Can anyone help me to identify

[malfunction]

We have been feeding them vibra bites and micro wafers. And cichlid flakes. Is this wrong?

Not necessarily, no. Vibrabites will be fine - I feed these to mine and don’t have any issues. The cichlid flakes may or may not be suitable, depending on their content. If they’re for vegetarian cichlids then it’s likely to cause the peacocks issues in the long run. If it’s for omnivorous/carnivorous cichlids then it should be fine. Same with the cichlid wafers

 

[Floridapierce78]

Not necessarily, no. Vibrabites will be fine - I feed these to mine and don’t have any issues. The cichlid flakes may or may not be suitable, depending on their content. If they’re for vegetarian cichlids then it’s likely to cause the peacocks issues in the long run. If it’s for omnivorous/carnivorous cichlids then it should be fine. Same with the cichlid wafers

Thank you

 

[Floridapierce78]

Peacock cichlids (Aulonocara species). The grey one is female, the blue one is male. They come from Lake Malawi and so do electric yellow cichlids and do fine together. They need water with lots of minerals and the GH should be around 300ppm and the pH around 7.6-8.0.

The peacocks are predators and like meat based diets.
The electric yellows need more plant based diets.

How do I get the GH higher? I am using argonite for the substrate

 

[Colin_T]

If you only have fishes from hard water environments in the tank, you use a Rift Lake water conditioner to increase the pH, GH and KH of the water. You need to add this powder/ salt to new water whenever you do water changes. You should make the water up 24 hours before using it so the mineral salts can dissolve completely before the water is added to the aquarium.

 

[Floridapierce78]

If you only have fishes from hard water environments in the tank, you use a Rift Lake water conditioner to increase the pH, GH and KH of the water. You need to add this powder/ salt to new water whenever you do water changes. You should make the water up 24 hours before using it so the mineral salts can dissolve completely before the water is added to the aquarium.

And if I have a bala shark in the tank with them?

 

[Colin_T]

Bala (silver) sharks need to be kept in groups of at least 6 (preferably 10 or more) and grow to 10-12 inches long. They come from soft water and generally don't do well with Rift Lake cichlids. They should be put in a big tank (6 foot plus) with soft water (GH below 150ppm) that has a pH around 7.0.