Malawi Tank

[3fsh]

I was leafing through the pages of an aquarium magazine and I read an article about cichlids and how some of them thrive in hard alkaline water. Our water has a pH of 7.5 and is very hard so after looking through the different types of these cichlids I have decided to start a malawi cichlid tank. How does this sound?:

40-50G long glass tank
2 Bio-Wheel filters
A hood with good lighting
1 Heater
Eco-Complete African Cichlid Substrate by CaribSea (The finer substrate for digging. )
Lots of big rocks piled in the center (making sure to put the rocks in before the substrate)

Okay, now for the fish (help me with this please):

8-10 Labidochromis Caeruleus
8-10 Iodotropheus Sprengerae

Would this work okay? Would these fish do okay together? I have read that it is best to stock the tank heavily (thus the two bio-wheel filters). Any advice/help would be very appreciated!

 

[semper fi]

you could mix these two species. i would definitely go with the larger tank. also i would recommend going with 2 heaters rather than one. one at each end, opposite corners of the tank. you are ensured of a constant temp throughout the tank and if one fails the other would be able to maintain the temperature of the tank temporarily.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Hey 3fsh

Yellow Labs and Rusties, as those fish are commonly called, are not very aggressive as far as mbuna go. 20 of them as juveniles will make a nice tank. In 50 gallons these high numbers will be a serious bio-load on the tank, taking it from over-crowded to over-killed. Stocking heavy is always a good idea with these fish, but also keep in mind that over-crowded aquariums can really foul up quickly, and in the case of a power outage, vacation, etc. things can get pretty bad awfully fast. These fish also get up to five inches long! As a long term number of adult fish I'd recommend about 12 as a good aim.

Good luck,

TCA