OB Peacock placement question

4435 Views 7 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Fogelhund, Apr 18, 2011

firemedic1169

Discussion Starter · Apr 16, 2011

Before I knew better I let my wife pick out a OB peacock to go in my Mbuna tank. Getting rid of it is not an option. I started out in this hobby with a 10 gal with a colbalt blue, red zebra and OB peacock(told you I didnt know better). Contrary to popular opinion, I never had an issue with aggression between the OB and Mbunas.
I ended up upgrading to a 55gal and added a fish here and there and ended up losing fish here and there, but the origional fish still continued to thrive.
In the process of trying to figure out why the fish died, I found this site and quickly learned the error in my ways. So I found a sponsor to bring my fish total to 12 with 1m-3f ratios, all the while wondering if my OB would continue to thrive when the new fish arrived.
The day before the new fish arrived, The OB developed a white spot on one of its gills. Not knowing what it was, and not wanting to take a chance with the new fish arriving the next day, I set up my original 10gal as a hospital tank and moved the OB into it. I decided to treat it as Ich, although I'm still not sure what it was, with salt and 86 degree water, and it cleared up. It is now healthy and ready to go back into my 55 gal. I'm worried that it being out of the tank and the addition of the new fish, putting it back might lead to the aggression that is common between the OB peacocks and Mbuna.

Now being totally addicted to this hobby, I want to upgrade to a 90gal. My thought is to keep the 55 gal going and moving the mbuna to a 90.

So my long winded question is, If I put the OB in the 55gal, what type of fish do I add to it? Haps and peacocks?
I know OB peacocks are not a popular fish here as it is a hybrid, but I'm hoping someone has some experience with them as my wife won't let me bring it back to the LFS. Plus its an excuse to get another tank!!

:dancing: :dancing:

See less See more

Save

1 - 8 of 8 Posts

noki

· #2 · Apr 16, 2011

There is no "special" aggression between the hybrid so called "Peacocks" and Mbuna, Mbuna are aggressive anyway. If the OB Peacock does okay and looks okay with the Mbuna, go ahead and put it in with the Mbuna. If the OB Peacock ends up at the bottom of the pecking order and (if a male) does not show good color, then that might be a problem. OB Peacocks are part Mbuna hybrids, and often show Mbuna type of attitude.

I would put the OB Peacock with the Mbuna, then have the smaller tank for real Peacocks.

Save

firemedic1169

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 16, 2011

Ok, the OB is a confirmed female, not sure if that is an important factor.
I was told by numerous people on here that mbunas and OB Peacocks are a bad mix, although some say the mbunas will attack the OB and some say the OB will attack the Mbunas, and like I said when it was in the tank with the origional other two, there was no issue, but now the dynamics in the tank have changed, thats why I'm concerned.

Save

noki

· #4 · Apr 16, 2011

OB Peacocks are a bit of a wild card because they are hybrids. There are always issues, you can't totally avoid issues. If she is just a female, there is no reason why she couldn't stay with the Mbuna, except she may crossbreed. Just don't save any babies. No reason for her to be aggressive especially towards the Mbuna. The Mbuna may largely ignore her. If she is really meek, she may be at the bottom of the pecking order but you always tend to have some fish at the bottom of the pecking order.

Now with Peacocks this female would have the same issues. Might be more aggressive than average, or maybe not.

The only problem adding her back to the tank would be if she is larger, like 3"+ and your Mbuna are adults (it sounds like you just got juveniles I assume). It can be tough to add adult fish to a tank with adults, sometimes they get beat up the first day.

See less See more

Save

firemedic1169

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 16, 2011

She is 3+ and definetly meek, the same size as the other two original fish, One of the original is male and the other is a fairly aggressive female. The new fish were 1 1/2 -2", but over the last month have grown to 2 1/4-2 3/4 already.
So she would be the same size as the male cobalt blue and red female red zebra and close to twice the size as the rest of the fish

Save

· #6 · Apr 16, 2011

ob peacocks go just fine with mbuna... if you are going to put anything with mbuna its better to have a more aggressive peacock or hap with them imo... i had a firefish that was od aggressive with my other peacocks and haps i put him in the all male mbuna tank.. now he's docile... theres also a female red fin borleyi in there and theres no problems (yet)

Save