herefishiefishie

I am not picking on you. Yep your fish are still alive that is great. Yep they have no marks on them. Yep if you bomb the tank with pellets & flake the little guys will get theres. If they survive the first few weeks smaller guys will usually be fine. The rock work & odd small cave give them a chance to survive, no dramas. The question at the start is how the fish would go. 3 of us said they would get harrased. You see when I said this, it proved what 3 of us said. Thats the point, if old mate tries it, it is a risk. Thats all we were saying. Then theres the other thing, that when they grow up a bit. As said earlier, similar species of fish will fight, the size difference will hardly make that fair too. So you are yet to go through that too. As your little guys all look like little females at the moment. You see some of us have done what you have done before with mixed results. Theres the introduction, then theres the knocking in period, then there will be another one when they mature. Usually one fish will give in, sometimes in a tank with limited space they won't. Then there are the other times when the victor will be relentless. Frenchy

I don't think you are mean, your posting tells me you are a pleasant person. I will suggest you do some reading on cichlid behaviour. Frenchy

Cool, well done & very nice. Great to see start & finsh. Frenchy

White cloudiness is usually the result of a bacteria bloom. As said above. Why? Your old bacteria would of died off with the ammonia spike. Keep a careful check on ammonia levels, you may experience increased ammonia levels as your tank is now recycling. Bacteria also consume oxygen, so with an algae bloom, make sure you have plenty of airation. As for why you got ammonia. Also how much & often do you feed your fish? How do you clean your filters? Do you use a gravel vac? Frenchy

Come on Ryan, who thought that? Brad questioned the way you told the story. Mystic & myself gave views on our own misadventures & what we have seen in the past. It's like you are trying to win an arguement that dosen't exist. The small fish definitely know their position in the pecking order. 2 are hanging down the bottom of the tank by the rocks & one is hugging the corner of the tank. You see that was the point I was making from the start, smaller fish don't have that happy a life in a fish tank when there are big boys in there. They will probably be fine when they grow up some more. But they are not happy in the tank at the moment. Now why did I say that, because cichlids are responsive to humans, we are a food source to them, funny how they don't hang with the others when you are at the tank. Frenchy

:roll: Frenchy

The joys of the hobby is that there are theories, reasonings, myths.....especially on cases of mixing & matching cichlids. Everytime you introduce something new to an established tank you are risking trouble. That is why people say add only in multiples, re-arrange rock work, feed fish at the same time as adding new fish, avoid mixing species with similar shape, colour..... In this case there is no right or wrong answer. All people can go on is previous experiences, what they have read, heard or seen. Someone asked what they wanted to do, asked for comments & people gave their views. Pretty simple aye. :roll: Frenchy

Yep should be fine if all around the same size. The good thing in this case is both the demasoni & peacocks are at the slower end of growth development. So all should be good. I have 4 different lots of fry growing in a 4 footer growing at the moment as an example. one thing try and feed them a diet that will suit the demasoni, eg; crushed spirulina flake. Frenchy

Stories I have a plenty, as I said it is all trial & error. :roll: A 4cm peacock is a huge difference to a 12cm Venustus, a 4cm peacock isn't that high bodied. Venustus is a predator it only has to get a hold of one end of a peacock. Yes Ryan I have sen this before, & yes I have kept peacocks in mixed community tanks too with success. My main concern is if the peacock is not a ob, as the colouration is enough for the Kadango to treat the peacock as a threat as they will look similar. Thats why I followed up with, how big is the tank? Frenchy

Thats the problem with hybrids Mystic. People who don't know better sell them. Somethimes it is just the harmless I will give a few to a mate, but what if he/she sells of the following generation of fry? I wouldn't say kill them either, but I would take them back to the person who sold them. Once again it comes down to the buyer, be very careful with what you buy. Frenchy

Firstly how big is the tank? The problem I see is the size difference, the peacocks will be at the bottom end of the pecking order. If the venustus is about 3 times there size, good chance the peacocks may end up being lunch. Also Kadango's are prone to fighting with peacocks too. When adding cichlids, its alot of trial & error anyway. This case looks more like error. Frenchy

Here in Aussie you can buy little uv units with its own powerhead that fit inside a tank. I have one but don't remember the name, brand...I bought it off Brad{Freakyfish} maybe he can help. Frenchy

