40 Gallon Malawi Tank

[katatoniq]

Hi people, this is my very first fish tank! It is 155L (I am Australian).

Specs so far:
- 90cm L x 38cm D x 45cm H
- Stand made from old cabinet
- 2x 3 foot T5 Daylight 21watt lights
- Aquarworld 200watt heater
- Eheim 2010 internal, Eheim 2213 Classic Canister

In the tank:
- Substrate: 20kg crushed coral
- Plants: contortionist val, heaps of others!
- Decorations: 3 large pieces of texas holey rock (total 18kg), mangrove root driftwood, a number of river stones, shells.

Stock:
- 9 Pseudotropheus saulosi
- 3 Synodontis multipunctatus (Cuckoo Catfish, 1 male, 2 females)

Water Specs
- pH: 8.0
- gH: 20
- kH: 20
- temp: 25.5 deg. C

 

[katatoniq]

Some photos

^ the setup

^ close up

^the catfish especially love this ship, but today they have some cichlid visitors!

^ stacked rocks

^ you can see a couple of my p. nyererei bubbies!

 

[katatoniq]

i have a few questions...

1) how long will it take before the nyererei are able to be sexed? I want to make sure there are indeed 2 boys and 4 ladies.

2) would you recommend getting texas holey rock to replace the pebble setup? i want to make heaps of caves and tunnels as the catfish love them and i know the cichlids are only going to get my aggressive as they get older.

3) do you recommend i use my (broken, but getting repaired) Eheim 2213 canister filter instead of this baby Eheim 2010?

4) how many more fish do you think i could add to have a happy (and colourful) tank? I was thinking something completely different colours to the nyererei as well? maybe one other colony?

Thanks for the advice

 

[kj23502]

1) how long will it take before the nyererei are able to be sexed? I want to make sure there are indeed 2 boys and 4 ladies.

At around 2" the males will start showing color. Mine first started to show red.

2) would you recommend getting texas holey rock to replace the pebble setup? i want to make heaps of caves and tunnels as the catfish love them and i know the cichlids are only going to get my aggressive as they get older.

Either would look great. Have you looked through members African Cichlid tank pictures? They have pics of both

3) do you recommend i use my (broken, but getting repaired) Eheim 2213 canister filter instead of this baby Eheim 2010?

If you want, you can use both If you want to slightly overstock I suggest 12 fish for you. If you do this you're better using the type of filters to equal at least 8x turnover in your tank. 40gallons would need 320 gph filters for this. A lot of people lean toward 10x turnover. When they are small less is ok, but as they grow bigger you're fish will be better off w/more. Even a hang on back filter would be great, if you don't want to spend the $ on a canister.

4) how many more fish do you think i could add to have a happy (and colourful) tank? I was thinking something completely different colours to the nyererei as well? maybe one other colony?

I say 12 fish max. You need to be careful what you add, b/c the tanks not very big. They don't have much room to run and hide from eachother. Try to stick w/less aggressive mbuna

I like how the tank is shaping up! More rock is ideal for this kind of fish

 

[katatoniq]

I've noticed a bit of purple/red on one of my bigger nyererei's heads today. I have also noticed that (I assume) he is getting very aggro. He's chasing any fish that come near him for a good 2 seconds or so. The rest are all very edgy and chasing each other a little bit.

Thanks for the handy advice KJ

 

[katatoniq]

the big cichlid took a huge bite of one of my little cuckoo catfish!

hes like 5 times as big, which he wasn't before. what should i do! i dont wanna lose any catfish. i have turned off the lights to calm them down a bit. the catfish looks unharmed but the cichlid took a hold of him for a while! the cichlids are growing bigger every day where as the catfish hardly get to the food and havent grown much at all since i got them... any ideas? i'm afraid for my little catfish!

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Looks sexy, Dont like the fake ornament though. Ruins the whole natural feel to the tank

 

[kj23502]

Oh man! That really sux for your catfish Sorry to hear that.

I would really take your nyererei back to where you got them or sell them. They can be quite aggressive. The tanks not that big and it has less room for your fish to hide/run from the aggressor. I would line up a buyer or arrange to take them back to a lfs and get new ones A.S.A.P. on the same day. Then you won't loose biological filtration. But if you take them out and let your tank sit for a few days, it'll hold as much as is needed for the cats as you won't have 6 waste producing fish+the cats.

When nyererei start to show color they are sexually mature.

 

[katatoniq]

ace of spades you'll be happy to hear i made some adjustments, read down.

today when i got home the tank looked very peaceful. the lights were on and the catfish were out and the cichlids were chasing each other around but nothing serious. i went to my lfs today and he said they will go through stages... so i got a little frysaver thing and i have my catfish in them at the moment, just feeding them up they look safe and sound there.

i also went out and bought AU$100 worth of texas holey rock to complement my other rocks, which are now stacked in another corner. the tank looks better and the cichlids love exploring and playing around, so at night one night i'll free the catfish and see how they go.

thanks for the advice kj, i'll most definitely sell them after the first fatality. they're so beautiful looking that i can't get rid of them just yet, heh.

photos to come when the water de-murkifies.

 

[aaronnorth]

nice set up, i too have a 40g malawi tank, it is in my sig if you want some ideas on fish

 

[kj23502]

thanks for the advice kj, i'll most definitely sell them after the first fatality. they're so beautiful looking that i can't get rid of them just yet, heh.

Too bad only the males are colorful. Females are kinda drab looking. It'd be totally awesome if both sexes looked like the rainbow

 

[katatoniq]

the nyererei are very aggro today. the biggest one managed to hide the still frozen part of a brine shrimp pellet i put in, in his little cave! anyone that comes for food he tries to eat lol.

can someone give me some ideas for a nice colony of friendly colourful african cichlids...? I have it set up for lake victoria but can adjust to suit the other two big lakes.

i want fish that can mouth brood my cuckoo babies if the time comes, too!

i'm just getting sick of all the aggression, you're probably right kj

 

[katatoniq]

Photos of the updates:

^added texas holey rock, got rid of the plastic boat and tree

^the biggest baby cichlid! getting colour!!

^big daddy in his lair

^closer

^the little cuckoos in their safety house

 

[dthoffsett]

Since your tank is on the smaller side, it really limits what mbuna you can keep. Probably the best species for your tank would pseudotropheus saulosi. You'll want to only have one male (they're blue) and around 5-6 females (they're bright yellow). That's fairly light stocking, however, once they start breeding you'll have room for the few fry that make it to adulthood.

Here's some more info on them: [URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1[/URL]

 

[katatoniq]

hey thanks man they are some really cool fish right there.

if i go to order them from my LFS what should i ask for and how much should I pay? I am in Australia mind you.

do I ask for babies or full grown and do I want aquarium bred or whatever???

the nyererei that i have i got for $150 with the three catfish all as babies. How much would you think i'd get from the LFS for the 6 nyererei would it be a direct swap or who would be owing the money?

thanks a lot guys