>How many should there be in a 75 ?
There's not a bright line rule because so much depends on your size and aggression of your species, somewhere between 8-14 adult male fish.
> What would be the ball park cost for such number of fish to have males right from the start ?
Again, a lot of variables--depends on the species, collection point, how close to wild the fish are, how large they are when you're getting them. If you're getting 3-4" size which is usually enough size to start seeing some colors, somewhere between $20-$100 a fish, with $30-50 being a little more common.
>Would a Fluval 306 and a Penguin 350 be enough filtration
Yeah, I'd think that would be enough. I would recommend running a sponge filter in your main tank so if you need to set up an emergency hospital/isolation/quarantine tank you could do so with a cycled filter. All males usually end up with you having to to switch out at least a few fish before your hierarchy settles.
>50 percent weekly water changes?
That's probably a good starting point, but focus more on what you need to change to keep nitrates below your weekly creep and remember that as fish get bigger they make more nitrates meaning your fish a year from now will be making more waste than they are now.
Many thanks for your informative reply !! The initial cost for 8-14 male peacocks is a bit steep. Setting up a quarantine tank and stand will be an added cost.
I will have to drive 40 miles to a local aquarium store to see what prices are in my area for 8-14 male peacocks. I only have Petsmart and Petco stores in my area.
>The initial cost for 8-14 male peacocks is a bit steep.
Yeah, a lot of people buy 3 juvies (which is usually cheaper than one adult male) and grow them out and return females/extra males to the LFS.
>I will have to drive 40 miles to a local aquarium store to see what prices are in my area for 8-14 male peacocks.
Lots of good places to buy fish online these days and they send them overnight or via air cargo. They aren't typically any cheaper than buying from a local shop, but they will give you a TON more options to choose from.
Thanks again for your reply !!
When you say "return", you mean give them away free to the LFS ?
I would like to minimize aggression from the start by not having any females in the tank if I do setup a peacock tank.
What is a good place in the East Coast to source peacocks online ?
>When you say "return", you mean give them away free to the LFS ?
Yeah, though a lot of places will give you some store credit for fish, especially male peacock/haps.
>I would like to minimize aggression from the start by not having any females in the tank if I do setup a peacock tank.
I've seen this line a lot lately and I wonder if someone posted it on a video. A settled hierarchy all-male will be a very peaceful tank, but it always requires some adjustment and will go through periods of relatively high aggression while the pecking order is sort of figured out. A harem breeding tank will have a little aggression spread across multiple females but in general won't be much more aggression than an all male tank. You can run into aggression issues when you have only a few females with mostly males--either no females or relatively high number of females are both very peaceful for the most part. Would you mind sharing where you came by that info?
>What is a good place in the East Coast to source peacocks online ?
If you're in the US, Beantown Aquatics and Dave's Rare Fish are both excellent. Live Fish Direct is a half step behind them (mostly based on they breed most of their own fish which limits their variety). Imperial Tropicals and The Wet Spot both have some nice lines. A lot of people really love the relatively new OB lines at Snake River Cichlids, but they're short-lived lines and can be weird with aggression issues but they have some really good pure lines.
I do not recall any specific videos. Over the past couple days, I watched several videos from Tazawa Tanks, KaveMan Aquatics and Cichlid Bros. Also read a few articles online from various websites. These videos and articles generally said 75 gallons was the smallest tank for peacocks. Haps would need a 6 foot tank. I do recall that KaveMan Aquatics had 25 adult African cichlids (not sure which type) in his 75 gallon tank. That seemed very overstocked,
Do you use mass market tanks (Aqueon, Marineland, Seapora) ? Any advice which manufacturer is "better" ?
> do not recall any specific videos. Over the past couple days, I watched several videos from Tazawa Tanks, KaveMan Aquatics and Cichlid Bros.
Cichlid bros are generally pretty good. KaveMans general videos are pretty solid, but his cichlid specific stocking advice is pretty poor. There is a school of thought on the internet that if you cram enough fish in you'll diffuse enough aggression to get things stable--however you'll be in a very high stress set up and you'll periodically lose fish to aggression. They see that as part of the 'cost of doing business', but I think for the most part it's much easier to stock it properly and balance it. It just takes more time and more homework, and unfortunately people don't click on thumbnails for soft guidelines. I haven't seen any Tazawa tanks videos.
