# Number of peacocks in a 55 gallon?



## jbacker7 (Jul 16, 2008)

I'm looking to get into peacocks and was just wondering how many I could put in my 55 gallon. Thank you!


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Are you going to be breeding them, or just single males?

What are the dimensions of your 55 gallon?


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## jack lover (Aug 12, 2008)

U can "put" alot in like a 100 but it wont do good lol.Try like 2-4 males,6-8 females


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## jbacker7 (Jul 16, 2008)

Ahh yes sorry..

My tank is 48x20x12

I want to keep all males as they are more colorful and I have nothing to do with fry.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

It is going to be a trial and error process to see which particular individual personalities work in your tank. You are likely going to settle on somewhere between 8-10 fish.


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## jbacker7 (Jul 16, 2008)

All right thank you! 

Also I was wondering... what is a good price to pay for these fish?

My LFS has them for $20 a pop and I'm not too crazy about that!


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## Afishionado (Jun 6, 2006)

Depends on the size, whether they're wildcaught, F1 or unspecified, and what prices in your area are like in general. If they're not yet big enough to tell which are males then I think $20 is definitely too much. I can get up to $5 a head selling 2" - 2.5" male+female F1's to certain places. I know they turn around and sell them for $10. That's in Cdn $, I wouldn't be surprised if you found a better deal in the US. You also want to know you're getting what you're paying for - I don't mind paying a bit more to a dealer I have some confidence in.


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## jbacker7 (Jul 16, 2008)

This dealer looks very reputable. I live in a small town..less than 900 people. There is a fish store 30 miles away.. too pricey and I don't really trust it. There are Petsmarts and a Petco an hour away.. people say not to trust these? Is this true? And this store called Fish n' Stuff, the LFS I'm talking about, 45 miles up the road. Fish n' Stuff has some good prices and a very clean store with a knowledgable, polite, helpful staff. I just don't know about these $20 peacocks. They were about 2.5'' long.


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## Deadhead7 (Nov 25, 2008)

I would suggest joining the midwest cichlid association forums and posting what you are looking for on the MCA exchange page. There are a fair number of good breeders in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area and many more in Iowa. Don't know how close you are to the omaha area but I have gotten fish from several people I met on the mca forums that are in the omaha area and have always been happy.


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## Afishionado (Jun 6, 2006)

jbacker7, we need to stay away from naming specific merchants except in the reviews section (forum rules). As for mega-pet centre type stores in general, the common wisdom is to be wary of them, or at least, do your own homework before buying from them. A well-run fish department is not unheard of, but may be the exception rather than the rule. Deadhead's suggestion to get in touch with any local associations is a good idea.

A few things to consider regarding the store you're considering dealing with:
Do they have many species of peacocks? Do they know what species they have? Are multiple species mixed together? Are any of them showing good colour yet at 2.5"? A few should, but NOT ALL! the latter case would indicate hormoning (undesirable). Normally with many of their own species only a few males may show good colour at that size. For an all-male setup you want one each of different looking species. They need to be already colouring so you know they're males.


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## jbacker7 (Jul 16, 2008)

They were all in the same tank yes.. some were very dull colored and some were very colorful.


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## jack lover (Aug 12, 2008)

ya my lfs has them for 15$ a pop and as i am 13 that is a bit steep but i feed fish,clean tanks,float fish,ect amd they give me store credit.I also get store credit for my baby kribensis lol so they are about 8$ in the end wich is just fine with me lol.Ya like fogel said go with 8-10 fish depending on individual temperment.


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## jbacker7 (Jul 16, 2008)

Sounds about right... also I was wondering what does a peacocks diet mainly consist of? Protein right? Naturally they are not vegetarians like yellow labs and most mbuna right?


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## letstalkfish (Dec 25, 2008)

Natural protein is better. Haps can handle more protein than peacock since most haps are fish predators. I would say mix veggy and african cichlid mix together. just dont feed them worms or get ready for malawi bloat.


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## rogue-ish (Aug 16, 2007)

I have an all male hap/peacock tank and i ordered mine online. the cheapest fish i bought was 29 dollars and they averaged about 40. but they were fully grown and i think that in the long run it might be cheaper or a lot more convenient to make sure you buy older sexed fish instead of 20 dollar unsexed ones and have to return half of them. btw, i have 12 fish in my 55 including pleco


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## rogue-ish (Aug 16, 2007)

I have an all male hap/peacock tank and i ordered mine online. the cheapest fish i bought was 29 dollars and they averaged about 40. but they were fully grown and i think that in the long run it might be cheaper or a lot more convenient to make sure you buy older sexed fish instead of 20 dollar unsexed ones and have to return half of them. btw, i have 12 fish in my 55 including pleco


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## cater20155 (Jun 16, 2008)

*** been able to find most of my fish for under $15 for my male hap/peacock tank. I buy mostly juvies, but I get the ones that are starting to mature and show a little color. If you know what your are looking at and for, its not very hard to get a male. Out of 15 peacocks/haps *** only got one female and that was a Red Empress. Its taken a little longer than expected to get all the fish i want, but with a little patience and knowledge, *** been able to find everything. *** also spent over $25 on hard to find fish in the area though, a German Red, an Otter Point jacob, and a Lwanda.


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