My rift lake tanks

[Lab_Rat]

50g peacock/hap male tank:

55g peacock/tang tank. I've kept it really open because my Maleri Island breeding colony is in there and it makes it easier to catch the holding females:

Red shoulder:

Dragon's blood (hybrid):

OB male:

OB female:

Fryeri (has a messed up face so his name is "Slackjaw"; he'll never breed due to his deformity):

Young jake:

Maleri Island male:

Maleri Island female holding:

Latifasciata:

Julie marlieri burundi:

Black calvus:

Mwela orange comp:

 

[Brooks74]

That is a nice Sunshine male I have a colony I am working on as we speak .I would keep the breeding group separate so there is no chance of any of the other males trying to crossbreeding with the females sunshines. How do you like those Calvus? I want to try those in a species tank,no one around here stocks them.

 

[rolandjocson]

nice fishes. add some rock works.

 

[Lab_Rat]

Thanks guys! The 55g only has the Maleri Island male and his ladies, a rubescens female, some albino rubescens females, and a young phenochilus tanzania hap. I'm not saving any fry from the rubescens and once I get more room I will prob pull my rubescens male from the other tank and add the females and collect fry then. The Maleri Islands are my main focus right now though. Don't worry, I won't distribute any possible hybrids, except the OB fry I have, which are well known and unmistakably hybrids and can't be passed as anything but that.

The calvus and comps are pretty cool fish, though they're quite shy. They each stake out their own territories in the rock work. The peacocks don't mess with them at all.

 

[Brooks74]

Good luck, My female sunshines are still young or inexperienced they all have spawned with my male multiple times But they keep swallowing the eggs after a few days .I had one to hold but she only spit 4 babies I have only had them a few months though.

 

[Lab_Rat]

My girls are all really good, they hold full term and they're easy to strip. They did have a lot of practice though, the guy I bought them from (already had my male) said they'd spawn with each other and hold the infertile eggs. Good luck with yours too, do you have the stuartgranti Maleri Island or the baenschi?

 

[Brooks74]

Good question as I assumed the were Maleri .The store I got them from usually labels just the common name on the tank .I did alittle more research and what i found was the major difference between the two is the slope of the head which imo confirms they are indeed Maleri. Do you or have you ever had German red peacocks specifically females. I ask because I was thinking of getting new females because when I ordered mine the lfs owner also order some german red peacocks but his helper dumped both bags in the tank together and they hadnt colored up yet .He assured me he could pick sunshine from germans and I ended up with 2 male sunshine and 4 females which i hope are sunshines He reassured me this week I have sunshine females but I have heard its very hard to tell them apart.Sorry to get of topic.

 

[Lab_Rat]

I do have the one female rubescens (German Red) in with my Maleri girls and it's easy for me to tell the difference. The rubescens female is a lot darker than the Maleris. The Maleris also have a bit of a yellow tint. I'll try to take some pics of them.

ETA: Took some pics of the girls.

Note the difference in head shapes between the rubescens (in red) and the Maleri (in blue). The albino fish in there is an albino rubescens.

Another way to tell them apart is the yellow coloration the Maleri will have:

See if you can tell them apart in these pics:

To someone uneducated about peacocks, they look the same. Once you get experience with the different breeds you learn to tell them apart. That being said, sometimes it's near impossible to sort out what females are what, that's why it's not recommended to mix them. If I didn't know I could tell the Maleri from the rubescens I would never have put them together.

 

[Brooks74]

Wow thanks alot for this info I looked at mine they seem darker than yours and when I look at them out of the water they seem to have a reddish brown sheen which is why I started 2nd guessing them but I remember seeing the yellow on them when I first got them . . I bought another one today that I can defiantly see the yellow but that seem to darken up in my tank.Can you explain the different head shape I cant really see it in the pics. Pm me your email address ill will try to take some pics and send them to you if you dont mind.

 

[Lab_Rat]

To me, the Maleri islands look like they have a bit of a steeper drop to the mouth than the rubescens. Why not post your pics in a thread here? That way you can get more opinions.