Lake Malawi Species • Venustus with Peacocks

[01722]

I have a mostly all male peacock/ hap 60 gallon with about 10 fish which are all 4"-6". I've had the tank a couple years and I'm upgrading to a standard 125 gallon. I'd like to add a few more male African Cichlids when I go over to the 125. One of the fish I'm considering is a 3" Venustus. Will it likely become too aggressive for the peacock tankmates or are 6" peacocks generally able to hold there own when the Venustus becomes larger than them?

[Fogelhund]

What kind of peacocks?

[01722]

Here's all the Cichlids in the tank- Just FYI this is a very peaceful tank/ no real aggression problems with these fish for the two years I've had them.

Large Parrot Fish, yellow lab, blue dolphin, Red Eureka, Lemon Jake, Red Empress, Bi Color, Hibrid (looks like electric blue), Turkis, dragonblood

[james1983]

I think with that mix you would be fine. I've had most of those with venustus, but each fish is different. Just pay attention to aggression. I wont add a single fish to an already established tank though.

[Dooner]

+1 to James. I have a similar mix now and it has one adult venustus and two more about 3-4 inches. The larger one actually gets a run around from the other haps like the dolphin fish.

[jdhoggg]

I agree that you should be fine, but you will want to add more than one fish at a time to an established tank as a single fish will most likely be attacked and possibly killed. Adding multiple fish will help spread the aggression toward the new fish by providing multiple "targets".

[01722]

Thanks,
I'm going to be housing 4 new fish in a temp 29 gal for a week. As long as everyone is heathy all the new fish and old fish will be put in the 125 at the same time.
Thanks to everyone for the advice!