29G to 60G Upgrade!

First I have to say, I don't have the same fish, but I like your line up
Can you post the size of each?
1) I really don't have much rock in my tank but would be interesting in adding some so long as it doesn't invade too much open water space, smaller pieces I guess stacked a little bit... I've found that the the open space gives the larger fish more room to stretch (if you will...)
2)To be honest, with demasoni, the more places to hide the better, they're fairly territorial so to more spaces for them to 'claim' the better. I doubt they're cause too much harm. I must say, I started out with three demasoni, but in retrospect made the mistake of getting 2 leleupi shortly after I got the demasoni, one in particular was a real a-hole, and bullied two demasoni to death, and was well on it's way with the third when he met his mysterious demise which willl forever remain shrouded in history... forever... long story short the last demasoni is still in the tank and is doing just fine
3)I live in Plano, so DFW is where I know, I will say demasoni are available around here, to be honest talking about them, makes me want to try and get a few more, I could pick up some extras if you're interested and meet you outside the confusion

Demasoni could work, but I would limit it to one in your case. The amount of rockwork you have should be fine for a single demasoni.

That being said, demasoni are known for being hyper aggressive toward each other. In fact nearly everyone who has any experience with them will tell you that you absolutely need to keep a group of 12 or more (preferably 18+) or a single individual. Basically what happens is one demasoni becomes dominate. Then it picks on the weakest demasoni, eventually killing it, then it moves to the next weakest, and progresses until it is the only remaining demasoni. When you have a large group it becomes difficult for the dominate fish to single out any one fish making it so that the weakest fish doesn't take the brunt of the aggression. I would put money on the leleupi not being the only ones picking on Shank's dems. I bet that the surviving dem helped the leleupi kill the other two.

If I were to stock more than one demasoni in a 55g tank I would do 18-20 demasoni with 8-10 yellow labs. The color and behavior mix would be really good. Just make sure that there is adequate filtration for that many fish.

I generally don't recommend keeping peacocks with mbuna, other than labs, acei, or rusties, because mbuna tend to stress the peacocks into not showing very good color. It can be especially problematic in a smaller tank. BUT if I were really wanting a demasoni I would definitely get one and try it. Just keep an eye on things and the worst that could happen is that you would have to remove it.

Additionally, if I were looking at getting more than one demasoni, I would order it off the internet. That is because most LFS will charge waaaay too much, like $15-$25 for a 1.5"-2" dem all the way to $40 for a 3"+ fish. I wouldn't pay more than say $10 a piece for a 1.5" fish, just because I know that I can get them for that or less if I looked hard or long enough. Add gas from longview to dfw to that and you could almost pay for shipping. It cost me nearly $40 in gas to go from grand saline to ft. worth and back (granted I get really bad mileage, but still). I'd rather save the headache and just pay FedEx to bring 'em to me. On aquabid I have seen (6) 1.5" dems shipped for $60. Sometimes you can find 1.5" individuals for $3 + shipping. Obviously shipping would make it too expensive to justify for just one fish, but if you were getting a colony it would work out.

Not to disagree, because it's always possible the last demasoni was partially responsible, but to be honest the only aggression I saw during that time was from the prime leleupi... the demasoni were still pretty small at an inch point five, and to be honest were more interested in hiding from the leleupi lol

I do agree that either a sole dem or having an s-ton are the only ways to go, everything I've read points to this as well.

Thanks guys, my research came up with the several in a tank were better than just 3, and I'm not looking to over populate the tank, and 12 would be over kill.

As it is I've lost the smallest verginalis today, which has miffed me. They seem to be growing slower than the others, and it was the smallest one. I guess I better see if James has another female left, as I think the male is the larger of the remaining 2, and I would hate to see the lady get harassed to death.
So I'd rather not risk adding a single badass.... even it it would look sooo good.
I'll see if James has anything else that I like, or resort to the LFS perhaps.

I've got to give some credit to our freshwater group... you guys are awesome. I've never been as impressed with freshwater setups as the ones I see on this forum. Good job guys. Nice set of questions, researching and advise going on too. +1 to ya'll!

I give all the credit to Stick, he definitely is a bottomless pit of information!

You are all too kind. I just hope the info helps someone.

the demasoni were still pretty small at an inch point five, and to be honest were more interested in hiding from the leleupi lol

I did overlook the size of the fish involved. Yeah, I can see that a 1.5"dem would cower from a couple leleupi, especially if they hadn't established a territory yet. Notwithstanding, dems are mean as hell and I will stand by my recommendation.

Have you figured out which acei are female?

