55g All male peacock build

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Patty1980

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Decided to get your opinions. I'm new to cichlids. After much researching, I want to use juveniles. The guy at the new lfs I tried today (so not gonna trust him just yet, amazing cichlids though) says I could house 15 total peacocks in my 55. Then he walked me through how to add them. His suggestion was to turn off the lights, rearrange the tank, add new fish each week or two (2-4 at a time), let them acclimate for a while before turning on the lights again. Does this ALL sound like good info? Any peacock lovers with all male tanks out there? Thanks and Go Thunder!!!

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Sounds perfect advice to me. Rearranging is important so no one claims a part of the tank.
I'd also get another tank on hand. As fish mature it is possible that one will become more dominate and aggressive, you'll want to remove that fish
Don't get attached to any fish. Finding the right balance in an all make tank takes time, and you might go through several fish before you find the right combination of fish that will display their colors, and get along

Getting them as Juvi's is a great idea. They'll grow up together, and tolerate each other better as they get bigger. You can still wind up with that one fish that is just mean though.

I'm going through the same thing right now. After years I decided to switch to an all make malawi tank. I have 20 right now, expecting to get rid of 4-5 as they mature.
 
Also avoid getting fish of the same species or similar colors as one will be dominate over the other. (Not always, but typically)
 
In my case I did get fish of similar coloring, because it will force the best one to color up more, and then I'll get rid if the others. Which will still color up once removed from the dominate fish

Also don't worry about coloring up. In an all male tank fish will take a really long time before they show their colors. I have a Red Top lwanda that by all means should be showing, but my dominate red shoulder keeps him from doing so. I moved him into another tank for a couple of days and he colored up incredibly, when I put him back, he lost it again.

When he gets bigger I expect him to display just fine, but the red shoulder just grew a lot faster.

The difficulty in an all male tank is to get every fish displaying it's full colors. It's very possible. It just takes a lot of patience, and removing super dominate fish.

You will always have a dominate fish, but the right one will be more of a referee than a bully.
 
So, would you say peacocks are just as aggressive as say mnubas? So, 15 fish (eventually 6 inches long each) is a good goal for a 55? And all different looking. Ok, so may need to order online. What size backup tank do you suggest? Thanks for all this btw.

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A 10g should suffice as a quarantine and transfer tank.

Mbuna are generally meaner. But there is a great deal of individual variance I have noticed. A lot of places online will describe the general behavior of fish, but this is not always. 100%

15 peacocks in a 55 g is way overstocked. However overstocking in an all male tank can be a good idea because it weeds out aggression and territorial behavior.
The downsides to over stocking is it puts more stress on the fish which can lead to diseases. You can avoid this with maintaining good water quality, which is also hard to do in an overstocked tank.
Get a lot of filtration. Enough to handle the bioload.
I have a Fluval Aquaclear 70 (for up to. 70 gallons), a Marineland 200 Biowheel (for 55gallon) and two internal sponge filters.
If you can afford to consider a canister filter for up to 100 gallons it will definitely provide enough filtration, and doesn't take up much room in the tank.
Getting enough filtration isn't too difficult. My tank is overkill, but I have it that way so if one system fails I'll be ok, and it keeps the ammonia and nitrites at 0.

The biggest difficulty with overstocking is dealing with Nitrates. The biggest way to remove Nitrates is doing a water change. With an overstocked tank Nitrates rise fast, you could be doing 50% w/c daily just to keep them under 20ppm
They do have media that remove Nitrates. I use Purigen and love it.
It doesn't remove the need for water changes, but helps a ton. Get you to do a 50% change once a week or so.
Another recommended way to deal with Nitrates is an algae scrubber (a box in your tank that grows and maintains algae) there's lots of YouTube videos on how to make one on your own. Algae will remove the nitrates.
Live plants are another option, but are t practical with peacocks because they will rip them out, and it's another thing to worry about.

Many peacocks are very similar (a lot of blue faces) you can mix these fish, as long as they are different enough they can recognize they are a different species.

That individual variation comes into play here too. Some fish are just mean. Generally my experience with Aulonocara (peacocks) is they are pretty mellow. They chase each other a lot, but rarely have I see one truly attacking another fish.
 
You can also put Mbuna, and Haplochromis in the mix, and that will help with getting more fish to show their colors. To give you an idea in my 55 I have:
2 Mbuna: albino socolofi, labidochromis Hongi
4 haps: electric blue, lethrinops intermedius, lethrinops itungi, Makobe island.
Nimbochromis fuscataeneautes (going to be the big guy on purpose because if his rep of being a good referee and mellow dominate fish)
Peacocks: Sulpherhead, Sunshine Benga, Red Shoulder, German red x 2, red top lwanda, ngara flametail, strawberry.
Otopharanx lithobates

(I also have a firecracker tropheus, that I may have to remove one day)

My stock is pretty unconventional, mostly in my choices of haps.
A few are adults already but the majority are still pretty small, though growing fast. And like I said my plan is to grow them out, and keep the best ones.

