Peacock Dilemma

1769 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by rsuarez1982, May 29, 2008

rsuarez1982

Discussion Starter · May 22, 2008

In the last week, I have had a lot of commotion going on with three peacocks in my tank. There is just too much harassment going on to all the other tankmates. My Red is the tank king. He has to make it constantly known to everyone; especially to my OB. The OB, in turn, takes it out on everyone else; especially my Eureka. The Eureka then attacks all of the other smaller tankmates. All three have been raised since they were around 2in. I haven't brought in my Hueseri out of quarantine yet, so who knows on him. It's really frustrating. SO, should I just turn this into a HAP only tank? I know a king will emerge out of them, but in the mean time they are totally peaceful amongst each other. I've done temporary seperations and reaquascaping to no avail. Completely removing them wouldn't kill me, either, but what would you all suggest?
Thanks -Ruben

Stock:
Red (6in)
OB (5.5in)
Eureka (4in)
Hueseri (4in)
Fryeri (6in)
Fryeri Lumbaulo (3in)
Borleyi - red(4in)
Borleyi - gold(3in)
Lithobates (3in)
Phenochilus (6in)
Taeniolatus (3.5in)
Moorii (3.5in, 2.5in)
Electra (3.5in)
Electra Blackfin Makonde (3in)
Melas (2in)

Older pic, more blue throughout body now...

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copasetic

· #2 · May 22, 2008

i think that your main problem is that your red, your eureka, and even your OB all have red coloration.. They feel direct competition from each other. If you had peacocks that look nothing alike they are more likely to leave each other alone. I suggest removing 1 either the red or eureka and replace him with a blue or yellow peacock.

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Gibbs

· #3 · May 22, 2008

I would remove the OB and either the Red or the Eureka.
OB's are known for getting aggresive as they get older and see most other peacocks as competition.
I agree going with a blue or yellow peacock or atleast one that looks nothing like anything else you have

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Fish_Dude

· #4 · May 22, 2008

Odd... My red Empress, moori, and jakes cause more problems than others.

When I add new fish, or move things around, it usually take about 1-2 weeks for the social order to be worked out. You may find that by this time next week, you'll be fine. If the other fish in the tank arean't damaged or hiding, I'd probably try this first. When a fish doesn't hate one fish in particular, you haven't got a big problem as the agression is distributed. I have a tawian reef that hates a red empress and will single him out. That's more of a problem than with a fish that kind of chases everyone. You also have to take a note of what kind of agression is happening. Is he doing physical damage?(my eureka was doing this), or just chasing fish away(like my taiwan reef).

In removing fish, take out the noticable agresser, this may not be who you think it is. Remove the one you think is the biggest trouble maker, keep him in his own tank for a week, and add him back. He'll have to work his way back up as the new guy.. and is usually fine(but not always). Again, give it a couple days.

Also, if you remove him and the situation gets worse, you got the wrong guy. My gut is that the bad guy is probably the OB or the Eureka... Reds are of Stuartgranti and usually don't show this level of agression. Jakes tend to be more agressive, but they usually hate other jakes. OB's are hybrids and may have some sort of hap mixed in, and have a reputation for being more agressive. My OB doesn't cause any issues, but he's also in a tank with some BIG haps.

Hope I didn't confuse you... and good luck!
If one fish is the noticable agressor.... put him in another tank(if you have one) or isolate him for about a week. When you add him back in, he won't be at the top anymore and things may or may not be fine.

My recommendation is to take out the biggest trouble maker. I don't know if the OB is taking it out on others because he's picked on

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rsuarez1982

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 22, 2008

Thanks for the replies so far. It always been physical between the three, just not to the point that it is now with fin and scale nipping. Everyone else is just chased around, but no physical contact. What's weird is that they've lived together for over 8 months. I understand the dominance and color issue, but it was never physical like this. I'm just glad there are no females in the tank or death would probably be an issue...

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gsj996

· #6 · May 22, 2008

I had a Hap Borleyi with a lot of red in him/her (was never a 100% on the sex) and a male german red similar to yours, and the red started chasing the borleyi a lot but with no actual contact. this eventually did turn into contact and I just took the borleyi back to my lfs because it had noticable damage to its lips and fins. kinda sucked because my lfs sells those borleyi that size for about $35-40 and since mine had some bumps and bruises they would only give me $10 (fish was not on its death bed what so ever!) I also have 2 hap mooriis in that tank which never bothered the other two.

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rsuarez1982

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 29, 2008

*UPDATE*

I went ahead and traded all three in. My LFS gave me a $60 credit for them and in return I got a 4.5in Taiwan Reef, a 2in red peacock, and a 3in Baenschi. The owner even went as far as to put the Red in his show tank. :thumb: Overall I'm happy with my decision. There was alot of observation and contemplation, though... Thanks for all of your replies.

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