[D-007]

Hi all,

Ok the tank will be a 125g (once I fix it), sandy bottom with a rocky lanscape. Occupants that will definitely be in there are:

• Yellow Labs (7 of them)
  Ngara White tail Acei's (currently 3 but that will increase once the fry I have grow more)

What I would like to add will be 2 x Males of the following:

• Eureka Peacock
  Lemon Jake Peacock
  Sunshine Peacock
  Ruby Red Peacock

I would also like a suggestion/recommendation on a compatible species that has a blue body that would be suitable with the rest of the inhabitants and be around the same size as the peacocks at adulthood - in case I can't find a Peacock that meets those requirements.

Thanks in advance,
D

 

[cichlidaholic]

2 males of each species? I would only add one of each, and shoot for males that don't look similar to each other.

 

[Gibbs]

Kim is absolutely right. There is no point have 2 peacocks of the same species. The sub- dominant fish will not colour up to it's potential and will be harrassed by the dominant fish.
You are also planning on adding 2 "Jacobs" to your tank in the "Lemon Jake" and Eureka", these are possibly the most aggresive of all peacocks so keep an eye them both. If your tank wasn't as large as it is i would recommend against it but hopefully they will go ok but be prepared to trade one of them in.
I would recommend a few more single species that look nothing like the fish you are already planning.
Some suggestions:
Steveni Mbamba
Hansbaenchi Red shoulder
Blue Orchid (The scientific name illudes me right now)
Stuartgranti Ngara
Otopharynx Lithobates
They are all reasonabley peaceful

Stay away from OB peacocks because they can have aggression issues

 

[D-007]

Thank you both for taking the time to reply. The seller I was going to get the Ruby Reds from has the other Peacocks too and informed me that two males would be fine. However, I have had better advice given to me from these forums so I'll stick with with what you have told me. :thumb: I will also ask the seller if he can get any of those that you mentioned Gibbs.

As for those suggestions, which of the Hansbaenchi Red Shoulder and Otopharynx Lithobates would you be refering to as there are 6 of the former and 5 of the latter in the Profile section; or does it not matter?

Oh, and your Blue Orchid suggestion (Aulonocara kandeense) was well received by the missus; :lol:

 

[cichlidaholic]

Gibbs went into a bit more detail than I did on why you don't want two males of one species. You would have alot of tension between those two fish, and one would likely never colour up.

When keeping them with females, you can get away with having more than one male, if you have the female ratio to handle it...i.e. 3 or so females per male...But...I've always had better success with 3 males than two - that kind of spreads the animosity around! :lol:

Keeping breeding groups of peacocks is best done in single species tanks, IMO. And that's just never something I want to do - dedicate a tank to a couple of nicely coloured fish and the rest drab females!

 

[Gibbs]

Look at the "Chiloelo" variety of the red shoulder, The third picture from the bottom is what most of these fish look like when coloured. Nice looking fish with a good temperament.
As for the Lithobates the "Zimbawe" IMO is the nicest. They are usually a nice blue with a yellow crest that should start from the tip of the fishes nose. These fish are never a problem.

Thanks for refreshing on the Kandeense :thumb:

 

[D-007]

Have to agree the Aulonocara stuartgranti (Chiloelo) and Otopharynx lithobates (Zimbawe) are indeed really nice suggestions; thank you.

• 1/ Would not the similar coloring of the Flametail, Blue Orchid and Red Shoulder pose problems?
  
  2/ So how easily would all these choices/recommendations be to aquire?
  
  3/ If my 1st question is nothing for me to worry about, then would adding a male Aulonocara stuartgranti (Usisya) and a male Aulonocara baenschi be ok to add also?

Thank you all.

 

[Gibbs]

#1 These fish should mix together well, but in the end it comes down to the individual. The 3 fish are pretty dosile and never seem to make a fuss, and don't resemble each other enough to for them to be compition.

#2 They are reasonably accessable but be prepared to do some hunting around. Make some phone calls to local LFS's and dont be to hesitant to by online if that suits you. The main reason people have trouble keeping these fish as that they settle for what ever is in the shop at the time

#3 If you are planning on keeping the Steveni "Mbamba" then not the "Usisya". It would be one or the other because they very closely resemble each other. The Baenschi is very peaceful and soft. In many cases these fish get pushed around a little bit but i the only fish looking anything like it would be the Steveni or the Usisya which don't pose to much of a threat so i think you may be ok but be prepared to take it back, but i don't think it will come to that.

