Good-day this question could have gone either thread this one or Cichlids I went with this one as I've had barbs already!
I am getting ready to set-up A 75 Gallon tank I presently have a 65 with Diamond tetras x6/Platys x6 /x2 plecos/Border loaches x6 planted/black sand/Cannister
I am having a hard time deciding what I want to stock in this new tank I need to decide before I fill it and start cycling it as thats going to determine what substrate I'm going to put in it.This tank is going to have x2 HOB Filters vs a cannister its going to be in my main living area the 65 is in my kitchen.
At first I was dead set on going with an all male peacock tank I still may go this route but I'm not quite sure.I thought about a Mbuna tank they are so colorful and active I've had them in the past but sometimes getting the m/f ratio is a bit tough sometimes when they are small and they can be so darn territorial sometimes its a coin flip with them how aggressive they really are going to be with other Mbuna in the tank I know you can reduce the aggression some by overstocking but I'm not a fan of overstocking I would rather be in that medium range as stocking goes not understocked but not over neither!
After thinking alot about peacocks I'm kind of on the Fence and I'm thinking about going with an all barb tank.
If I went peacocks i'm looking to do between 8-12 all different colors and all male I think with these #'s I would be ok to hit my moderatley stocked goal
if I went barbs I have a bit more flexibility and don't have to worry about having females mixed in as much as there will be more of them to spread the nippiness around I could also go with different variants to splash some color in there
tiger barbs standard/green/albino/Glo (these would all shoal together)
Gold Barbs
odessa barbs
Black Ruby's(i had these in my 65 when i first set up my tank I had a bout of ick run through my tank after losing most of them and getting the water stable again I went a different route with the diamonds & platys')
cherry barbs(though these may be a bit too small with the other barbs)
this is what I would be looking at with an all barb tank I could probably put a shoal of tetras in with them but they would have to be feisty maybe red serpaes I thought about Congo's but the barbs may be too active for them
some things to think about
Peacock like a little bit higher ph which means a different substrate to give it a little bit of a boost my ph sits at a steady 7.2 not a deal breaker by any means
Both fish I am told are very active from experience I know Barbs certainly are I would not worry about either species hiding or being skittish
plants would probably be an issue for Peacocks as they would dig them up Barbs I don't need to worry about them digging them up
Landscaping Peacocks are open water swimmers from what I heard so they would be the focal point of the tank mainly they are not really cave & rock fish like Mbuna so they would be swimming out in the open using every inch of the tank pretty much the same as the barbs but at twice the size
being a bigger fish the peacocks would probably have a little more of a personality than the barbs being smaller I can add more of barbs or a barb/tetra combo into my tank and still be at that medium stocking level where as im looking at 8-12 peacocks I could go with possibly 3-4 sets of barbs/tetras
for ex 6-8 mixture of tigers 6-8 some other barb gold/odessa etc. 8-10 red serpaes or other active tetra then my clean up crew
I guess it all comes down to which direction I want to go in and at this point i'm having such a hard time deciding there is pros and cons which each species but its kind of a push between the two of them there really is no glaring pro or con on either one.Though I've been told even though they are one of the more peaceful cichlids peacocks are still cichlids and they could still become a bit aggressive even with an all male tank especially if its understocked they do get to be about 5-6" so I can get overstocked alot more quickly with them versus a smaller species!
I did think about a dwarf cichlid tank with a little less aggressive cichlids maybe a mixture of Bolivians/Apistos & Kribs that would bring lots of color i'm just not sure how they would fair German's are kind of out as they like warmer temps i think my PH would be ok with where its at for them with it being 7.2 they would all be in the same temp parameters too
I'm so torn and stuck not really sure what direction to go in here
looking for some ideas and some input
thank-you
I am getting ready to set-up A 75 Gallon tank I presently have a 65 with Diamond tetras x6/Platys x6 /x2 plecos/Border loaches x6 planted/black sand/Cannister
I am having a hard time deciding what I want to stock in this new tank I need to decide before I fill it and start cycling it as thats going to determine what substrate I'm going to put in it.This tank is going to have x2 HOB Filters vs a cannister its going to be in my main living area the 65 is in my kitchen.
At first I was dead set on going with an all male peacock tank I still may go this route but I'm not quite sure.I thought about a Mbuna tank they are so colorful and active I've had them in the past but sometimes getting the m/f ratio is a bit tough sometimes when they are small and they can be so darn territorial sometimes its a coin flip with them how aggressive they really are going to be with other Mbuna in the tank I know you can reduce the aggression some by overstocking but I'm not a fan of overstocking I would rather be in that medium range as stocking goes not understocked but not over neither!
After thinking alot about peacocks I'm kind of on the Fence and I'm thinking about going with an all barb tank.
If I went peacocks i'm looking to do between 8-12 all different colors and all male I think with these #'s I would be ok to hit my moderatley stocked goal
if I went barbs I have a bit more flexibility and don't have to worry about having females mixed in as much as there will be more of them to spread the nippiness around I could also go with different variants to splash some color in there
tiger barbs standard/green/albino/Glo (these would all shoal together)
Gold Barbs
odessa barbs
Black Ruby's(i had these in my 65 when i first set up my tank I had a bout of ick run through my tank after losing most of them and getting the water stable again I went a different route with the diamonds & platys')
cherry barbs(though these may be a bit too small with the other barbs)
this is what I would be looking at with an all barb tank I could probably put a shoal of tetras in with them but they would have to be feisty maybe red serpaes I thought about Congo's but the barbs may be too active for them
some things to think about
Peacock like a little bit higher ph which means a different substrate to give it a little bit of a boost my ph sits at a steady 7.2 not a deal breaker by any means
Both fish I am told are very active from experience I know Barbs certainly are I would not worry about either species hiding or being skittish
plants would probably be an issue for Peacocks as they would dig them up Barbs I don't need to worry about them digging them up
Landscaping Peacocks are open water swimmers from what I heard so they would be the focal point of the tank mainly they are not really cave & rock fish like Mbuna so they would be swimming out in the open using every inch of the tank pretty much the same as the barbs but at twice the size
being a bigger fish the peacocks would probably have a little more of a personality than the barbs being smaller I can add more of barbs or a barb/tetra combo into my tank and still be at that medium stocking level where as im looking at 8-12 peacocks I could go with possibly 3-4 sets of barbs/tetras
for ex 6-8 mixture of tigers 6-8 some other barb gold/odessa etc. 8-10 red serpaes or other active tetra then my clean up crew
I guess it all comes down to which direction I want to go in and at this point i'm having such a hard time deciding there is pros and cons which each species but its kind of a push between the two of them there really is no glaring pro or con on either one.Though I've been told even though they are one of the more peaceful cichlids peacocks are still cichlids and they could still become a bit aggressive even with an all male tank especially if its understocked they do get to be about 5-6" so I can get overstocked alot more quickly with them versus a smaller species!
I did think about a dwarf cichlid tank with a little less aggressive cichlids maybe a mixture of Bolivians/Apistos & Kribs that would bring lots of color i'm just not sure how they would fair German's are kind of out as they like warmer temps i think my PH would be ok with where its at for them with it being 7.2 they would all be in the same temp parameters too
I'm so torn and stuck not really sure what direction to go in here
looking for some ideas and some input
thank-you
