Gamma decays from excited states up to J(pi)=6() in the N=Z-2 nucleus Ni-54 have been identified for the first time. Level energies are compared with those of the isobars Co-54 and Fe-54 and of the cross-conjugate nuclei of mass A=42. The good but puzzling f(7/2) cross-conjugate symmetry in mirror and triplet energy differences is analyzed. Shell model calculations reproduce the new data but the necessary nuclear charge-dependent phenomenology is not fully explained by modern nucleon-nucleon potentials.