Guide to keeping peacock bass (Sticky, I hope)

[Oscarboyz]

Guide to Successfully Keeping Peacock Bass

Introduction​

Peacock bass have an ever increasing popularity among fish keepers in this day and age. They have been described as helicopters hovering over wait to kill their enemies. They are one of the apex predators in the fish world and grow to very large sizes. So with that said, let’s begin…

The Tank​

Peacock bass grow very large in the wild as well as in captivity. Some species reaching 30” or bigger. At this adult size a very large tank is needed. As a minimum at least a 240 gallon tank should suffice for peacock bass. A juveniles these smaller bass can be raised to a good size in a 55-125 gallon tank reaching a size of 6-8” before being transferred into the bigger tank. For the small peacocks many hiding places are needed because of their fragile nature and skittish nature at the beginning of their lives. Rocks along with plants should be added to the tank for small bass. As juveniles these bass should be at a temperature of around 86* for optimal growth and fast metabolism. When they get bigger this temperature can if need be get lowered to no less than about 80*.
Large filtration should be always a top priority to keep water parameters steady and keep the tank clean. As the fish get bigger they get increasingly dirty ever increasing this bioload will get larger. So keep this in mind…. As far as lids on the tank they should always be used as these fish like to jump…

Feeding​

Peacock bass LOVE to eat. As juveniles they are always waiting to get fed and if trained correctly will greedily take many foods. When small these bass love to eat frozen bloodworms and freeze dried krill. If they do not readily take this food consider feeder guppies and minnows. In general and especially with small peacock bass it is better to feed more times per day with smaller amounts of food instead of feeding one big meal per day. When the peacocks get bigger they will accept market shrimp and smelt silversides etc. Once at a larger size say 12” they can be fed less everyday.
***Please note if you are having problems getting you peacock bass onto krill see DMACK’S article on transferring on to FD.


Please note this article is general about peacock bass and is not meant to go into detail on the more intricate species it is not a breeding guide either. If there is any missing information please say so please DO NOT FLAME if you find errors with the information. Most of this information is from personal experience.

This is a beginner’s guide to Peacock Bass

Thanks,
Oscarboyz

 

[muckieman]

good p=thread should help some begeners

 

[Onion01]

They have been described as helicopters hovering over wait to kill their enemies

who described them like that?

 

[muckieman]

who described them like that?

i didn't see that! lol omg

 

[Oscarboyz]

I saw that in a book on amazon fish dont ask.... thanks for the kind words

 

[Oscarboyz]

anyone else?

 

[Onion01]

not bad. you can go a little more in depth on certain points, but not bad for beginners

 

[kusojijii]

who described them like that?

what's interesting is I always told my roommate mine looked like Hueys and when I read that, I made him read it and I said, "see I'm not crazy!!"

 

[ZOO YORK 207]

I think you should go a little more in depth with it. Also you should add that baby pbass should be fed live foods when small because they get nutrients from the feeders that they will need for optimum health. I also think you should've said the Temensis species need a bigger tank than a 240(8' x 2' x 2') considering they get fairly larger than the rest of the Cichla family. I think what else that should be added to this would be, when preparing market shrimp for Cichla(or any fish) they should have no salt on them, they should be defrosted at room temperature, deshelled and the tails should be removed(just the spine in the tail).

Also if your pbass get Ich, you should'nt add aquarium salt. Just raise the temp. Other than those facts(I am probably forgetting something) seems pretty good to me.

 

[CrazyBoutFish]

i have a 3" pbass and he/she is on market shrimp. and i always feed it one time at night. should i reduce the feeding so i would feed it morning , noon, and night?