Yeti, I am re-reading your initial post and I am curious if you have three of each virginalis, butterfly, and german red or if you have just the trio,(now pair) virginalis and individual males of the two peacock species? If you indeed have a trio of each of the peacocks then you are nearing the max number of species I would normally recommend for a 55g. Basically what you will have is 3 individual breeding territories and with that comes aggression. Adding more species magnifies the issue. You probably won't notice much fighting until they get bigger, but it is their nature to secure and defend an area in which to breed when the time comes. Now you could potentially bolster your stock with more females to go with the trios you already have, but you will end up with a fairly drab color scheme. This brings me to my next point. If you intend to keep breeding trios(or groups) of both peacock species in the same tank it becomes important that you do NOT distribute fry from either of them. This is because they WILL without a doubt cross breed. I am a huge proponent of an all male setup. This allows for a large assortment of species and colors and at the same time cuts down on the aggression. Since most territorial disputes occur because one of the males "needs" that area to breed; eliminating the opportunity for breeding eases the conflict. I won't deny that having a setup with breeding groups is enjoyable and entertaining, you just have to plan it right and limit what you put in the mix. I can offer suggestions for stock for either type of setup if you are interested. You already have a good start on a nice looking all male setup if you eliminate the females. Another option is having the breeding group of virginalis and maybe a mbuna breeding group (a cynotilapia species would work well like c. sp. hara or c. afra .cobue) with a few rogue males from varying species. It really all depends on what you want.

+1 on dem's temperament, I call mine the sheriff of the tank lol, definitely keeps everyone except the O. lithobate in check!

I haven't had time to try and vent them yet, work's had me running some pretty weird hours. Sadly, this isn't uncommon, but I should have some time this weekend. To be honest though, I'm not sure I'm going to follow through with getting rid of the subdom males unless I start seeing serious aggression...

So as sheisty a day as it was at work, the silver lining of it all was getting to stop by an LFS I've really become fond of. Whenever I have to make a service call to one of our customers in downtown Dallas I'll usually take the opportunity to at least stop by and check out what they've got in stock regarding cichlids/plecos/live plants, generally won't buy anything but I like going in there, sort of a zen thing I guess...
Without rambling too much, I picked up some additional Holey Rock for the big tank, and spotted a few brichardi fry they had just gotten in from a local seller... I've been thinking about picking some up ever since I set up the fry tank provided I found the right size (fairly small) for the right price(fairly cheap, enough that I don't feel like they're ripping me off too bad...) they were a little higher than i would have liked but not too bad, so i picked up three. I'll try and post some pics shortly as I'm up monitoring a customer site anyway... and sleep is for the weak lol....

I'll post more if I can get any that are in focus lol, I'm playing around with a few different f-stop settings to hopefully increase the Field of Depth with my macro but have to slow down the shutter speed so I'm still trying to find the right happy-medium between the two... the larger the f-stop the long the shutter has to stay open...

Some more fry pics




I've realize I haven't posted a Community tank pic in a long time, seeing as I've added a couple new pieces of holey rock I thought it'd be good to update

A few more of the community tank, working late has it's benefits i guess

I think your tanks looking great, the contrast of the rock with the gravel works really well and some nice colours in your fish.
I look forward to seeing how the Brichardi develop.
Oh boy what a great excuse for another tank you have. I've just read up on them, and their breeding habits and behaviour, with the water you have there and the fertile nature of your tanks, you have the possibility of the "yellow-lab syndrome" yet again!.........DADDDDDY!!!

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/n_brichardi.php

Haha, ya it seems that way, I'm not sure if the gravel in my tank is really conducive to them breeding and I'd be really surprised if the fry would survive seeing as they aren't Mouth-brooders (right?) so no real way to separate the offspring... I'm pretty sure I'm only going to keep one of them once they're full grown so shouldn't be an issue, who knows, that's still pretty far out lol...

"TANK FULL, NO RUFFIANS required"

"TANK FULL, NO RUFFIANS required"

I need a large flat rock and a small disco ball

Checked my fish cupboard, disco ball in the post to you, but alas, sorry no large flat rock..... however tasteful tank decoration of a frog sitting fishing with a sign saying "My plaice" also included.
I know, I'm too generous.

Just saw two of my acei get it on, made popcorn and everything, hell of a show except the guy in the trenchcoat sitting a couple rows behind me kept making these grunting noises... awkward....

man after watching that i think i need a shower haha!!

Oh hell!..... Now I have this image of a bunch of old cichlids in dirty trench coats sat in tiered seats watching the mating.
Notices the times of your posts, 11.13PM then 11.15PM.... 2 minutes from "Hello darlin, what's your name" to "Thanks, I'll see you around", what a smooth operator, must be my mirrored ball, or perhaps we should have invested in blue suits when we were that age?

Ya, I really felt dirty when I whipped out my camera haha.... definitely the disco ball....

In other news, I'm assuming all the pygmy cories are goners along with the snowball... it's all happened within the last few days and I still have to cories mia... they're so small it's hard to spot them. I'm definitely starting understand why most people keep fry tanks glass bottom... beyond the current problem, it would make sinking food easier to spot after it's hit the bottom...

I must say, the holding Acei's got a mouthful... it's way easier to tell compared to the Lab female because of the contrast between blue fish/yellow eggs, my earlier fears of partial completion of the act may have been premature (lol) ahahahaha

she ain't jugglin marbles lol

Nice pic