Peacocks and Mbunas

K

knife fish fanatic

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2012
62
0
0
Utah
I have a nice well established Mbuna tank with gorgeous fish and two lame grey peacocks. I was at my local fish store looking for a nice red color to go in my tank. The guy immediately showed us the stunning Red Dragon Peacock for $50. Being a fish lover I had to get him. He was perfectly healthy and they had him for 2 years. I trust them completely by their word. So we bring him home putting on the surface of the water to acclimate. We then letting him in the water we noticed that he and our electric yellow were fighting it out thinking it was just a little social order going on. The next mourning he is revenged. We unfortunately didn't act fast enough in moving him to a different tank. He died in the afternoon today completely destroyed.

Why did our fish kill him and not our other peacocks?


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T

timbo6684

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2013
258
0
16
Surface of the Sun, Arizona
Adding one fish to an established tank is dangerous and difficult. All your current fish will stress the newbie easily. Adding more fish at one time will reduce the stress on the new fish. Also your drab grey peacocks are females and most likely your Dragon blood was a male. In all my experience the only mbuna I suggest keeping with peacocks are yellow labs.

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L

lunker65

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 17, 2013
683
6
18
Virginia
i have always had the best success with adding more than one fish at a time. you should look into getting some ruby jewels. this may not be the proper name for them but they are really neat after they have acclimated to the tank. but by adding more than one at a time it spreads the wealth out a little bit in terms of being picked on. mine have usually been accepted after a day or two.
 
I

INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST

Candiru
MFK Member
Mar 13, 2013
517
27
46
TOLEDO OHIO
You should never add just 1 fish to a cichlid tank, 99%of the time this will happen.. The only way one fish will make it is if it is a lot bigger and meaner then the fish you have in the tank already... Sorry sounds like a $50 lesson...
 
A

Allan01230

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 29, 2006
3,865
195
96
Michigan
I never keep mbuna with peacocks or haps. I guess it works out for some but I never had any luck with it, mbuna imo are just too aggressive.
 
C

Cassius.

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 3, 2012
120
1
0
Westchester, NY
Adding peacocks or most haps to a mbuna tank is really risky - especially if you just add one to an established tank. That said, in my experience the hybrid peacocks like dragon bloods fare the best with the mbuna because they can hold their own. Your grey peacocks could be girls, or they could be males that are so harassed that they've lost all their color.

For that red color, you might consider a Victorian cichlid, like a ruby green or a Nyererei. Beautiful deep red and they're robust enough to boss around the mbuna.


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C

chopsteeks

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jun 2, 2013
418
29
61
Denver
If you meant 'jewel cichlids' --- I have 2 dwarf male jewel cichlids in my demasoni and zebra tank. So far I loved them as these 2 are the enforcers in the tank.

They do not chase and hunt other cichlids in the tank, but when a fight breaks out ---- the participant in the fight stops when one of the jewels show up.

Recently dumped a 4 inch male blue moorii and 4 inch male ruby red and these 2 were creating havoc in the hap/peacock tank.

Everytime the blue moorii will try to start something, one of the dwarf jewels will come out of hiding in his fighting red color --- stops the moorii in his tracks...

Darn hope this last as I am getting tired of catching misbehaving fish.

lunker65 said:
i have always had the best success with adding more than one fish at a time. you should look into getting some ruby jewels. this may not be the proper name for them but they are really neat after they have acclimated to the tank. but by adding more than one at a time it spreads the wealth out a little bit in terms of being picked on. mine have usually been accepted after a day or two.
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