How to keep peacocks from hybridizing?

[Hybridfish7]

My dad wants some new fish for his office tank, and I was thinking of getting him a breeding group of some nice species of aulonocara. possibly some sort of smaller hap. However, he has a male sunshine/ruby red hybrid he has a more sentimental attachment to since it was the first fish he got in that tank. other than that there's a school of rainbows in there. Alot of other fish have been cycled in and out (or killed by the ones that were cycled in and out). Is there any way to keep them from breeding? if I got some sort of protomelas sp. or something, would the peacock be less inclined to spawn with them? I can't imagine it being high enough in any hierarchy though, it's never been a very aggressive fish.

 

[james99]

You can try a hap species with the peacock, that may cut down the hybridization risk some, but theres always a chance when you have a mixed tank. Best bet would be to find something that has females that look nothing like aulonocara females and hope that the peacock doesnt dominate the male hap. It might be hard considering the haps will be newcomers in a tank that the peacock has already claimed.

 

[Hybridfish7]

I'll look into something that won't destroy the peacock or rainbows, hopefully those options have females that don't look like female peacocks, and hopefully those don't cost a fortune ?

 

[DJRansome]

Protomelas are often pretty large haps...how long is the tank? Placidochromis electra is reliable and readily available.