Need some expert aulonocara advice!

[sunshinehippy]

Hoping someone can help. Getting frustrated!

I have a fairly new aulonocara set up. It is a 200L tank and my intention was to have an all male tank. I have a nicely coloured 4" Mandarin, a nicely coloured 3" Maulana, a 2.5" colouring up fire fish, what I think is an orange Baenschi (3"), Otopharynx Lithobates Zimbabwe Rocks (2.5") and 3 other fish that were brightly coloured in the shop and have now gone nearly completely brown (2-2.5"). I believe that one of them is a male (has some clour on the head) but I cannot be sure about the other 2 - I know for a fact that they were fed colour enhancing food.

A couple of problems:

1. I want colourful male fish - should I remove the 3 that aren't coloured or be more patient? I know that dominant males can make subdominants lose their colour but all fish seem to enjoy each other's company and I now come on to the next problem

2. All the fish are very shy. They huddle together in the middle of the tank hiding behind a large Java fern which is in the middle. When I approach the tank they all hide and wont come out til I stand still for a period of time. I have a few large rocks scattered along the bottom of the tank but did not make any caves as when I did this all they did was hide. I have a realistic resin rock background too.

All the videos I have seen on you tube shows the fish active and certainly not shy. How can I stop them hiding all the time? Should I make less hiding places for them seeing as there is no aggression in the tank? Should I take away the java fern so there is nothing to hide behind?

I appreciate all your help.

 

[Blue2Fyre]

1) I would wait out the coloring a bit more. Sometimes it can take a while for fish to color up all the way

2)Adding more hiding places will make them feel more secure. I would add more rocks and possibly more fish. My mbuna get skittish if I don't have enough fish in the tank.

About your fish being colorful at the LFS then turning brown. They may have been hormoned. This happened to me with an electric blue hap.

Before

And After

Some suppliers hormone fish to make them color up at a smaller size so they can be sold younger. This means you may have female fish and not males at all. I'm still waiting as my hap grows to see if I have a male of female.

 

[mike dunagan]

Above is correct on all but two points. I have had many male peacocks show color until being added into a tank that has larger males showing color. Not just from stores, but other people as well. Once they are large enough they will start to show again. I had a male who was full colored, but in tank. Took 1 year before he was colored again...He now looks amazing.

 

[Otherone]

Hard to say way so shy - have you had them for awhile or are they still acclimating?

Agree w/ Mike can take a year or more for Peacocks to color up.

 

[thunderridge127]

Your Peacocks are still juvis. I have a Benga Yellow (sunshine peacock). At 3+ inches I was ready to get rid of. Now at 41/2 inches this fish has incredible color. He shares a 150 gallon tank with other peacocks, haps, 2 male lake vics & electric yellows. I agree with the others your fish need more time .

 

[L~C~G]

Water quality has a huge effect on fish behavior, if you have ammonia or nitrate problems your fish will also become shy and skittish and will also lose some color.

I have a 30 gal tank with 10 x 2" - 3" peacocks and they come flying to the front of the tank every time I come near. Every one of them is showing brilliant coloration even though there are no females. I have two small rocks in the entire tank and no one is hiding behind any thing. Even the smallest 2" Milomo is showing full coloration.

Do a 30% water change every day for a week and the fish will quickly become used to you and it will also help if you have any water quality issues.

Before I get flamed for over stocking.............this is just a holding / Quarantine tank while I am finishing their 120 gal plywood tank.

 

[Mague]

It takes a lot of time for Aulonocaras to show color. But if at the LFS they had colors and the fins where big and pointy maybe the feed them hormones. I had the same problem with an Eureka cichlid bought him very colorfull and SPECTACULAR FINS!!! and like 4 days later he looks ugly. I still have him in my tank cause i still hope that maybe he is a male. One thing I do is I have a quarantine tank, i buy like 3 or 4 aulonocaras of one type. Then I get the alpha male (the beautyfull male) of that tank into my 125 gal.