Malawi Cichlid Tank

[FishyWishie]

I apologise for the semi-urgent nature of this post in advance

Im upgrading my main tank from 240L to 360L in the coming days and I had planned in time to use the 240L as a Malawi cichlid tank in a few months. However someone in my town is moving to a community setup and is looking to rehome a number of Malawi's.

While im reasonably well up on them in terms of temps Ph etc I'm slightly less sure on the scaping aspect. As I understand it there natural enviroment is mainly sand/stones with little in the was of plants ? I'd welcome any advice people in this section have in regards to mimicing there natural habitat as closely as possible. I don't mind the cost (within limits obv ) I guess what I mean is I'd rather do it right and spend a bit than do it half assed.

FishyWishie

 

[gunman]

I depends on what type of malawi you are keeping, Mbuna need a fair amount of rock, about 30% of the tank ideally. Aulonacara and haps will need less rock and more swimming space. Mbuna also like a finer substrate as they like to dig and sieve the sand through their gills.

 

[elisew]

Have a look on youtube for 'Malawi', you`ll see loads of different scapes for them

 

[MikeO]

I have a sand substrate (Caribsea chiclid sand) and then a shed load of rocks made into layers, caves, nooks and crannies!

Tip : Use limestone rocks - They help to buffer the pH. I got some Welsh mined limestone from a supplier on eBay for a pretty cheap price.

 

[HappyGeorge]

Go through the link on my sig to my journal, list of everything I have in my tank there, sand, rock types and loads of pics. Tank has succesful breeding pairs of Labs, Red top Afra's, and Perlmutts and they share it happily with 5 Haps, no agression problems and lots of Juves survive to a size that I can sell them at so would assume they are happy.

But if you can't be bothered to look through it - rocks, rocks, rocks. Pile it high, make it look natural try not to form too many closed caves, instead form a maze of tunnels with various sizes of opening, gives escape routes to persued fish and hiding places for everyone if it all gets a bit lairy in there (it will at some point if they're Mbuna)

 

[FishyWishie]

Wow im extremely impressed how much rock is that kg wise ?

Ill find out tommorow which they are but I think they are mbuna from the email she sent.

 

[HappyGeorge]

Wow im extremely impressed how much rock is that kg wise ?

Ill find out tommorow which they are but I think they are mbuna from the email she sent.

Thanks, and good question. Kentish Ragstone is pretty dense so don't really know but I did weigh the single large piece on the left with the white vein running through it and I seem to remember it is just over 40kg. So reckon the tank contents must be well over 200kg.