[Malawi Mac]

This question is directed primarily to those of you that keep a show tank of male haps and peacocks and also buy your fish by mail order or online.

I have a 135 gallon tank with 3 male haps (C. moori, O. lithobates, & a Red Emp), 1 female hap (C. borleyi), 5 Labidochromis (2 yellow, 3 Hongi), and 3 Synodontis.

I would like to add about 4-6 male peacocks and a few more male haps to the mix. I really don't have the inclination to buy juvenile fish and wait for them to color up. I'm looking for young adults, probably 2-3" fish.

I'm not really seeing the fish that I want at the LFS and am considering buying from one of the online sellers. The prices are much better, but of course that has to be balanced against the shipping costs. It obviously seems more economical to buy all of the fish at once to save on shipping costs.

Herein lies my issue: I have a long standing habit of quarantining all new purchases before introducing them to my community tanks, to insure that they are not carrying some sort of infectious disease.

My stumbling block is the logistics of applying my long standing habit to a shipment of male haos and peacocks. How in the world can you quarantine a shipment of male haps and peacocks? Unless your quarantine tanks are large, it almost seems like you would need a separate quarantine tank for each fish. I have one 29 gallon quaratine tank and the other are all 20 gallons or smaller.

The burden of having to set up 8 quarantine tanks for 8 fish is a significant deterrent to me following through with an online purchase.

Do I need to give each fish his own separate quarantine tank, or can I put multiple fish in one tank? Assume the fish are 2-3" long, and are all peacocks or haps from the less aggressive genera - no Nimbochromis or other piscavores, for example.

If you bought a batch of mail order males and quarantined them, how did you handle it?

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to reply.

 

[akapaul26]

Its hard to say. It might be just as bad a situation with aggression and fighting causing stress in a small tank. I think that for a temporary amount of time 2-3 weeks it might be ok. I would definately have a back up plan if chaos starts. 2-3 QT tanks would definately be better. If you bought them 2-3inch fish would definately work better than full grown species. I've used 20g long tanks to grow out lots of Mbuna fry. They show aggression as early as the fry period. I usually grow them out to about 1 1/2-2 inches. They start to get really feisty at about that size.

 

[TheeMon]

i didnt read you post so forgive me if i just jumped to conclusions.

try buying all your fish at once, that way everyone is new and theres no worrys.

try puting them in your tank right away and just treating the whole tank with a med that does everything(for instance "lifeguard" by jungle)

 

[hollyfish2000]

I assume you're removing the female borleyi before you add more males?-- or you'll have a bit of a mess on your hands . . .

 

[CDMOK]

I have been wandering this myself. Us okies are trying to get together to combine online orders for our fish, to save on shipping. But if that's the case, I'd want to get my entire planned stock list all at once to do one big order. This presents me with the same problem. I have a 10 gal :lol: That's about it. So I can either get one fish at a time and spend way more on shipping, which would take me literally years to be able to afford all the fish I intend on buying, cram more than 1 into the 10 gl, or just chance putting them in immediately. Granted I could buy a bigger isolation tank, but not nearly enough as I'd need.

Ugh

 

[NZ1001]

Regarding to quarantine/hospital volume, how about 1 55gal tub for ~$15 from Home Depot...

 

[Sulfurhead]

exactly what i was thinking, then, just hang a filter off the side from an existing tank and drop in a thermo and heater.

 

[CDMOK]

So dark though, and how to view them properly for signs of illness? I mean, that is the entire point.

 

[Malawi Mac]

I assume you're removing the female borleyi before you add more males?-- or you'll have a bit of a mess on your hands . . .

Point noted.

What type of females can been kept in a so-called "all male" tank? I understand it is the presence of the females that stimulates the aggression in the males, and they aren't particular about species or genus.

But what about crossing between the three different types of Malawi cichlids? Say, for example, that I forget about adding any male haps for now, and just pick out 3-4 male peacocks.

Would the presence of my borleyi female be likely to trigger aggression in male peacocks?

What about my mbuna? I am 99% sure that the larger of my two yellow labs is a male; the probabilities on the other are less clear. (They've been together for a few years now without spawning, so I suspect it's a cowed male.) Two of my three Hongis are females.

Would the presence of the female Hongis trigger aggression in male peacocks?

I was also strongly considering adding a few Ps. acei and a few I. sprengerae. Do I need to confine these additions to males?

Global question - is it feasible to keep a tank with harems of haps and selective mbuna (more peaceful varieties), but keep only male peacocks? Again, the tank is a standard 135 gallon tank.

What about a tank with only male haps and peacocks, but harems of mbuna (again, the more peaceful species)?

 

[teqvet]

I understand no females, period, should be kept in an all male tank. I could be wrong, but I know I've read that a few times.

 

[igetbombed1977]

I have A TON of experience with peacoks. Not having any females present means that inevitably nature will take it's course and one fish will establish itself as the dominant male. If a similar looking peacock (I.e. 2 stuartgrantis or 2 jacobfreibergis) are in the same tank - one will look fantastic, one will look drab in no time.

The solution is simple.......add OB Peacock females. Why you may ask - here's my reasoning
1.)They are "colorful" as far as peacocks go - so it won't ruin your "all male" feel
2.)The males will be VERY HAPPY to have females in the tank. A very happy male means he is constantly in breeding dress, or at the very least very colorful - not drab.
3.)Reduces aggression. Peacocks can look very similar - most have the blue head etc. Because of that similar looking ones of relatively the same size will fight for a multitude of reasons. Territory, competing over territory - but most importantly establishing dominance!!!
Having a bunch of OB females in the tank - limits most of these - but put in a large number of them - like 8-10 if you can
4.)They are cheap!!! Even at the LFS - you can usually buy decent sized Females for about $8-$10
5.)Since the OB's are hybrids anyways - if you choose to raise the fry when they get knocked up - you get quite the array of fry that are very colorful. I don't normally keep the fry when this happens - 9 times out of 10 I let them spit in the tank. But I have kept a few batches just to grow out, and the results have been really nice!!!

This is just my 2 cents - please take it as just an opinion - not gospel. I have had great success doing this.

 

[UMphreak]

Hi, I am not trying to hyjack this thread but is it possible to post a pic of your ob females. I have one and thought it was a male but not sure. Just wondering how much color is in a female ob peacock.

Thanks

 

[igetbombed1977]

Tell you what - post your email address, I'll send you a link to my online albulm