Need help separating these juvies that will arrive shortly!

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chiroken

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 3, 2012
93
1
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Vancouver Island, BC Canada
OK, my order is in and I need to know how many dividers to build for a 55 and 65 gallon that will house 9 groups of 6 fish each. I also have access to using a 90 in the near future but I would like to put all fish to start in the 55/65. I want to be able to differentiate the females down the road for resale with extra males that I will not be keeping.

The peacocks are:

RED TOP LWANDA AULONOCARA SP. LWANDA "HAI REEF"
BLUE ORCHID PEACOCKS AULONOCARA KANDEENSIS
AULONOCARA STUARTGRANTI "CHILUMBA"

I am assuming all 3 peacock groups will need to be separate from one another?

Haps:

DIMIDIOCHROMIS STRIGATUS
RED TOP LITHOBATES OTOPHARYNX LITHOBATES "CHINYANKWAZI"
RED CAP LETHRINOPS LETHRINOPS SP. RED CAP "CHIRWA"
PROTOMELAS SP. Fire Fish
EXOCHROMIS ANAGENYS
BLUE SPECKLED CRUISER PLACIDOCHROMIS PHENOCHILUS

(sorry for the caps, they are listed this way on the sellers lists!)

These are all new fish to me (the haps) and am not clear on body shape. The strigagus has a unique shape and I understand the E. anagenys females have an obvious colour pattern to tell them apart. I seem to find that the P. phenochilus (the spotted variation) females take on colour and have a "similar" appearance to a deep water hap. Any knowledge as to what size they will develop their colour to be distinguishable from just another drab brown female?

I would very much appreciate your advice on which females of the above list will look very similar (I'm not an expert at identification) and therefore will need to be separated. I am hoping I can divide the 55/65 into 2 compartments each to have a total of 4 separate areas for the 9 groups.

These fish are all in the 1.5" range as well. Any suggestions as to who should not be housed together due to aggression rather than similarity in appearance?

Thanks.
 
All your peacocks should be kept separate. It will be very hard to tell the females apart from each species. Your dimidiochromis and exochromis will be your big boys. They are predators. They will need a 6ft tank as full grown adults. Your lethrinops will be the wimps of the groups. They tend not to color up much unless they are by themselves. The lithobates don't get too large and usually don't get nasty. The placidochromis and protomelas can get large but probably not as nasty as the exochromis and dimidiochromis. I'm giving you a general feeling for the behavior of the fish. Its possible to have a crazy male peacock who wants to be the boss of a tank. You should be ok with your plan for a few months but eventually as the fish grow they will require more room. If you don't provide it they will provide it for themselves by killing each other.
 
Thanks Heyguy for the info. I don't think I mentioned in this thread that the fish are all destined for an 8 foot 300g tank. I have read the exochromis is quite timid and I was thinking it might not be a great fish some some of the more aggressive haps I have. You feel otherwise? I have currently 4 adults haps in a 135g tank that will also go into the 300g. Juggling fish around will give me the 90 to move males to as they mature from the groups I've just got. Already at 2" there are a few fish showing colour, particularly the Placidochromis, too bad they are know as such slow growers and slow to speckle.
 
I agree with Hey Guy. Keep the peacocks seperate and keep the lethrinops with the peacocks. The only aggresive fish you might have would be the STRIGATUS and he might not be all that bad. I've gone through some lethrinops because they are so gentle compared to most africans. The haps are all pretty gentle so should help with the aggression but the dominant PROTOMELAS, STRIGATUS should have some aggression. I love Exo's and they are laid back. The only wild card for me is the placidochromis but should be fine. It's going to take a couple years for him to specakle so buckle up.
 
I've had a placidochromis Jalo reef and absoultely loved his color. I have some placidochromis electra fort maguire at 1 inch and can't wait to see them color up. I love those fish, they have the best blues!
 
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