My peacock aquarium setup

[daisymur]

Hi all,
Thinking of setting up a peacock tank and looking for some advice from people who've done it before. Considering a 55g setup with sand substrate and lots of rocks for decoration - what about plants, do they work well in these tanks?

Our local water is quite hard, with a gh of 282ppm and kh of 8. The ph comes out at 7.8, which I'm hoping won't be a problem.
I've read that it's best to keep just one type of peacock to avoid crossbreeding, and a male to female ratio of around 1:3-4. Does that sound about right to you guys?

[rustyfox]

That sounds like a solid plan. Since peacocks can crossbreed, you could also consider adding some smaller haps to the mix. Having three groups with one male to three or four females each could work out well. The one thing to keep in mind is that only the males will display the vibrant colors.

[daisymur]

Just to clarify, you're suggesting 3 separate groups of haps along with the peacocks. I'm taking my time with this setup as I want to get it just right. While color isn't my top priority, I'm aiming to create a natural environment for them.

[rustyfox]

You could do a few different combinations, like 3 groups of haps or 1 peacock and 2 haps. Each group should be 1 male with 3-4 females. The key is to have females that look different in each group. Are there any specific fish you're interested in?

[rustyfox]

Considering their peaceful nature, you could swap in yellow labs for one of the groups. A visually appealing setup might include, one male to three or four females each, something like this: placidochromis Electra, yellow labs, and ruby red peacocks.

[daisymur]

I'm still deciding on the specific species, but leaning towards the blue varieties since my other tank has a lot of oranges and yellows. I'll do some research on haps to see which ones catch my eye.

For plants, I've had good luck with Zorchzon's and various moss types in my other tank - would they work in this setup or are there other options I should consider?

[rustyfox]

I found this great resource for checking out profiles and pics of Lake Malawi fish. You can select Lake Malawi in the first box and then choose between haps and aulonocara (peacocks) in the second. I'd focus on haps that stay around 7" or smaller, given your tank size. Check it out: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/i ... p?region=M