8'x2'x2' Malawi Chiclid Aquarium

[mattsilvester]

I am considering converting my 8x2x2 marine aquarium to a fresh water set up. In the past I have kept chiclds (for about 10ys, about 10yrs ago) including central american bruisers and discus etc. so I am reasonably familiar with chiclids in general. I would be converting from marine, so water quality management etc. should not be too difficult - I would be willing to invest in whatever is required - which is easily gonig to be covered by the sale of my marine equipment. I thinking a couple of large eheim bucket filters......

Why Malawi's - well I like chiclids in general but have enver tried Malawi's, and malawi's are both active and colourful and I think they may well make for an exciting display.

So what am I asking - well in short, here are my questions:

(1) Typcially, how many fish would I be looking at? I would like the brighter coloured species, which I know are the more agressive ones.
(2) Would "breeding" become a problem? i.e. I know they can and do breed prolifically - is there a chance that in 12 months time my tank will be over run with fry? If so, what is the usual course of action here? Generally, I am not interested in breeding and raising fry - been there, done that, do not have the time or energy to do it again.

If I move forward with this idea, I will be buying the books and researching etc. first - however at this stage, before investing to much time and effort, I want to get a "feel" for what may or may not be involved.

Many thanks for your thoughts and input.

Regards,

Matt

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

Well, it sounds like a great tank to have Malawi cichlids in! You could problably get about 240 inches of adult fish in there. I would not worry about being over run by fry as the cichlids that are holding in my tank have their fry snapped up as soon as they get let out of the mouth. Try to include lots of rockwork for the cichlids as unlike American cichlids they don;t have many plants were they come from.

Try this website

You will need a very powerful external filter for a malawi cichlid tank of the size that you have, may I recomend a tetratec filter as these will do the job.

Anything eles?

Tom.

 

[kj23502]

1) When I first set up my tank they told me 30-35 fish for my 125 gallon. I calc that out to 3.5-4 gallons of water per fish. I'd say it's safe to use this method if your getting mbuna cichlids from Malawi, as that's what I have myself. So I gather that it's about 240ish us gallons. That'd be 60-70 fish total!

2)I'd say not many fry would survive the appetite of the adults, so you shouldn't become over run with fish!

Cichlids from Malawi generally do better with a higher ph(near 8) and likewise hard water. I use SeaChem's Malawi/Victoria Cichlid buffer to replicate this in my aquarium. But you can also use Baking soda or make a home made version to buffer with.

When the fish are mature and your tank is fully stocked, it's a good idea to have filtration that would turn the tank over 10x an hour. That'd be 2400 gallons per hour. These are messy fish But so much fun!

You'll need lots of rock to make caves and hidey spots.

I'd put a couple of canister filters on it

 

[darrel69]

An 8x2x2 would make a very impressive Malawi tank!! ..

Do you know which type of Malawi you are intersted in ?? i.e Mbuna, Haps or Peacocks ?? If not, here are some articles to help you decide.. you dont really have any restrictions given the size of your tank..

Haps vs Mbuna
Peacocks of Lake Malawi
Mbuna Profiles
Hap Profiles
Peacock Profiles

Dont worry about being overrun with fry.. you'd be lucky (or not in your case lol) to have just the one survive.

Yea, plenty of rock!! (its a 'must' really.. and mineral rock prefered but not essential).. you can have plants if you like but be carful which type you choose.. and hard water conditions with a high pH.

Have a look HERE in the 'Members Tank Pics' thread to get the idea...

Good Luck

 

[mattsilvester]

Thank you for the 3 great replies Outstanding info / good advice. Spot on what I was looking for. Thanks.

I think it is Mbuna that I am most interested in. There is a pic on that 'Members tank pics' thread, about 1/3 way down the 1st page that looks spot on.

60 fish sounds great also. Stone - thats not a problem - live near a quarry anyway, and near a few stone mason/ landscaping centres where they sell a huge range of stone for like 50quid oer tonne..... so thats not going to be an issue. If the plan goes ahead, I'll be doing a bit of research first and decorating the tank as close to nature as possible - however that may be.

Keeping pH up shouldn't be a problem - to keep up with marine chemistry you need to be a part time chemist! Well versed in the art of baking soda (or better still, "baked" baking soda) - pH & alkalinity etc.

Filteration - I am sure there are some pretty hefty canister filters out there. I'd be investing in two nice big canisters for sure. The Eheim 2260 bangs out 1900 l/hr rated for 1,500 litres and I am sure that there is even a bigger one than that. Two of them would go a long way to filtering it surely..... cleaned out on alternating months or fortnights - as required. I can always boost biofilteration with a fluidised sand bed later, if required. Flowrates - my current marine tank does about 60 times an hour..... LOL

I'm gonna check out all those sites in greater detail this evening. Thanks for them.

I know it sounds cruel - but I'm glad there won't be too many. I used to be plagued with convict chiclid fry and the likes....... I wouldn't mind the odd one or two getting through - but the thorugh of thinning out a 100 baby chiclids every 6 months is not appealing!!! So thats great - in a not-so-kind way.

Thanks again for all your input - you've answered my questions perfectly.
Cheers,

Matt

 

[darrel69]

No worries

 

[dthoffsett]

You could also look into getting some synodontis species catfish. They work well with mbuna and will snap up any fry the adults miss.

Another thing about mbuna, you'll want to keep them in ratios of 1m/3+ females. You might also consider while you are researching if you want lots of different species of a few individuals, or just a few species of many individuals. As for compatability, with an 8ft tank you should be able to keep any species you want, though I would probably still avoid any hyper-aggressive ones.