Need help as a new fish lover

[Wills]

This is my go to article on Malawi - the list of smaller less aggressive species is the best starting point.

https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/the-mbuna-keepers-survival-guide/.

Chindongo Saulosi is probably a good shout? Bright blue males, bright yellow females... whats not to love!

Wills

 

[rshahj]

This is my go to article on Malawi - the list of smaller less aggressive species is the best starting point.

https://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/features/the-mbuna-keepers-survival-guide/.

Chindongo Saulosi is probably a good shout? Bright blue males, bright yellow females... whats not to love!

Wills

I did go to another LFS last weekend and they had this huge display tank with Malawi, especially with Peacock and it was breathtaking

 

[Wills]

I did go to another LFS last weekend and they had this huge display tank with Malawi, especially with Peacock and it was breathtaking

Thats cool Peacocks are amazing fish but you'd need a big 4 foot tank as a starting point from them. Peacocks and Haps are open water fish and Mbuna are rock dwellers, so the smaller species of Mbuna are the best options for your tank as they dont swim in the open much and will stake out small territiories within rock work. I might be wrong but seem to think that Mbuna literally translates as rock fish?

Wills

 

[rshahj]

Thats cool Peacocks are amazing fish but you'd need a big 4 foot tank as a starting point from them. Peacocks and Haps are open water fish and Mbuna are rock dwellers, so the smaller species of Mbuna are the best options for your tank as they dont swim in the open much and will stake out small territiories within rock work. I might be wrong but seem to think that Mbuna literally translates as rock fish?

Wills

Hi Wills,
Makes sense and you are right, my tank is just 100 cms x 50 cm x 40 cm. so less than 4 ft long. so I won’t go with Peacocks or Haps.
Maybe a future thing but I will be checking and researching Mbuna for sure for now

 

[Wills]

Its a tough call tbh - like if you rehome your current fish they will likely go to someone else local to you in the same hard water so rehoming based on hardness is not always best. But these fish wont live as long as they would in softwater, RO water is the obvious choice but that is complex and expensive so not for everyone.

But if you want to make sure you have a great long term solution then I think some Mbuna species would do well here.

Wills

 

[emeraldking]

Would you consider this as an ok stock or is it too much?

With the current size of your fish, this stocking should be okay in this 160 liter tank. If you stick to this number of stocking, they should be fine in there as well when they're adults.
And welcome to TFF, btw...

 

[rshahj]

Its a tough call tbh - like if you rehome your current fish they will likely go to someone else local to you in the same hard water so rehoming based on hardness is not always best. But these fish wont live as long as they would in softwater, RO water is the obvious choice but that is complex and expensive so not for everyone.

But if you want to make sure you have a great long term solution then I think some Mbuna species would do well here.

Wills

Mbuna species will do well in my tank?
And I just measured online how much litres I actually have based upon my tanks measurements and it looks like 200 litres tank or 52 US gallons.
So obviously my LFS said that wrong too.. (I should avoid them completely going forward maybe)

 

[Essjay]

They may have told you the volume of water it can hold. Don't forget to subtract the thickness of the glass from those measurements and allow for an air space between the surface of the water and the top of the tank walls. The measurements of my tank give 223 litres but I measure the water in the first time I filled it and that came to 188 litres.

(Though if you ever want to enter a Tank of the Month contest you'll need to use the volume as calculated from the measurements )

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Mbuna species will do well in my tank?
And I just measured online how much litres I actually have based upon my tanks measurements and it looks like 200 litres tank or 52 US gallons.
So obviously my LFS said that wrong too.. (I should avoid them completely going forward maybe)

Yep, remember the maximum fill level of the tank too, you're not filling right to the brim, and don't include the tank trim/hood etc in your measurements of course.
As a secondary note, while the basic tank volume is easily calcuated, remember not to think of this as your total water volume. Substrate, hardscape and other decor displaces several gallons of water, some displace a lot. So a 10 gallon tank that has a quarter of it taken up with a thick layer of clown puke gravel and a ton of spongebob decorations is in real terms about 14-15 gallons of actual water volume for the fish, and it's important to keep that in mind when planning your stocking, or if you're dosing with meds and need precise numbers for dosing the water.

 

[Wills]

Mbuna species will do well in my tank?
And I just measured online how much litres I actually have based upon my tanks measurements and it looks like 200 litres tank or 52 US gallons.
So obviously my LFS said that wrong too.. (I should avoid them completely going forward maybe)

Do you know the make and name of your tank? That might give us a clue to how the volume works out?

But in terms of the Mbuna, potentially you have some options but not with your current fish it would be instead of.

Wills

 

[rshahj]

They may have told you the volume of water it can hold. Don't forget to subtract the thickness of the glass from those measurements and allow for an air space between the surface of the water and the top of the tank walls. The measurements of my tank give 223 litres but I measure the water in the first time I filled it and that came to 188 litres.

(Though if you ever want to enter a Tank of the Month contest you'll need to use the volume as calculated from the measurements )

That makes total sense..
may I ask what fish do you have in that tank? Is it a community tank?

Thanks

 

[Essjay]

Mine is a community tank. I have hardness at the upper end of soft, so I have soft water fish - pearl gouramis, harlequin rasboras and cherry barbs, with a few elderly fish, the last of their shoals. And amano shrimps and nerite snails, mustn't forget them.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Mine is a community tank. I have hardness at the upper end of soft, so I have soft water fish - pearl gouramis, harlequin rasboras and cherry barbs, with a few elderly fish, the last of their shoals. And amano shrimps and nerite snails, mustn't forget them.

I still have a single black neon, a single cardinal, and three glolights that are the last elderly members from schools of at least six of each species. The last remaining tetra from my dad's tank that I inherited. They've hung on through an ammonia spike and two tank crashes, several moves, and being the last of their schools for at least three years now when they were visibly elderly even then. I think they may be immortal.