Can Peacocks co-exist with eachother?

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HybridGS

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 3, 2010
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England
Hi I'm new to Lake Malawis (other than Mbuna)

Currently in one of my tanks I have 4 Yellow Labs, a male and female Electric Blue Haps, Livingstonii, mixed with a couple of centrals

I added 3 Firefish/Strawberry Peacock/Dragon Bloods (whatever you guys know them as :P the hybrid bright red type with albino eyes and blue speckles on fins)

One became dominant very quickly and is growing fast, he killed the other bright red one in a matter of weeks, he bullied it for weeks then one day killed it in devastating fashion, to quick for me to intervene.

My third peacock is a pale pink colour (possibly female?) and is bullied constantly by the dominant one, and i'm kinda waiting for the same to happen again.

Is this common with peacocks? it doesent bother any of the other fish really, just has the odd territory spat.

Shall i put the bullied fish in my other 6ft tank? (tanks are in signature) or keep it and hope things settle down? could it just be trying to get the females attention?

Are these hybrids sterile?

(please don't batter me for mixing centrals with Africans, it works well for me for the last few years)

Any help would be great :)
 
male peacocks will fight with one another if they look similar. when stocking a tank with more that one male youll want to get males that look completely different, but still they could fit and someone would have to be moved until you find a combination that works. if you have 1 male and 1 female the male will harass the female, to fix that have atleast 3 females for a male.
 
Dragon Bloods are notorious for fighting each other until one is eliminated, especially if a female is present. I have been raising them for several years and there is only room for one dominate male unless you have a lot of fish in the tank.
Its like James99 said, its best to have different colored males to try and curb conspecific fights.
 
Your hybrids generally contain some Mbuna and it seems that the aggressive gene is the most prominent gene when it comes to the fish you have listed.

I have a fire fish peacock and he is full of crap but my Flavescent keeps him in line. I also had a gold peacock (that pink thing you mentioned) Which became an absolute menace when he matured and swiftly moved to my brothers 250gal tank. So you can expect more issues when it grows / Matures.

You didnt mention what size your tank is, it seems to me like it may be on the small side from the aggression you are experiencing.

From what I have seen from the gold peacock your tangs will be hammered if you put him in that tank.

I would honestly suggest getting rid of the gold (I know they are attractive, but they are not worth it) and keeping the one fire fish with the fish that you already have until he becomes a problem.

All pure bred peacocks fight but if you have a big enough tank it should never get to the point where another fish is in danger of being killed
 
The tanks are im my sig (4ftx2ftx2ft/125g for the africans)

ps: i dont have ant Tangs :S
 
That size should be fine, Have you rearranged all of the decor? That can help with aggression some times.

Sorry I miss read your post. The gold peacock may not survive in your CA/SA tank but I dont have much experience with CA/SA fish so i couldnt say for sure.. Only really into africans.
 
Shall i add more Malawis to the 125? to try and overstock away from the agression?

Everything i have is omnivorous and not to nasty.

Its current stock is...

4x2x2=
4 x Yellow Labs
2 x Electric Blue Haps
1 x Nimbochromis Livingstonii
2 x Firefish Peacock
1 x EBJD
2 x Blood Parrots
1 x Pink Convict
1 x Firemouth
2 x Raphael Cat

PS i had no clue that Mbunas could cross with Haps and Peacocks so thanks for that info.
 
I have had several male peacocks together without incident. I think is depends on the specific species and the individual fish.

How big are your fish? Do they have hiding places? How often do you change decor arrangements?

One slight correction, the 4x2x2 footprint is actually 120 gallons
 
You are correcting me on 5 gallons? ...I dont really appreciate pettyness over such a minor thing, as far as i was aware the 4x2x2 was 125 and the 6x2x2 was 185, so i guess they are 120 and 180.

On a side note i do appreciate your avatar of Fedor Emelienenko :)

Yeh they have a full reef or ocean rock and pebbles, the fish are around 4" (every fish in the tank is except for the big male Blood Parrot who is 7-8")
 
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