# OB and Auratus Colours Question



## djmoosa (Dec 17, 2012)

Hey guys not sure why my OB Peacock and Auratus dont have colours .. I am pretty sure they are males and about 4" .. I got them from a friend who had them in a small tank about 3 months ago ... I have them in a 90G mix cichlid tank .. is there something I can do or any help would be great.


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

djmoosa said:


> Hey guys not sure why my OB Peacock and Auratus dont have colours .. I am pretty sure they are males and about 4" .. I got them from a friend who had them in a small tank about 3 months ago ... I have them in a 90G mix cichlid tank .. is there something I can do or any help would be great.


When you have an all male cichlid tank it's normal for a fish to show sub dominant colours until they feel secure enough to colour up. There is even a chance a fish will never colour up fully or at all. Give them more time.

I have a group of Lithobates in a 120 gallon tank and after moving 2 "females" to another tank to sell them off as a trio with one of my males they began to colour up within 24 hours. I moved to my all male tank and they've kept their colours. I have one more fish in the 120 that I always thought was a female however after almost 2 years of never holding fry I'll bet it's another male.
--
Paul


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## djmoosa (Dec 17, 2012)

Y2KGT said:


> When you have an all male cichlid tank it's normal for a fish to show sub dominant colours until they feel secure enough to colour up. There is even a chance a fish will never colour up fully or at all. Give them more time.
> 
> I have a group of Lithobates in a 120 gallon tank and after moving 2 "females" to another tank to sell them off as a trio with one of my males they began to colour up within 24 hours. I moved to my all male tank and they've kept their colours. I have one more fish in the 120 that I always thought was a female however after almost 2 years of never holding fry I'll bet it's another male.
> --
> Paul


Thanks Paul maybe I'm just worrying too much and I should just wait 1 more question I have is there anything wrong with keeping female and male different cichlids together?


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

djmoosa said:


> Thanks Paul maybe I'm just worrying too much and I should just wait 1 more question I have is there anything wrong with keeping female and male different cichlids together?


There are a few problems depending on the size of the tank.

If the tank is 90 gallons or less you'll get one or maybe two dominant males that will try and breed with all the females and therefore you'll end up with hybrids.

This happened to me with a single male German Red peacock in a tank with a group of Lithobates. All three females were holding within a week and I thought my male was the father but when a friend of mine raised the fry he found them to be hybrids.

The other problem is aggression. If a male gets in the mood he could end up killing all the competition. Of course this depends on the species and the individual fish. Some are more aggressive than others.
--
Paul


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## lilnick87 (Nov 4, 2012)

Its tru . Some of your fish wont colour until there of a large size or may never colour. I have a 150 set up with haps and peacocks.i have a male red empress thats 5" and shows no color except on the anal fin. I've had fish like lethrinops that would never colour and they were 6" and never had any colour at all . all my juvenile fish will not show colour until there 4".I've had mbuna cichlids in the past and I've found there way to aggressive to mix with alot of haps peacocks and some Victorians.


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## cinsal09 (Apr 17, 2013)

I'm all for having females in the tank. Some males will never color up till there is a female in the tank...


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