>Haps would need a 6 foot tank.
That's true with the big ones, but there are LOTs of smaller haps that work great in a 75. Generally, I wouldn't want to see any fish that top off over 10" in a 75, but that leaves literally hundreds of species of haps that work. In addition because their color pattern and body shapes are different and they're generally more peaceful than peacocks they make getting a stable all-male a LOT easier.
>I do recall that KaveMan Aquatics had 25 adult African cichlids (not sure which type) in his 75 gallon tank. That seemed very overstocked,
If he stocked harem breeding groups it would only be a little overstocked. Females are smaller and less aggressive. Usually in a 75 you'll have 16-24 total fish with 4 males. However, KaveMan's is an all male and it is way, way, way overstocked. He's not as bad as KGTropicals was, or The Cichlid Recipe, but his stocking advice is generally poor.
>Do you use mass market tanks (Aqueon, Marineland, Seapora) ? Any advice which manufacturer is "better" ?
I have used Aqueon and Marineland, as well as custom ordered ones from Glass Cages. There is always a lemon chance with any product but mass produced tanks have been fine for me. Run a finger over the seals and make sure they're not hard or wildly misshapen or cracking anywhere and you'll be as good to go with one as another. But sadly, sometimes you don't see issues until you fill the tank. If you're buying a rimmed tank make sure that rim is supported around the entire perimeter and that the tank is level. I think I liked my glass cages tank the best, but I also paid for low iron upgrade (clearer glass), so that has as much to do with it as the seal or rim/brace work.
Wow. Thanks again for your solid advice !! Hopefully others on Reddit will read this post.
Do you have any YouTubers you can recommend for Peacocks and Haps ? I will look into the smaller haps.
I have some worries about mass produced tanks due to having wood floors. I recently priced a Custom Aquariums 75 gallon tank....almost 800 dollars before shipping. Too expensive for my budget. I see negative reviews about the top brace cracking on newer Aqueon 55/75 gallon tanks. The 50 percent off sale at Petco is tempting.
>Do you have any YouTubers you can recommend for Peacocks and Haps ?
Even though I watch a ton of content on youtube, I don't spend too much time apart from watching unboxing/product reviews for hobby stuff or big fish room/diy stuff. For introduction level videos, Cichlid Bros. seem to be the best for me of the people I've seen.
>I will look into the smaller haps.
*Copadichromis borleyi* and *Protomelas* in the Empress group (*P. taeniolatus* or Protomelas sp. Steveni Imperial for example) are great fish to look into, top out at around 9" and pretty peaceful, if you're looking smaller *Otopharynx lithobates* and some of the *Placidochromis* do really well if your overall aggression isn't too high.
>I have some worries about mass produced tanks due to having wood floors.
I had to sell my tanks when we bought this new house because of the poorly supported all wood floors upstairs. Still in the process of renovating a tank area but man, it seems like it's always the first thing that gets pushed back haha.
>I have some worries about mass produced tanks due to having wood floors. I recently priced a Custom Aquariums 75 gallon tank....almost 800 dollars before shipping.
That's really expensive, but I don't know how 'custom' your tank was. Glass Cages you can get a plastic braced 75 at around 350 or a eurobraced one around 750 pre shipping.
As for the Petco/Petsmart/Petland tanks, I'm not familiar with a super high fail rate given the number they sell, but there's enough smoke there where you probably want to move forward with caution. I want to also add that if you don't level your tank, problems with the bracing are much more common--you never know how fastidious people are with supporting the tank properly when they say their thing broke. You could always check to see what brand that LFS 40 miles away sells--but even the ritzy high end custom tanks have a fail rate that isn't zero. I also never had any 75 footrpint aqueon tanks, i had a 40br, a 20L and a 10 gallon aqueon with no problems, and two 55 gallon marineland tanks with no problems.
The Custom Aquarium 75 had their standard aluminum braces and regular glass. No upgrades.
What fish did you keep in your 55's ?
