Lake Malawi Species • All male hap and peacock tank

[Dpgaynie]

What is a good size tank for an all male hap and peacock tank? I currently have a 75 gallon all male tank with 14 adults and sub adults. The tank is going well aggression wise. However I can tell my bio load is increasing. Having to make bigger and more frequent water changes to keep the nitrates down. I’m thinking about upgrading to a 125(6 ft tank). I have a moorii that is about 5”. I’m sure he’s going to need more room in the future. I’ve also considered a 150(24” wide vs 18”). I’d rather go with the 125 if it is good due to the weight. If I go with the 150 or bigger it may have to go in the basement. The plan would be to be to top out at 20-25 fish. Any thoughts on what is good considering appearance, maintenance and the health of the fish?

[Fogelhund]

Always bigger is better. A 6' long tank is a good place to start with them.

[Dpgaynie]

Is width 18” vs 24” not as much of an issue as long as it’s a 6 foot tank?

[Fogelhund]

Length is the most important dimension, width is next, height is the least. If you can get a 24" wide tank, that's always better than 18" of course, the bigger the better.

[Dpgaynie]

The Moorii should be my biggest fish at maturity. Would I need to worry about him out growing the 125?

[DJRansome]

They should be fine in a 72x18 125G tank.

[fish1234]

Agree that a 125g is a good size for a hap/peacock tank. With that said I would ask what haps you are going to put in as you mention 20-25 fish. This most certainly can be done with haps/peacocks, but certain haps that push a foot would prefer the extra width. I found that growing out my haps in a 4ft and moving them to the bigger tank when they reach about 3 inches really lets them flourish.

[Dpgaynie]

Currently, as far as haps, I have a DeepWater Hap, a Cyrtocara Moorii, a Taiwan Reef and a Fireline Mloto. The rest are Peacocks that max out at 6" or less. A couple of haps I would think about adding would be a Mdoka White lips and Possibly a Nibochromis Venustus. The others I would add would all be peacocks and possible a couple yellow labs(mbuna). How do those sound? Any others I should consider?

[fish1234]

That list should be fine for a 125. I have had all of those except for the fireline. The others do not get too large for a 125 and in my opinion are not terribly aggressive. To each their own, but I have had good experiences with keeping yellow labs with haps so long as the labs are big enough.

The Venestus can be hit or miss depending on personality but I have had a few that get along great. I would recommend introducing him smaller than the other tank mates as they tend to grow very quickly.

Another hap you might want to look at is the star sapphire. I currently have two small ones I am growing out and they are appear to be on the more peaceful hap side as well.

[fishboy75]

One of my favorites is the Protomelas Spilonotus Tanzania. They get a little bigger, about 10-11 inches but they are pretty mellow. Also, seem to be more active, swimming back and forth the full length of the aquarium. Most of my other haps, peacocks and yellow labs hover in a certain area more often so I appreciate the activity.