Peacock cichlid

[PizzaVino]

New here . We have a 55 gallons tank that we started a few weeks ago. I was hoping to get some answers to a few questions that I have. We are thinking of having a peacock cichlid only tank. What are the water parameters need to keep peacock healthy. Our ph is 7.6
Our hardness is 4 gh. What should be the ideal hardness of the water for the peacock cichlids? I've been researching and been been getting conflicting data. Some say 4 to 6 gh and some say 10-20 gh. Can someone please help me with this? Thank yiu

 

[GaryE]

Look to nature, and the lake they come from. It has a GH of around 7 according to a source I looked at a ways back, but may range higher in dryer parts of the year. Or lower. It's vague when you dig into it because you get page after page of aquarium sites, all with their own recipes for keeping the fish. Actual Malawi lakewater info uses a bunch of different measurements that don't directly translate to our test kits.

8 google pages in and I was still in aquarium info, and I can see your confusion at what you're reading. It's wild. You see what a big business these fish are when you try to get natural info. But I suspect it's variable over the year.

In your shoes, I would look to increasing the GH a bit. Increasing is way easier than decreasing. But hopefully, I'm just bumping the thread til someone who still keeps these fish chimes in. I'd love to be wrong, because it would be easier for you.