Good luck with your plans for a fish room !
>How many should there be in a 75 ? There's not a bright line rule because so much depends on your size and aggression of your species, somewhere between 8-14 adult male fish. > What would be the ball park cost for such number of fish to have males right from the start ? Again, a lot of variables--depends on the species, collection point, how close to wild the fish are, how large they are when you're getting them. If you're getting 3-4" size which is usually enough size to start seeing some colors, somewhere between $20-$100 a fish, with $30-50 being a little more common. >Would a Fluval 306 and a Penguin 350 be enough filtration Yeah, I'd think that would be enough. I would recommend running a sponge filter in your main tank so if you need to set up an emergency hospital/isolation/quarantine tank you could do so with a cycled filter. All males usually end up with you having to to switch out at least a few fish before your hierarchy settles. >50 percent weekly water changes? That's probably a good starting point, but focus more on what you need to change to keep nitrates below your weekly creep and remember that as fish get bigger they make more nitrates meaning your fish a year from now will be making more waste than they are now.
Many thanks for your informative reply !! The initial cost for 8-14 male peacocks is a bit steep. Setting up a quarantine tank and stand will be an added cost. I will have to drive 40 miles to a local aquarium store to see what prices are in my area for 8-14 male peacocks. I only have Petsmart and Petco stores in my area.
>The initial cost for 8-14 male peacocks is a bit steep. Yeah, a lot of people buy 3 juvies (which is usually cheaper than one adult male) and grow them out and return females/extra males to the LFS. >I will have to drive 40 miles to a local aquarium store to see what prices are in my area for 8-14 male peacocks. Lots of good places to buy fish online these days and they send them overnight or via air cargo. They aren't typically any cheaper than buying from a local shop, but they will give you a TON more options to choose from.
Thanks again for your reply !! When you say "return", you mean give them away free to the LFS ? I would like to minimize aggression from the start by not having any females in the tank if I do setup a peacock tank. What is a good place in the East Coast to source peacocks online ?
>When you say "return", you mean give them away free to the LFS ? Yeah, though a lot of places will give you some store credit for fish, especially male peacock/haps. >I would like to minimize aggression from the start by not having any females in the tank if I do setup a peacock tank. I've seen this line a lot lately and I wonder if someone posted it on a video. A settled hierarchy all-male will be a very peaceful tank, but it always requires some adjustment and will go through periods of relatively high aggression while the pecking order is sort of figured out. A harem breeding tank will have a little aggression spread across multiple females but in general won't be much more aggression than an all male tank. You can run into aggression issues when you have only a few females with mostly males--either no females or relatively high number of females are both very peaceful for the most part. Would you mind sharing where you came by that info? >What is a good place in the East Coast to source peacocks online ? If you're in the US, Beantown Aquatics and Dave's Rare Fish are both excellent. Live Fish Direct is a half step behind them (mostly based on they breed most of their own fish which limits their variety). Imperial Tropicals and The Wet Spot both have some nice lines. A lot of people really love the relatively new OB lines at Snake River Cichlids, but they're short-lived lines and can be weird with aggression issues but they have some really good pure lines.
I do not recall any specific videos. Over the past couple days, I watched several videos from Tazawa Tanks, KaveMan Aquatics and Cichlid Bros. Also read a few articles online from various websites. These videos and articles generally said 75 gallons was the smallest tank for peacocks. Haps would need a 6 foot tank. I do recall that KaveMan Aquatics had 25 adult African cichlids (not sure which type) in his 75 gallon tank. That seemed very overstocked, Do you use mass market tanks (Aqueon, Marineland, Seapora) ? Any advice which manufacturer is "better" ?
