[jdilo]

Hi - brand new member to the forum and to Africans and wanted advice on stocking expectations pertaining to suppliers. Expecting delivery of 185 gal in a few weeks and will set it up in my workplace office as an all male peacock/haps tank. Also plan to "pre-stock" with 3 or 4 clown loaches and maybe a pleco and let them settle in first. I'm thinking 30-35 male peacocks/haps as a final number of mature fish. Tank is 30" tall, with external overflow to large sump and just a painted background so there should be lots of open space.

Ideally, I would like to stock all 30-35 at once, as all male juveniles (2 1/2" give or take) with as wide a variety as possible (no more than 2 of any specific fish). While looking at the various suppliers' websites, I can't seem to find one that has that kind of guaranteed male juvenile inventory - at least all at once. I'd love feedback on if I should go with multiple suppliers and stock all at once, or go with one supplier and stock in batches. Or, if you know of a supplier who could fill my ideal order!

Am I fooling myself thinking suppliers can guarantee gender at say 90% accuracy at this size? Cost is not my main concern but it is always a concern. Would i be better off ordering 70 un-sexed all at once (which seems doable from many suppliers), pay about the same as 35 guaranteed 2 1/2" males, hope for the best and eventually remove the females? Total **** shoot? Will I end up wit a 50/50 male female mix, or would the males be somehow weeded out by the supplier and i'd end up with a 25/75 male to female mix?

Thanks - and I'm jumping out of my skin waiting for this tank to get here!

 

[DJRansome]

Welcome to Cichlid-forum!

That is a lot of fish...how long is the tank? Go by length not gallons.

Hopefully you will cycle the tank with ammonia before adding fish? Allow six weeks. I would skip the clown loaches as the Malawi tank is not ideal for them. They can grow to 13" and like to be in groups of six.

The accuracy of the gender is 100% dependent on the specific vendor. I have only 2 I would say are 90% or higher. Those that routinely sell 2.5" fish as males may be not be among the accurate vendors.

Read the all-male article in the Cichlid-forum Library. You will find that one of each with no look-alikes is the recommendation.

Once you mix juvenile females, you may have to euthanize them as you will no longer be able to ID the separate species...females look VERY much alike.

 

[jdilo]

Thanks for the reply DJRansome - Length is 60 inches. Never read about anyone referencing length instead of volume as a guide but it actually makes more sense given their movement patterns. I've read so much about overstocking helping with aggression, but would prefer a more lightly stocked tank...overstocked tanks seem so hectic to me compared to the oscar tank i'm used to.

I plan to cycle the tank with media from a healthy community tank from my home.

Frankly, i don't care for the look of clown loaches especially when they mature AND i don't want them to be the biggest fish in the tank. I was looking to them more to keep the aragonite worked up. Any suggestion for an alternate? Any peacocks or haps known to be sand sifters?

Thanks for the article - i'll check it out.

 

[DJRansome]

In a 48" tank I like 12 males and find that the right level of overstocking to manage aggression. In a 72" tank I like 18 males. So for 60" something in between.

I've never had an African that did NOT sift the sand...I would not worry about that at all.

 

[jdilo]

The numbers you gave - for all male tanks? Also, great news on that African characteristic for working the sand!

 

[DJRansome]

Yes all male. Of course I like very little sand, so it's not a huge effort to churn it.