on except for when I am feeding the fish or viewing the fish and I'd say on average the lights stay on between one and two hours a day. I soak my cichlids food in garlic guard about every other day. It helps with internal parasites which are the bane of every cichlid keeper, whether they know it or not. I also have a few tanks. My main tank is a 300 gallon tank and I try to keep only males in that tank. I keep females in their own tank. I also feed my cichlids Xtreme Aquatic Foods Cichlid PeeWee, but I supplement that with a good spirulina flake. If you can get a spirulina flake or pellet food that has metro in it, then I suggest feeding that about once a month, for 3 days or so. From the list you have provided I think the fish that I would imagine would give you issues are the red empress and the venustus, but that is just my experience. Good luck!


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

Thank you Medgertor
These are some very helpful information and tips. Its sounds to me like at this point it's all a maybe with these fishes. I will just have to keep swapping fishes until they works. Great tip on the light on time. Can I ask what do you normally do with the problem fish? Do you take it out and try adding it back after sometime (how long?) and hoping it will work? If so how many time do you normally try until you give it away? If you do add it back, how do you do it?


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

IME time out almost never works. The same thing will happen when you return the fish to the tank even if you wait weeks or months.

When I have a problem fish I may try it in another tank as a possible permanent solution, else I rehome (LFS, hobbyist, etc.). I do make my purchases with this issue in mind so as to minimize the amount of rehoming I have to do, and I have spare tanks to house troublemakers while awaiting the next auction or a time when LFS will take them and I can get to LFS.


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

Wow, that could be a lot of fish to rehome, the cost can really add up over time. I might have to get few more tanks for rethink my list then.

Thanks


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

For me there is no money lost by rehoming. I buy a $8 fish online and raise it for a year until it starts causing problems. The LFS pays me $14 in store credit for same fish.

Or it is sold at auction for $10 and I get 3/4 of the proceeds from the auction.


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

Lucky you, I checked all the LFS near me and none willing to pay. They will take free donation.


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

Hi
Do male build nest in all male tank or is it an indication that I might have a female in the tank?

Thanks


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Both genders dig and spew substrate and not necessarily for nesting. My Malawi spawn on the background (vertical) fairly often. The female catches the egg as she circles mid water.


----------



## Medgerton_cichlids (Nov 3, 2019)

For my problem fish, my local fish store allowed me to trade them in and get store credit. I haven't had to do this in a while because in general I go with more peaceful species these days. I have tried isolating fish before but it never really seemed to work.


----------



## eric1115 (Apr 11, 2015)

Hi Medgerton
Do you mind telling me what fish you have?

Thanks


----------