I may start another tank with the others, or sell them, but I have a good year or so to decide.
 
Well if I don't have to over stock to control aggression, I'd rather not. Either way it sounds like trial and error to find a good balance. This equipment is used, and I don't have it in my hands yet. My uncle said there are 2 hob filters with the setup, but I will update when I get it home. I was considering a canister also. I'm a diligent water changer and poop vaccumer. Its a problem. More than likely this will be stone and sand scape only. Do peacocks require certain lighting? Thank you again for taking the time :)

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Truth be told, and others on here tell me, I don't have the smartest mix. I know that, and I'm gambling. I like every single one of those fish so who ever has to go vs gets to stay I'll be happy. And I may just end up with a good tank of fish that don't traditionally mix.

That's kind of the essence of the all male tank. Getting a lot of color and big personalities to co habitats.
 
Well if I don't have to over stock to control aggression, I'd rather not. Either way it sounds like trial and error to find a good balance. This equipment is used, and I don't have it in my hands yet. My uncle said there are 2 hob filters with the setup, but I will update when I get it home. I was considering a canister also. I'm a diligent water changer and poop vaccumer. Its a problem. More than alikely this will be stone and sand scape only. Do peacocks require certain lighting? Thank you again for taking the time :)

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9-12 would be a pretty full stock, honestly 15 isn't that much of a stretch, overstocked, yes, but not unmanageable. And IMO overstocking is a really good way at weeding out aggression. Peacocks aren't that bad though, so you really could go either way. Just depends on how much time you want to spend each week.

All I have in my tank is rocks and sand. They don't have any special lighting needs. I have the aqueon modular led with colormax bulbs, (red bulbs) that being out the colors. With more light you get faster algae growth. But I don't have any problems controlling it.
 
Also want to mention when you add new fish, the new guy will get chased/picked on. That doesn't mean it is a bad fit, give it time to settle in. They usually back off once they are used to it. (2-4 days in my experience)
 
You want to have lots of hiding places. The best thing I heard from a African keeper was, "you commonly hear about giving the fish their own little area. That's not true, what you want to do is program in escape routes so when a fish is being chased it can shake it's harasser."
 
Decided to get your opinions. I'm new to cichlids. After much researching, I want to use juveniles. The guy at the new lfs I tried today (so not gonna trust him just yet, amazing cichlids though) says I could house 15 total peacocks in my 55. Then he walked me through how to add them. His suggestion was to turn off the lights, rearrange the tank, add new fish each week or two (2-4 at a time), let them acclimate for a while before turning on the lights again. Does this ALL sound like good info? Any peacock lovers with all male tanks out there? Thanks and Go Thunder!!!

Sent from my EVO using Aquarium Advice mobile app


Rescaping will remove any territories that the other fish have formed. Allowing the new fish to essential enter a new tank. By adding a few at a time you are less likely to experience giant jumps in your nitrogen cycle by adding all at once.
 
Actually you don't have to turn off the lights you can just redo the rocks and you can add the fish all at the same time if you acclimate them right. Also 15 peacocks is way too much stalk for a 55g the rule go by every 2 inches per gallon it depends on the size of the fish
 
Actually you don't have to turn off the lights you can just redo the rocks and you can add the fish all at the same time if you acclimate them right. Also 15 peacocks is way too much stalk for a 55g the rule go by every 2 inches per gallon it depends on the size of the fish


Going off that there'd only be 5 fish. 5 male peacocks in a 55 would be a lot of fighting. And you'd probably only have one fish showing it's colors. Making finding the right combination even harder. Overstocking typically applies to Mbuna, but can be used with peacocks as well, and I recommend it in an all male tank. I have see successful all make tanks that are stacked.

Like I said 9-12 is a good stock. Depending on size. Most peacocks are 4-5 inches.
 
I agree 15 is too many for a 55 most peacocks are bigger than mbuna and less aggressive. I have an all male mbuna tank and I have one dominant fish I find it helpful because he keeps other fish in check without killing them. Like what was said a referee. And haps would grow too big for a 55 I would stick with peacocks for now unless u upgrade to a 6 foot tank.

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No just peacocks, but yes all male. Maybe just shoot for 12 and see how it goes? Less mess for me. As long as it curbs aggresion.

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All males they would beat the crap out eachother


Not necessarily, over stocking, programming in escape routes, and picking the right fish. All male tanks are difficult, but everyone in mine is doing fine together. I have seen many successful all male tanks.
And an all male peacock tank is a lot less of a head ache than an all male Mbuna tank.
 
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