OB Peacocks - HELP!

[chazwood918]

Hello everyone! I am starting a 125g Malawi Cichlid tank. My plan is to strategically introduce 18 male cichlids in groups to ensure everybody gets along and acclimates with little no issue. Obviously given this plan, at each stage I need to introduce them at the same time and they need to be similar sizes. I live in southwestern Connecticut and have checked with several of the best LFS's in the state with basically no luck. Now I am pretty experienced aquarist but I have never been comfortable ordering fish online. The prices are always high, shipping is high, I have to trust that the fish are healthy, and it seems like everybody is out of stock! But I am starting to come to terms with the fact that I am going to need to go this route.

That said, I am admittedly also not the easiest client. I have never put so much effort into a tank and I really want this one to be what I have always wanted. So I'm looking for advice from you pro's! Group #1 (will likely be the most challenging) is 6 male OB Peacocks of pretty specific quality, color, and they need to be young. 3.5-4 inches max because I'm going to add the other groups in the coming weeks, and I'm aware that at that size their colors start to show but I would be open to gambling on smaller if the breeding line is solid.

1) Orange / Platinum Orange

2) Blue / Blueberry

3) Golden / Gold Lwanda

4) Marbled / Multi-Color

5) Red / Raspberry

6) Tangerine


So what do you guys think? Is this doable without costing an arm and a leg!?

 

[james99]

So all of the first group will be ob's? If that's the plan, there's very little chance that will work, especially since it seems like you're going the all male route. You'll want each fish to looked different. All of these will see each other as the same and fight until you have 1.

 

[chazwood918]

james99 really? I've had OB's in the past plus I researched pretty extensively on this. By having them be the first group it allows them to establish territories and hierarchy. In my experience, when they are introduced at the same time and of similar size they get along very well, and I only plan to give them 2 weeks before I bring in the 2nd group which should also help manage aggression.

So are you suggesting that I double up the group size by adding 6 more different fish?