What is the measurement of the tank at the sides (not the middle)? Usually when I ask this question the answer is 12". In that case I would stock like a 55G and try 8-10 fish. Eliminate anyone who matures at over 6" which includes the borleyi and the taiwan reef I think.

 

also the azureus tends to need a larger tank, the lwanda as i understand is a jacobfreibergi type, which should be avoided in tanks smaller than 48x18 rectangle, benga and sunshine peacocks should not be mixed, they look too similar and will not like each other

 

Yes it is a 12" wide tank, ala 55g, just taller. 8-10 fish sounds fine to me. I do see that a few can get larger than 6". I'll eliminate the Borleyi for now(8"), but at 7" max, it's possible that the Taiwan Reef and Azureus may never actually get that big right? Alot of what I choose will be based on availability and quality also. I'd like to be able to get them when they are smaller so they can grow together, but sexing them at that size might make that difficult. I know alot of people buy them matured so they can be sure, but IMO the 2 drawbacks to that are price, and not knowing how old they really are. How do you know you don't have a fish that is 5 years old already?

 

I’d be careful with the intermedius, gorgeous fish, but mine killed everything in my 150g peacock/hap tank. I’d get a “Star Sapphire “ instead or a VC-10.

 

Whew….. NECROMANCER much?
This deep archived C-F thread, is now over 15 years old! @DrgRcr is still around, but those fish he was dealing with have almost certainly checked out at this point. And, with a glance at his member signature, I suspect that he has also long since moved on from keeping Lake Malawi originating Cichlids.
But no worries! This kinda smelly guy is still hanging around (and he LOVES NECROMANCERS!),

Oh no! The pesky ZOMBIE DISCUS strikes again!!!
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~LOCKED~