Malawi are turning my head...

Wills said:

That's interesting - do you think keeping Malawi with just one tank is quite challenging? It feels like the side of the hobby that will most likely lead to a fish house/room...

@wasmewasntit I've seen a small rack on Facebook near me... quite tempted for back up purposes

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Go get it then....."he who hesitates, loses"

Wills said:

I've always liked Petrochromis too - especially the Yellow Moshi!

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Yup. That's the one I wanted. I bought a 300gal custom acrylic monster with designs on having those fish in it. But now, I think I am going to turn it into a reef tank.

Wills said:

There is one Melanochromis I fancy... which is meant to be the calmest and most manageable one called the Maingano.

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I've not had that one. A friend of mine has and he described them as "less murdery" than the others in that group. Though he's got a penchant for the dramatic. So take from that what you will.

GaryE said:

It's hard for younger hobbyists to commit to the tank sizes they would need. I think has had a serious impact on the Cichlid hobby.

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Not pushing back against your main thesis here (which is clearly likely when one looks at the data), but I wonder why cichlids are still thriving in Chicago? Certainly the same patterns are true there. I wonder if the community has been stronger? Perhaps some other factor? Just interesting is all.

So I've been messing around with working out how this could look visually in terms of aesthetics but also in terms of working out what fish look too similar together and I keep going round in circles and come back to this kind of configuration not sure if I do 3 or 4 species. But and it is a big but... I don't know if some of them look too similar.

Labeotropheus Trewavasae Thumbi West
Chindongo Socolofi
Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos Maingano
Maylandia estherae 'Minos Reef'

So the Labeotropheus male should be ok with the rest as he is a blue fish with red fins and a slender body. But his females are orange which is the same as the Minos Reef, but quite a different colour and body shape still, plus both species can have OB females so black and orange calico style so could be a viable choice. The male Minos Reef is a bright blue which is not a million miles from the C.Socolofi but still quite different.



If I did three species I'd potentially go for

Chindongo Socolofi
Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos Maingano
Maylandia estherae 'Minos Reef'

But thats a tough call... between the Minos Reef and the Laebeotropheus....

Oh just get more than one aquarium and be done with it matey LOL

Course this is just IMHO and from a purely visual perspective

Body shapes and colours look very similar to a certain CA cichlid here Wills

seangee said:

Course this is just IMHO and from a purely visual perspective
View attachment 313326

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Those are the ones I’m not sure can go together haha I think the females might be too similar looking

AquaBarb said:

Body shapes and colours look very similar to a certain CA cichlid here Wills
View attachment 313342

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I can see what you mean but it could be so much more obvious if I did peacocks

Saw some Whit Fin Acei (Ngara) at an LFS the other day, only young and not a specialist store so nothing else stood out but I like the idea of these in the tank with some of the others. I tried a couple of different combinations in my design document and I think this looks really good.

This is

Chindongo Saulosi (top right)
Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos Maingano (bottom left)
Pseudotropheus sp. 'acei ngara' (top left)
Metriaclima Callainos Chitande (bottom right)





The Acei might not look quite like this, some pictures have them barred? Which makes me worry about them with the Saulosi male but both species are meant to be quite calm so I think I have a good chance I might get quite a lot of Saulosi females vs the other species too so think thats got a good chance to work. There is also an Acei I've found called 'Itungi' that is a yellow tail species but very inky body which is what I like so bit more research there. I could also swap the Saulosi for the Labeotropheus Trewavasae Thumbi West but I do like the yellow of the Saulosi with these fish.

This tank achieves a lot of what I want to which I think is cool - just the sculptural quality of the scape and the mixed blues and the occasional pops of orange. I dont think these species would work for me, he has a bigger tank and some species with bad reputations like the Demasoni's.

I think I'm going to try and get some Wio rocks which I've always liked the Black Venom boulders and rocks are nice and both are meant to harden the water and I'd probably use a coral based sand too which is quite white and would contrast nicely

Also if I do the Mbuna (which is looking quite likely) I will probably call my males, lamb, chicken, beef and king prawn - no prizes if you can guess why

Some nice colours in that last post Wills and probably the best choice so far for me. The Chindongo Saulosi and Metriaclima Callainos Chitande are lovely but i do really like the Mino's reef too

AquaBarb said:

Some nice colours in that last post Wills and probably the best choice so far for me. The Chindongo Saulosi and Metriaclima Callainos Chitande are lovely but i do really like the Mino's reef too

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This is the other option to do Chindongo Socolofi and Maylandia estherae 'Minos Reef' which I do like but worried the male Minos Reef looks too much like the Socolofi but with them being quite different species could that be ok? At the end of the day fish don't know what they look like so if they have conspecific aggression its based on more than just looks.

Oh man... i dont envy you here mate lol thats a hard one.

Really like the Chindongo Saulosi and Maylandia estherae 'Minos Reef.

Id probably edge the Saulosi, the yellow goes better with the blue and the males stand out more thats just me tho lol

AquaBarb said:

Oh man... i dont envy you here mate lol thats a hard one.

Really like the Chindongo Saulosi and Maylandia estherae 'Minos Reef.

Id probably edge the Saulosi, the yellow goes better with the blue and the males stand out more thats just me tho lol

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Nice problem to have though haha I think its an either or for the Minos Reef or the Saulosi, they both do the same thing for me and its interesting that the fish they 'pair' with in this situation means its Chindongo and Metriaclima vs Chindongo and Metriaclima haha.

I think I might be on the side of the Saulosi though as that male will add something unique to the tank where as the Minos Reef will tie in with Socolofi even if it doesn't trigger aggression visually it will blend in.

Also found an other species of Acei - Itungi which is a dark inky blue still but yellow fins. Females are a black body but still white seam and yellow tail which I think will tie in with the Saulosi nicely.

For example...

Yeah thats bang on a winner that is wills