Malawi Set Up

[Luke & Penny]

OK so ive established its the malawi way or the highway for me
firstly ive read that some loaches such as clowns can live with malawis and also pleccys, Is this true?

Secondly the tank i may be getting has well established tropical freshwater in it. fully cycled and ammonia and nitrites down and nitrates at around 20. The Tank has a little bogwood in so i guess that would make the water ph drop, to get round this im guessing the rocks will bring it up and solve this.

Am i getting there with the malawi thing or am i shooting in the dark?

 

[j@mie]

OK so ive established its the malawi way or the highway for me
firstly ive read that some loaches such as clowns can live with malawis and also pleccys, Is this true?

Secondly the tank i may be getting has well established tropical freshwater in it. fully cycled and ammonia and nitrites down and nitrates at around 20. The Tank has a little bogwood in so i guess that would make the water ph drop, to get round this im guessing the rocks will bring it up and solve this.

Am i getting there with the malawi thing or am i shooting in the dark?

hi there,

firstly mbuna can get quite aggressive, so the more room they have the better.

It is true they can live with clown loaches, but its a risk and clown loaches can give as much as they get, ive done it and it worked ok for me but might not be the same story for you.

what is the size of the tank you are getting ? because clown loaches can grow very big, and they need to be in groups of at least 3 in order for them to be happy.

 

[Luke & Penny]

Thanks very much, the tank is a 240 litre UK, forget the clown loach thing im still researching the whole african cichlid thing and was just checking up on a article read on the net.

 

[fish_r_great]

Well I know a lot of people who keep loaches with their Africans and have heard no "horror" stories. Also what type of Malawi are you gonna keep? Haplochromis, Aul. Sp. , or Mbuna? Mbuna likes a nice rock pile and are my personal favorites. As for the rock limestone will bring up the pH not all types of rock will have that effect on the pH.

 

[Luke & Penny]

Well I know a lot of people who keep loaches with their Africans and have heard no "horror" stories. Also what type of Malawi are you gonna keep? Haplochromis, Aul. Sp. , or Mbuna? Mbuna likes a nice rock pile and are my personal favorites. As for the rock limestone will bring up the pH not all types of rock will have that effect on the pH.

Ive decided with Mbuna cichlids i must think the same as you with personal preference.
Im off to an outdoor shop later to check out their limestone rocks.