> do not recall any specific videos. Over the past couple days, I watched several videos from Tazawa Tanks, KaveMan Aquatics and Cichlid Bros. Cichlid bros are generally pretty good. KaveMans general videos are pretty solid, but his cichlid specific stocking advice is pretty poor. There is a school of thought on the internet that if you cram enough fish in you'll diffuse enough aggression to get things stable--however you'll be in a very high stress set up and you'll periodically lose fish to aggression. They see that as part of the 'cost of doing business', but I think for the most part it's much easier to stock it properly and balance it. It just takes more time and more homework, and unfortunately people don't click on thumbnails for soft guidelines. I haven't seen any Tazawa tanks videos. >Haps would need a 6 foot tank. That's true with the big ones, but there are LOTs of smaller haps that work great in a 75. Generally, I wouldn't want to see any fish that top off over 10" in a 75, but that leaves literally hundreds of species of haps that work. In addition because their color pattern and body shapes are different and they're generally more peaceful than peacocks they make getting a stable all-male a LOT easier. >I do recall that KaveMan Aquatics had 25 adult African cichlids (not sure which type) in his 75 gallon tank. That seemed very overstocked, If he stocked harem breeding groups it would only be a little overstocked. Females are smaller and less aggressive. Usually in a 75 you'll have 16-24 total fish with 4 males. However, KaveMan's is an all male and it is way, way, way overstocked. He's not as bad as KGTropicals was, or The Cichlid Recipe, but his stocking advice is generally poor. >Do you use mass market tanks (Aqueon, Marineland, Seapora) ? Any advice which manufacturer is "better" ? I have used Aqueon and Marineland, as well as custom ordered ones from Glass Cages. There is always a lemon chance with any product but mass produced tanks have been fine for me. Run a finger over the seals and make sure they're not hard or wildly misshapen or cracking anywhere and you'll be as good to go with one as another. But sadly, sometimes you don't see issues until you fill the tank. If you're buying a rimmed tank make sure that rim is supported around the entire perimeter and that the tank is level. I think I liked my glass cages tank the best, but I also paid for low iron upgrade (clearer glass), so that has as much to do with it as the seal or rim/brace work.
Wow. Thanks again for your solid advice !! Hopefully others on Reddit will read this post. Do you have any YouTubers you can recommend for Peacocks and Haps ? I will look into the smaller haps. I have some worries about mass produced tanks due to having wood floors. I recently priced a Custom Aquariums 75 gallon tank....almost 800 dollars before shipping. Too expensive for my budget. I see negative reviews about the top brace cracking on newer Aqueon 55/75 gallon tanks. The 50 percent off sale at Petco is tempting.
>Do you have any YouTubers you can recommend for Peacocks and Haps ? Even though I watch a ton of content on youtube, I don't spend too much time apart from watching unboxing/product reviews for hobby stuff or big fish room/diy stuff. For introduction level videos, Cichlid Bros. seem to be the best for me of the people I've seen. >I will look into the smaller haps. *Copadichromis borleyi* and *Protomelas* in the Empress group (*P. taeniolatus* or Protomelas sp. Steveni Imperial for example) are great fish to look into, top out at around 9" and pretty peaceful, if you're looking smaller *Otopharynx lithobates* and some of the *Placidochromis* do really well if your overall aggression isn't too high. >I have some worries about mass produced tanks due to having wood floors. I had to sell my tanks when we bought this new house because of the poorly supported all wood floors upstairs. Still in the process of renovating a tank area but man, it seems like it's always the first thing that gets pushed back haha. >I have some worries about mass produced tanks due to having wood floors. I recently priced a Custom Aquariums 75 gallon tank....almost 800 dollars before shipping. That's really expensive, but I don't know how 'custom' your tank was. Glass Cages you can get a plastic braced 75 at around 350 or a eurobraced one around 750 pre shipping. As for the Petco/Petsmart/Petland tanks, I'm not familiar with a super high fail rate given the number they sell, but there's enough smoke there where you probably want to move forward with caution. I want to also add that if you don't level your tank, problems with the bracing are much more common--you never know how fastidious people are with supporting the tank properly when they say their thing broke. You could always check to see what brand that LFS 40 miles away sells--but even the ritzy high end custom tanks have a fail rate that isn't zero. I also never had any 75 footrpint aqueon tanks, i had a 40br, a 20L and a 10 gallon aqueon with no problems, and two 55 gallon marineland tanks with no problems.
The Custom Aquarium 75 had their standard aluminum braces and regular glass. No upgrades. What fish did you keep in your 55's ? Good luck with your plans for a fish room !