Lifelong dream - first peacock bass growout

[Justin Martin]

i figure I’ve been posting all over the place out of nowhere so I’ll formally start this thread. This is my 80g growout for 4 ocel peas and a couple other tank mates who may or may not stay. I will use this to document growth, as well as my setup once it’s time to go bigger. Thank you to all who have already reached out to me, and for the very valuable information I’ve already gathered. CREAM!!!!!

 

[Justin Martin]

The day I bought them from lfs

 

[Justin Martin]

Home! Before my water stained

 

[Justin Martin]

Three weeks of fattening up

 

[Justin Martin]

“This is our tank”

The Mayan cichlid no longer f**ks with them

 

[Justin Martin]

And last night. They were just dipped in paraguard as they’ve been fighting off a very light case of Ich. I must admit I was not fully cycled when they were brought home so I am at fault for the stress. I water change and prime daily right now. Still getting ammonia and nitrites at about .20 ppm daily. Nitrates have never passed 5ppm

 

[cigars]

Looking good, always loved black water tanks

 

[Bassjedi]

Good luck; I’m growing some out as well and also just fought off a mild case of ich.

 

[Justin Martin]

Thanks cigars , as I said in the other post I’m going to see if I can bring the 300 up as a Blackwater. Helps with my super basic tap water (Florida water pure limestone, seen taps at 10.0). I’ve been trying to do some research on how tannins will affect (destroy) a sump over time. I can’t be the only one who’s got this dream. Your level of filtration is awesome. I saw a post by one of the admins which really inspired me. Super super clean. That’s half of my goal for the big tank.

Bassjedi keep me posted on how things are going. As with any tank I’m sure we’ll both hit a lot of learning curves with cichla (if this is also your first time). What size growout you running? What is your final tank size plan? And filtration?

 

[Bassjedi]

Thanks cigars , as I said in the other post I’m going to see if I can bring the 300 up as a Blackwater. Helps with my super basic tap water (Florida water pure limestone, seen taps at 10.0). I’ve been trying to do some research on how tannins will affect (destroy) a sump over time. I can’t be the only one who’s got this dream. Your level of filtration is awesome. I saw a post by one of the admins which really inspired me. Super super clean. That’s half of my goal for the big tank.

Bassjedi keep me posted on how things are going. As with any tank I’m sure we’ll both hit a lot of learning curves with cichla (if this is also your first time). What size growout you running? What is your final tank size plan? And filtration?

Hi Justin. I have raised cichla a couple of times before, but I have always had to get rid of them around 12” because of cross country moves. I have never lost one (knock on wood). They are pretty hardy fish, especially after they reach 10” or so.

I’m hoping this time around I’ll be staying put for a long time, so I have ordered a 650 gallon (120”x42”x30”). In the meantime, they are growing out in a 100 gallon and currently range from about 5” to 8”. Filtration on the 100 gallon is an internal wet dry, two Fluval 406 canisters, and a Fluval FX5 canister that I’m not happy with and will soon be replaced with an eheim 2262.

Filtration for the 650 will be two large bead filters for pools and 2 eheim 2262 canisters. Hopefully it will be enough; there will eventually be a lot of big fish in there.