40 Gallon Malawi Tank

[kj23502]

Generally my lfs buys them for 25 or 30% of what they could be sold for. Yours could be different though... you'll have to ask them.

You could see the price difference in sizes of the new fish. It's really up to you on what size to get. Larger are nicer but the baby ones will get there and are cheaper.

Those catfish babies are sooo tiny

 

[dthoffsett]

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

I'd probably buy them as juveniles, you can't sex them when young (they're all yellow) so you may need to sell/rehome any extra males, but they're usually cheaper than adults. Not being from Australia, I can't say what pricing would be (although I understand cichlids are very high there), but you might try shopping around. You could look for online suppliers that even with shipping might be cheaper.

 

[katatoniq]

so assuming half would be male and half female should i get say 16 fish, so that i get 2 (8) males and 8 females?

are they aquarium bred or can you order them straight from the lake, etc.?

cheers.

 

[kj23502]

That would best be answered by your lfs or online breeders

Wild caught have stricter water requirements. It's my understanding that nitrates are non-existent in Malawi so it'd be best if your tank has a low nitrate count to begin with. Also it should be buffered similar to that of lake malawi water.

IMO, I'd get aquarium bred. If you can get them from a breeder they won't have to go through multiple shippings before they end up in your tank. Wild caughts have to be shipped around the world at multiple stops before they even get to the selling lfs. I'd say at least (3 or 4 stops).

 

[katatoniq]

thanks for the advice everyone. i got two of my lfs to get some of the saulosi in. they're taking their time so i am waiting for that to happen. in the meantime i fed the boys a bunch of bloodworms and the loved them. they're acting very much friendlier to each other which is good for now.

in the process of taking some photos of my latest changes to the tank (it's changing daily now, heh)

 

[kj23502]

Dude NO bloodworm

http/www.fishforums.net/content/African-.../Feeding-Mbuna/

Stick to no bloodworm as a general rule!!

 

[katatoniq]

damn they loved the bloodworm as far as i could tell.

back to brine shrimp i guess

ive got the spectrum cichlid formula 1mm sinking pellets, plus a few packs of bottom feeder pellets and some spirulina flakes. plus the frozen brine shrimp pack.

 

[aaronnorth]

they cant digest the bloodworm propely and it can cause problems - especially in tropheus.

 

[katatoniq]

^added driftwood and set the catfish free, plus added some new plants. then went wild and trimmed everything back to stumps, heh.

^ you can see the juves hiding around the holey rock

^front on

^the biggest catfish hunting for algae, good size comparison with smallest cichlid

^heres big daddy in his (now removed) lair

 

[katatoniq]

WOOO just to update the tank has finally cycled. i think it was thanks to the addition of the big eheim canister.

Current data:

pH 8.0
amm 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
KH 20
GH 25

are these figures alright? if not what can i do to adjust them?

cheers

 

[aaronnorth]

your kh & gh - is that in dgrees?

 

[katatoniq]

yeah, degrees.

 

[katatoniq]

also, my water is starting to look pretty dodgy (did a water change 2 days ago) i think because of the driftwood. it's going quite a light-yellow/brown colour. any ideas?

 

[katatoniq]

update: just did some readings

ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 10
pH: 8.0
gH: 26
kH: 22

why do i feel like the gh and kh are crazy high?

 

[aaronnorth]

water is fine, tea colour is from the bogwood, you can use carbon to clear it or just leave it and it willl go.

Gh & kh are fine to, dont worry to much about them