New to Malawi - Top Tips Required for Tank Setup

[benfox12]

Hello All,

This is my first forum post so please be kind if I have made any school boy errors!

I have kept tropical fish before (approximately 8 years ago). I am just about to move out of rented into my first home and want to take this opportunity of hopefully staying in the same house to justify starting up the hobby again!

I have some ideas of what I would like to achieve however have many unanswered questions/apprehensions I would appreciate some clarification/reassurance on!

I am looking at buying an aquarium from ND Aquatics, who from online research appear to have some good reviews. Has anyone got any experience of this company?

The size of the tank will depend on the space available within the new house, however I am looking at either a 48” x 24” x 24” or if achievable a 60” x 24” x 24”.

My intention is to set up a Malawi based tank, species of which I will discuss below.

Equipment

Regarding filtration I have been looking at using two external filters, perhaps a large FX5/6 and a smaller Fluval 206?

From other forums I will be looking at using two heaters incase one fails. Dependant on the filtration answers above I was looking at also using a wavemaker?

Setting up tank

The first concern I have regarding setting up a brand-new tank is cycling and the number of fish to put into the tank (in total and at a time). From a lot of posts I have read aggression can increase when the number of fish in the tank is infact low, how do you combat this without overstocking too quickly and risking a nitrate or ammonia spike?

The second concern I have is about picking the right fish. From many posts it appears that to accurately sex fish they must be of a certain age. From a recent visit to my local fish store the majority of malawis they stocked were very small and I suspect juveniles. Combine this with a limited confidence in what my local store staff are telling me (most are weekend staff) I am concerned I will end up with the wrong ratio of males:females.

I have looked at buying fish online which may be slightly older and therefore able to be accurately sexed. Does anyone have any experience with Tony’s African Cichlids (I have seen many good reviews) or have any other recommendations? Using such a service appears to incur large postage costs unless you buy in bulk, which links back to the first point above of how many fish to introduce at once to the tank.

If the sexing concerns are overcome then the next question would be which species to mix. It would appear that Mbuna are more aggressive than Haps/Peacocks. I have some potential combinations I have thought off, appreciate anyones comments on these:

1. Mixture of Yellow Labs (I understand less aggressive) and then sexed pairs of Haps (available from Tonys African Cichlids).

2. Mixture of Pseudotropheus Saulosi and sexed pairs of Haps

3. Mixture of Yellow Labs and Pseudotropheus Demasoni

Appreciate any comments and pointers on the vast array of points above!

Thanks!

Ben

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi, Ben, welcome to the forum

I can't help with all your questions, but I can clear up one thing for you! You will want to do a proper, fishless cycle, which involves adding measured doses of ammonia to the tank, so you can cultivate a good bacterial colony before you add any fish to the tank at all.

We always recommend the fishless cycle route anyway, but it's particularly useful with Rift valley cichlids, as you can add the entire stocking at one time, without having to worry about ammonia spikes, or aggression because there are too few fish

 

[Demeter32]

Sounds like you've been doing some decent research and that's always a good thing. I can try to help with a few of your question.

Definitely cycle the tank before adding the fish, and once you have the tank cycled you can add groups of fish one species at a time. Do you the pH and hardness of the water source? This is very important because if the water is not in the proper range for Africans your future fish will start having healthy issues over time.

You are wanting to have a mixed gender tank right? Going all males is always and option but you would have to either buy larger, more expensive fish or buy groups of juvenile fish and remove any females once they are old enough to be sexed. You can certainly try sexing juveniles on your own but unless the fish is 2.5-3in long it is usually pretty hard to tell.

If you want mixed genders then I would just buy groups (7ish) of juveniles and allow them to grow up. Then you can pick the best male and number of females you wish to keep.

As for the species you want, I'd stray away from mixing mbuna with haps and peacocks. Despite everyone saying yellow labs are more peaceful, I had a male that was an absolute terror and ended up killing a female peacock. I suggest you either have all mbuna or all haps/peacocks.

You say "sexed pairs of haps" and this leads me to think a single female to a single male. Haps should still be kept in a harem with at least a few females to every male. With only one female you risk having the male harassing his partner to death.

 

[Essjay]

I can help on the tank because I've had an ND Aquatics for 4 years and am very pleased with it. I don't know what the options are now, but I have an opti white front panel. They did T8 fluorescent tubes with an external contrer when I got mine though I have since changed them for LED tubes.

They made my tank to a non-standard size (42 x 18 x 18 inches, which converts to 107 x 45 x 45 cm) so you don't have to stay with their standard sizes if you can't quite fit a 6 foot tank. I got this tank because my Juwel Rio's plastic bracer bar came unstuck from the back of the tank and the 6 mm glass started to bend outwards. My ND Aq tank is made from 10 mm glass and has glass strip bracers on all four sides - they hold the cover glasses in place. The whole thing just feels so much more substantial than the Rio.
I opted for a dark wood finish stand and matching hood, and again I find them very well built.

In fact I have only one criticism. There was a stick on pad on one end of each cover glasses to push against when opening and closing the covers. They came off within a few months. I cannot find anything else to criticise

 

[benfox12]

Thank you for your replies, the fishless cycle sounds like something to research more as would be good to buy in bulk if doing an online order from one place!

Positive to hear good reviews about ND! I looked at some Juwels however they just seem abit cheap with the plastic lid and no cover glass!

The issue of sexing must be common, how do people get rid off excessive males when they come to age? Presumably everyone is in the same boat?

The sexed couple is advertised on the website Tony’s African Cichlids for haps/peacocks, I did have reservations as surely as you state better to purchase 4-5 female and one male. Perhaps I could ask the seller to provide this ratio?

On reflection is may be best to stick to Mbuna and try to sex as best I can!