Milawi Psycho Tank

[justandy333]

Ive made the jump from a community aquarium to stocking cichlids.
Ive got 4 milawi cichlids, common plec and a Fully grown Buenos Aires Tetra.
The problem is that ive tried adding new cichlids and they just get harrassed to hell by the milawis.
Real agressive buggers. They dont seem to bother a tetra but they bully their own kind?
Very strange fish. I was wondering what fish other people have introduced successfully with an established milawi tank. Any tips and advise on compatibility would be greatly appreciated.

 

[adambrum]

First off whats the four malawis you have also tank dimensions.

This is a problem with all malawi cichlids they have staked there area by adding new fish they are invading there area, The only way to reduce this is to rearrange the tank add the new fish as juviniles so they are not seen as a threat but after all that you may have a fish that just will not allow anyother fish in the tank.

 

[rl1oyd]

First off whats the four malawis you have also tank dimensions.

This is a problem with all malawi cichlids they have staked there area by adding new fish they are invading there area, The only way to reduce this is to rearrange the tank add the new fish as juviniles so they are not seen as a threat but after all that you may have a fish that just will not allow anyother fish in the tank.

 

[justandy333]

Ok. Just been back to the fish store where i brought the cichlids.
Their names are:
Yellow fin acei
Red red zebra
Pseudo zebra - (Bright purple head variant)
Pseudo demasoni

My tank is a 30" x 12" x 15" aquarium (Length x depth x Width)

Other species in the aquarium include a common plec and fully grown Buenos aires tetra.

The demasoni, although the smallest by a long way is by far the most agressive. Are they always like this or is he/she just very fiesty because he/she is still young? Just hope the bugger calms down.

 

[adambrum]

Ok your not going to like this, Your tank is to small for these species and to be honest most malawi need at least 48" length of tank.

yellow tailed acei (pseudotropheus acei) will reach about 5"

red red zebra i can only asume is a metriaclima etherae 4"

Pseudo zebra could be anything its a name given to a lot of malawi fish with stripes when the seller
does not know the real name.

And finally the demasoni he wont get better just worse in a tank that size.

I know its not what you wanted to hear but it will end it tears.

If you still want to go malawi then i would invest in at least a 55g tank 48" long (imo still to small) and do a lot of research it really is worth the effort.

 

[Druchii]

Got to agree with Adam I'm afraid, the tank is too small the fish you have in there are probably already on each others toes, there is no terratories (the entire tank would be classed as one that size) and it would be like WW3....

I would strongly urge you to think about investing in a much lager tank for these fish , or exchanging the fish for more suitable ones which may limit you to a very small species tank setup or maybe even go the shell dwellers route.

Just my opinion, do not get offended by it and ignore it at leisure

 

[justandy333]

Oh ####e lol.
Well, a new tank it is. Shame the cichlids are so flippin violent. Just wish u cud train em to not keep fighting all the time. They all seem to get on fine. Its just the daemasoni which is the realli territorial one, its just when i add 1 or 2 more they get rumbled by the daemasoni. Had to return a few to the shop because of the problem.

Thanks for the advice. just seems kinda wierd though for such small fish at this moment in time to need so much space. The largest cichlid is the red red zebra and hes only 1inch. But like i say, im stilla newbie and ur more experienced than me. So a new tank looks like the only other option.

 

[mrjames]

ive seen your malawis and tank ect n dont think its to small just yet mate as they are so small. but the aggression will die down as soon as they get used to each other and the one with the purple head i think u should post a pic on here and have him properly identified and see if he is a malawi, if it turns out hes not then him leaving the tank would calm the "rumbles " down. speak later!!

james

p.s man am i hungover!!! lmao

 

[adambrum]

They do like there space i have a 4ft tank with about 18 fish (some juviniles waiting to be sexed) and at the mo 1 single afra male has taken 2ft all to himself and he is only about 3".

If you are going to get a new tank take a look at the juwel 240l or a bit cheaper is the hagen 1200 deep both very good tanks.

 

[justandy333]

Im a little confused. I have 30inch tank with 4 malawis. And people reccomend a 48inch tank with anything up to 16 to 18 cichlids.
To me that seems more crowded than my smaller tank. So a rough bit of maths here. each of my cichlids have 7.5 inches of space for themselves. Where as others have roughly 3 inches of the tank space per cichlid.
Seems more logical that there would be alots less teritory disputes when there more space to go round.

Im confused, if anyone could reclarify it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Druchii]

Im a little confused. I have 30inch tank with 4 malawis. And people reccomend a 48inch tank with anything up to 16 to 18 cichlids.
To me that seems more crowded than my smaller tank. So a rough bit of maths here. each of my cichlids have 7.5 inches of space for themselves. Where as others have roughly 3 inches of the tank space per cichlid.
Seems more logical that there would be alots less teritory disputes when there more space to go round.

Im confused, if anyone could reclarify it would be greatly appreciated.

it's down to swimming space more than anything else mate - other wise you could just keep one in an old icecream tube with a trickle filter couldn't ya

it's got nothing to do with being crowded as in fish per metre or whatever, infact the more crowded the better as this helps SPREAD out the aggression that if the group id much smaller will get vented out on one or two individual fish (ie the ones that you put in to and have trouble with )

I hope this makes a little more sense that just thinking its to do with a certain amount of space per fish needs

 

[adambrum]

I know it sounds strange but if my afra chases a fish it needs more than 30" to get away. Keeping cichlids is not like any other tropical fish most of the rules go out the window which is why we all have massive filters on our tanks according to the normal rules i can filter about 700ltr but with cichlids because of overcrowding its just enough for 200ltr, Hope that makes a bit more sense.

As i said it really is worth it where else can you get fish like this without going marine.

 

[Druchii]

I know it sounds strange but if my afra chases a fish it needs more than 30" to get away. Keeping cichlids is not like any other tropical fish most of the rules go out the window which is why we all have massive filters on our tanks according to the normal rules i can filter about 700ltr but with cichlids because of overcrowding its just enough for 200ltr, Hope that makes a bit more sense.

As i said it really is worth it where else can you get fish like this without going marine.

Lovely fish Adam , is that an elongatus mpanga?

 

[justandy333]

Thanks for the advice people. Made it more clear now.
Just so peps know the fish have calmed down now. Doesnt look like WW3 like it was a few days ago lol. The daemasoni got a few battle scars thou It'll give me a couple of months to save up for a new tank before they get too big. Gotta isolation net just in case one does get battered during the night.

So if i were to be getting a 48inch aquarium. roughly 240litres. What kind of flitration goes best with them?
Ive got a undergravel system at the moment. but it give me the unfortunate disadvantage of not being able to have life plants. Any ideas of whats better? external or internal? anyone swear by certain brands of filter?
Just wanna move my malawis into the best home possible.

 

[dthoffsett]

You'll definately want an external filter, you can go w/one canister or the more popular canister/HOB (hang on back) filter combo. Eheim are one of the best canisters on the market, though a little pricey. Fluvals are good as well. Aqua Clears are one of the best HOB's ever made IMO. What ever combo you decide, you'll want to have your filter/s turn over the entire volume of your tank 5-7 times per hour.