Malawi

[kj23502]

What do you mean by tempered? Do you mean with metal around the edges?

Also where would I buy egg crates in the UK?

In the U.S. it usually says on the bottom of the tank somewhere if it's tempered. If so, then it can take an exorbitant amount of weight. For example, a grown man standing with one foot in a ten gallon tank. If not, it can't and may break. If you don't know use egg crate. Better to be safe than end up swearing like a drunken sailor with a room full of water and dead/dieing fish..

You should be able to get egg crate at a hardware store. They look like this:

I am thinking of a ratio of 1 male: 3 females. So maybe three or four species.
Trouble is I dont want all the same colours in the tank. I want them to be as different as possible for each species.

I was thinking
The yellow labs
Aceis
Saulosi
Likoma
I got these Ideas from a website quoted on here.

What do you think and what are the ones you would recommend for begginners thay would be readily available?

4 groups of 4 would be good.

The best thing you could do is visit a few lfs and get the scientific names of the fish they have that you like. Then come here and post for compatiblity. That's the easiest way to find out what's stocked in your area too. Each area is different.

 

[Ferris]

Have any of you ever heard of Mary Bailey? She is a cichlid expert that has given me quite a bit of advice on Malawis. Twenty adult Malawi cichlids will be fine in a 180 litre tank, the trick is to carry out regular water changes and provide plenty of filtration. Also this will disperse their aggression. If you have kept Malawi cichlids then 20 fish certainly isn't over the top, and most people recommend stocking their tanks based upon the adult size of the fish.

Also check out this tank, it is just under twice the size of your tank yet it holds at least 50 fish: <a href="http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...k.php?upload=84" target="_blank">http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...k.php?upload=84</a>

Absolutely no question that you can do it but should you? I don't think so - it's not a rule, just my opinion. Forget what you've read on the internet - i would simply ask have YOU ever seen 20 adult Mbuna in a 180 litre tank. Ridiculous (again IMO), overstocking gone mad and completely unnatural.

I will say that it does depend on the species - the likes of C.Afra and P.Demasoni stay very small by Mbuna standards at around 3" and this gives you more stocking options but the flip side of this are the likes of P.Crabro and M.Greshakei - i'm not sure you could physically fit 20 Crabro in a 180 litre tank.

 

[dthoffsett]

i'm not sure you could physically fit 20 Crabro in a 180 litre tank.

Oh you could, for about a week, then you'd find one very fat angry crabro.

And I fully agree that while overstocking is good, you just don't want to cram tons of fish in a tank.

 

[Mystil]

Right...I have pretty much decided what I am going to have. A local person has kindly offered me some of his fry/young so that will get me started.

Yellow labs (some are at my local maidenhead)
Hongis (6 youngun's to begin with)
Kingsizei (one male but will be getting some females asap)

and then I may try some rusties as well.

What do you think?

 

[kj23502]

Most people suggest 4 ft minimum tank size but 3 feet can be done. The issue I see is kingsizei is aggressive to it's own and Highly Aggressive to anything that looks similar. If your Hongi's have some blue coloring on them, then they could be in for it. I'd do Labs, Hongi's and Rusties personally. You could always try the others, but be prepared to save some fish down the road. It may be fine for a long time and then as they hit maturity the order that was once in the tank is no more.

One more thing. You really shouldn't have more than 1 of each genus in the tank as the Labidochromis will be likely to hybridize

 

[Mystil]

Yellow labs
Hongis
Kingsizei

So your saying that the Hongis and the yellow labs will hyridise?

 

[kj23502]

There's higher probability.

 

[Mystil]

The thing with my tank is that I will NOT be trying to breed and will not have a separate tank so the young can have to take their chances as I simply dont have the room.

Abit harsh but there is nothing I can do about it.

 

[kj23502]

There's nothing wrong with letting nature take it's course. It's probably better that the average fisk keeper in general doesn't rear young. The average fish keeper probably isn't aware of hybridization either. I wasn't until I started doing some research. We all start out average and then become more and more experienced with the experiences we have and research we do.

---edit
I'm not saying your an average fish keeper. Just talking about the people that go to the fish store and say "oh that looks cool. I want it in my tank". They have no idea what it really needs or how big it gets, etc.

 

[seanie112]

hi lisa when we had mbuna's we had coral sand and coral rock was brought from madianhead qa for around 25pounds for the rock and the sand was around 20-25pounds cant remember as it was 2years ago when brought sold the tank and fish mbuna last dec play sand will be ok as most poeple use it as its cheaper

we going bk to mbuna getting my fish from nathan some you brought yours from i think but i am going to have sand in there at the moment i have gravel in my tank and going 2 have bebbles in there same as nathan's has in hes tanks good luck

 

[Mystil]

Right after speaking to afew other people who keep cichlids who have said as long as I have enough females then it SHOULD be okay I have bought now:
4 Yellow labs (babies)
My kingsizei (who has no interest as he is so beaten up)
and 4 Hongis.

Now my fish are flashing as well so I am abit worried about white spot. Should I treat with Interpet white spot control, which I have onto hand?

Im gonna have to take my external apart...again.

 

[Ferris]

Flashing is part of everyday life for Mbuna - they are probably just trying to establish a pecking order.

 

[Mystil]

Yeah I think you may be right. I am abit sheepish as I am kinda of expecting the worst and then I get worried.

Yesturday I also noticed that my stand was wet. the water from an overflow (my fault) had dribbled into the bottom of the tank casing at the bottom and was making the stand suck up the water (Plyboard) so I had to take the whole tank apart to get all the water out of the casing at the bottom.

I did not realise that the oak veneer fisinishing on a tank would come off the bottom. But it does on mine.

Thank god!

One less thing to worry about.

 

[rustage]

Flashing is part of everyday life for Mbuna - they are probably just trying to establish a pecking order.

Loved reading this thread. What is flashing?
Chris

 

[dthoffsett]

Flashing is part of everyday life for Mbuna - they are probably just trying to establish a pecking order.

Loved reading this thread. What is flashing?
Chris

Flicking or rubbing against the substrate or any rock/decor. For most fish it's a sign of ich or parasites, however, mbuna do it frequently as a breeding "dance" or aggression display. Tends to freak you out when you're a new mbuna keeper.