Peacock Advise

[mostlycichlids]

Well I am pretty sure I have the troubled Peacock tank under controll. I lost 3 or 4 fish in all....none of my favorites. Anyway, I want some advise on something as I am new at having a Peacock tank.

The tank is 55g with the following stock:
2x Red Peacock
1x Strawberry Peacock (hybrid)
3x Yellow Labs
3x Blue Blotched/Red/Orange Blotched Peacock/Hap (hybrids)
1x Sciaenochromis ahli
1x Sciaenochromis fryeri (Taiwan Reef)
I know a couple are hap's and the labs are Mbuna.

All of the fish are males that I can sex which is most of them....I am unsure of the Yellow labs. The aggression is under control for the most part. The haps and labs seem to get chased a lot more than any other fish. The question is can I overstock this tank as I would a Mbuna tank? I want to have an all male tank but if down the road have females how do I go about adding females. Sould I stock as I would a mbuna tank, 4:1? How many more peacocks can I add? Thanks,
Paul

 

[Markm0723]

Hi Paul,

I think you are pretty much maxed out as it is. When you consider that male peacocks can reach 5" - 6" (My male Aulonocara baenschi is about 6.5"), and the Haps can reach over 7".

The only problem with adding females, is that you will end up with a bunch of "mutt" fry, since a female peacock will breed with any male, no matter the variety. Also the aggression will go through the roof.

Mark

 

[ibr3ak]

What mark said, generally for peacocks you either keep an all male tank or a species (1 specie of peacock) only tank.

 

[mostlycichlids]

So if I move the yellow labs and trade one of the Red peacocks, that will leave me with room for a couple of more species. I want two or three more species. Do you think I can swing that?

 

[Markm0723]

As long as they are not colored similarly (two males of similar color are more prone to fight, even without females present) to the ones you already have, probably so.

Good luck with them.
Mark

 

[mostlycichlids]

As long as they are not colored similarly (two males of similar color are more prone to fight, even without females present) to the ones you already have, probably so.

Good luck with them.
Mark

Thanks...the only two I have problems with are the hap's right now. The Red Peacocks pretty much leave one another alone but one is much more vibrantly colored than the other.