In your tank i would keep about 8 peacocks, give or take some and up the numbers of the Acei to about 6 and you are pretty much stocked

 

[D-007]

Understood. The stock that I will get from the seller in the next couple of weeks will be:

• 6 x Electric Yellows
  1 x Male Ruby Red Peacock
  1 x Male Sunshine Peacock

and I hope to get the following to complete the tank:

• 1 x male Aulonocara stuartgranti (Usisya) - Flavescent Peacock (the wife liked this better than the Steveni)
  1 x male Aulonocara stuartgranti (Chiloelo) - Aulonocara hansbaenschi, Red Shoulder
  1 x male Aulonocara stuartgranti (Ngara) - Flametail Peacock
  1 x male Aulonocara baenschi - Benga Peacock/New Yellow Regal
  1 x male Aulonocara kandeense - Blue Orchid Peacock
  1 x male Otopharynx lithobates (Zimbawe) - Aristochromis Red Top

The number of Acei's will increase to 6 or 7 once the fry have grown to about 1" - 1½".

 

[Gibbs]

So you decided against both the "Jacobs" good idea

Sounds good to me, i don't see any problems. Have fun with it and good luck :thumb:

 

[D-007]

Yes, I went with your advice as I'd rather keep the tank as 'peaceful' as possible. Thanks

Now I will get to searching and hope that I can get the stock from that list.

 

[mittzgame]

Curiosity is compelling me to ask a few questions about this stock list.

I was under the impression, from reading the article, that females of any kind would be unduly harassed by all males in an "all-male tank."

This set-up with two groups of mbuna and several peacocks greatly intrigues me, as I would not want to give up most of my current stock, but have been more and more interested in peacock/hap males for a bit of visual shock value with color and size.

Mixing the "rogue males" with the breeding groups doesn't create cross-breeding problems?

Thanks ahead of time and sorry to the OP if I'm hijacking your thread!

 

[cichlidaholic]

Mixing the "rogue males" with the breeding groups doesn't create cross-breeding problems?

It can, if one of those "rogue males" is more dominant than those males in the groups. :wink:

I can understand the desire to have the groups, though, and if I ever had a set up like this, I just wouldn't distribute fry from it.

But, in all reality, it should be fairly simple to tell at a relatively young age when acei or Yellow lab fry were part peacock or hap...

 

[mittzgame]

That answer is pretty much as I expected it to be Kim, Thanks!

I would assume that the correct mix of species and personalities would pretty much be the determining factor when introducing a few males into a harem situation. I am greatly interested in adding 3-5 larger(6-9 inch at adult size) haps/peacocks. I would relocate my demasoni as I feel their coloring competes too much with the acei (and their size and deep coloration is not something I want to give up).

As fry are surviving quite easily due to our background and plentiful nooks and crannies I would love for a few hap hunters and probably some multies... with summer here and construction projects around the house building up, we'll see if I can find the time for some rearranging!

Thanks!

 

[D-007]

If I understand things correctly, the acei's would only breed/mate with the acei's and the yellow labs would only breed/mate with the yellow labs.
The male peacocks etc would not breed/mate with either of the above.

My reasoning: I already have a breeding pair of acei's and the lone female lab has had no interest from the male acei. I figure this will change once I get more yellow labs, upon which she will then breed also but such events would 'stay in the family' so to speak.

Correct me if I am wrong please :-?

 

[cater20155]

If you are looking for a really nice looking all blue peacock, i picked up a Blue Regal, Aulonocara koningsi. If mine colors out as nice as i have seen some males, it will look really nice.

 

[cichlidaholic]

Any mouthbrooder can crossbreed with any other mouth brooder, D-007.

There are things we can do to lessen those chances, but as I said earlier, if you have a hyper dominant male of any species, anything is possible.

So, no, the acei won't only breed with the acei and the yellow labs won't only breed with the yellow labs...As far as peacocks and mbuna go, they can crossbreed as well.

If you keep those 3 in breeding groups of 1 male to 3 or so females of each species, you should be fine. The aggression level of those 3 species are pretty similar, so the odds of having a psycho male out of those 3 groups are slim.

I can give you an example. I once had a breeding group of auratus in a tank with Cobalt zebras and Yellow labs. By all logic, there shouldn't be any risk of crossbreeding there, they are from 3 different genus and look nothing alike...But every time those Cobalts and Yellow labs tried to breed, that male auratus jumped right in. He was "hyper aggressive", and even though the large male Cobalt was twice his size, he interferred with every spawn they attempted, and I had to remove the auratus from the tank.

 

[D-007]

I'll definitely keep my eye on them then. Thanks for the clarification and the advice.