The top is a hybrid. Has the body shape mostly of a peacock, but the head shape is way off. Any chance of a copy more pics of the male? It isn't an electric blue, I can tell you that. If they all came form the same parents I would say they are all a hybrid. I would be getting back in contact with the person that sold these. Frenchy

At what stage do you vacuum the tank. Most medicines only have about an 8 hour lifespan in tank water. If you are doing water changes on say day 2 or 3 after medication, you are releasing the cysts that are buried in the gravel. The medicine is to weak to kill the cyst, the cyst reattaches to the fish. I would be removing the caves too. When in a fish store I used to cheat with white spot. At the end of the day, I would do a 30 to 50% water change{gravel vac}, dose the tank. Do the same thing next night. & again... Touch wood I haven't had it at home in years. If I ever by anything like loaches & catfish. They are quarintined for a couple of weeks with a UV Steriliser. Loaches are very prone to white spot, the stress of been shipped to a different country, moved to Wholesaler & then to shop is usually enough for them to brake out. Alan has been to where I used to work, we used to keep clowns on their own for a start, the tank always had Indian Bay leaves in there & we would use a home brew parasite remedy for a week just for extra security. I wouldn't blame your lfs for the dodgy loaches, unfortunately sometimes batches of these guys break out. Maybe better buying practises & keeping them seperate for a while would of been better.{Just a note for next time} I would still put the loaches in a seperate tank with no substract, treat at half dose. Treat main tank at full dose, see how you go. Always be careful to when raising the temp, it depletes the oxygen levels in the water, therefore make sure water is well oxygenated. & also salt is no good for scaleless fish too, it burns their skin, therefore making them even more susceptible to diseases. Good luck with the dosing & yes the tank will need to be cycled again. Keep feeds to one light feed every 2nd day, keep an eye on ammonia...do 30 to 50% water changes at least once a week at the start. Just vacuum the loose waste on the top of the substract & leave the filters as they are, if you can. Frenchy

Melanochromis auratus are agro buggers. Cameron is right, no good. Frenchy

If the water in both the tanks are the same then try it with the yellows & see what happens. It is already getting harrased in one tank, may as well give it a try. Frenchy

Mine are breeding. I am lucky that one female spits on her own once she is left in the bucket on her own for a while. The other female sometimes spits, sometimes needs encouragement. I have noticed that when I leave the females to long, they have spat the fry before 3 weeks is up. As for placing fry into a breeder net, back into main tank. Cichlid adults will try to get the fry through the net, therefore best to set up another tank. Just a note, if you want to increase your colony without buying more. I read somewhere that it is possible to have different colony sizes of demasoni together. So I thought why not, I placed in one lot of fry 2cm back in with the colony. The bigger ones ignore the smaller ones. Looks funny to how the smaller ones tussle amongst themselves. It worked for me too. Frenchy

For years I have used bristlenoses no dramas at all. Alot of people use plecos too. African cichlids shouldn't be in kept in water of 30 degrees. Frenchy

I have never heard them called that before. Over here most call them humpheads or lionheads. The joys of common names :lol: Frenchy

May I ask at of interest sake? What is a buffalo cichlid? Frenchy

The trouble with trumpet snails is that they can get caught up in filters. The do have some benefits, but can get out of control. Clown loaches are good. Frenchy

So the redness is caused by spikes in the water then. Meaning the fish are having trouble breathing. Did you recomend water changes. Get water tested too. Frenchy

I am a fan off using fish to cycle tanks, but as stated above, neons are not the fish of choice. Being only little buggers in a 200lts of water they should be fine. Usually a good shop will get you in weekly for the first month{or longer if problems} & test your water to se how all is going. Me, when I start a new tank I still do weekly water changes, but I leave the filters & gravel alone. Frenchy

Any chance of a real pic? Frenchy

Kingies dont have orange at all. As previosly mentioned, then not a kingy. As for wholesalers, well as previous posts have proven, most aren't up to date on cichlids in your parts by the looks of it. & they are usually ordering blind from Asia too. Therefore they are taking the word of whoever they order off. "we all know too", Terribly sorry, but there did seem to be some confusion, proven right too. :roll: I guess we all can't be know it alls. Look at these, they were ordered in over here, as a type of peacock. Can't remember what colour, but hey still not a peacock :oops: What the??? Frenchy