Beginning to plan a Peacock tank

**JoshJ** · 05-30-2012, 03:47 PM

Hey all!

I am beginning to plan a future peacock tank (so that I am ready in the event that my wife has a change of heart and decides to allow me to have 4 or 5 tanks

). Whether it comes to pass or not, I am going to plan one so that I am prepared and knowledgeable. I have not done a ton of research yet, but have looked into it some.

I guess the question I have is this: When it comes to Peacocks, do I allow the one inch per gallon rule, or should I be giving them more space than that, given that they are cichlids? I realise that they may need more space than that, but I would like to know so that I can plan a tank around the types/number of fish I can have in it.

For example, lets say I am planning a 220g tank. From what I can tell, most peacocks max out at 5". Does this mean that I can house 44 fish that grow to be 5", or should I be limiting that number? AQAdvisor reccommends 33 in a 220g, but they recommend 33 in a 180g as well.

Any advice (off-topic advice as well) would be fantastic!
Thanks!

Josh

**pjaldave** · 05-30-2012, 08:05 PM

As far as i know 220 and 180 have the same length (if the standard ones) of 6ft. So it might be that length is more important than water volume it self if it's just going up (higher), because territories are one spot from top to bottom.

You only (can) follow the inch per gallon rule for small fishes. Peacocks and other more aggressive mbunas are not included in this guideline.

Though if going for peacocks, i would certainly advise you get all males for coloration and a little excitement in the tank.

**JoshJ** · 05-30-2012, 09:38 PM

Yeah, I was wondering about the whole floor space idea. Also, on another site I read that it is not a good idea to have more than one mating pair of similar peacocks, because there is a lot of cross-breeding. is this correct?

**pjaldave** · 05-31-2012, 04:06 AM

I am not too sure as I've never kept peacocks myself, though i want to. My LFS here just doesn't provide me with males! They have all females in their tanks..

That theory also goes with mbuna. They will cross breed if they are similar looking fish. That is why I recommend all males for peacocks.

But mixed genders with similar peacocks will work if you get synodontis cats to clean up the fry.

**JoshJ** · 05-31-2012, 02:06 PM

From what I can tell, Synodontis njassae are the way to go fro Lake Malawi tanks. Are there any other Synos that would work well, or whould I plan on njassae?

**Kayfish** · 05-31-2012, 04:17 PM

Hi, I am also planning a Peacock tank. I am going with all male cause I don't want to deal with breeding or hybrids. Pretty much all Aulonocara females look so similar that cross breeding is inevitable. As for Catfish I think most of the Synodontis from Africa share similar water chemistry and would be ok.
Flavitaeniatus, Ocellifer, Eupterus to name a few.

**DeadSulphurhead** · 06-01-2012, 10:41 PM

Originally Posted by pjaldave

because territories are one spot from top to bottom.
.

I disagree with that. A territory can be a tiny cave to half the tank.
If you have stacked rocks or anything floating, there's a good chance territories will be made on top of each other. As is my case. I even have a yellow benga that adamantly guards the top of the intake tube, while a swallowtail guards the bottom at the intake head.

Edit
I feed my guys daily with a mixture of Tetra algae cichlid crisps and spiriluna flake at night.
Morning they get anything from frozen brine shrimp or blood worms, Tetra colour granules, Tetra colour flake, small shrimp pellets, algae tabs to play with (pleco eventually sniffs it out lol)

**Northerly** · 06-02-2012, 01:34 AM

Originally Posted by DeadSulphurhead

Edit
I feed my guys daily with a mixture of Tetra algae cichlid crisps and spiriluna flake at night.
Morning they get anything from frozen brine shrimp or blood worms, Tetra colour granules, Tetra colour flake, small shrimp pellets, algae tabs to play with (pleco eventually sniffs it out lol)

yeah every few days i throw in a kens meat and spirulina wafer for my mbuna, they love it and it instigates some aggressive feeding. i also feed twice daily with kens premium cichlid pellets. I throw in some plankton every once in a while as well.