My 385L Malawi Tank

[bullit]

sorry to hear mate

 

[markandhisfish]

sorry to hear about your health problems mate , hope youre feeling better and manage to get everything finished . looking forward to more pics , this should be a really nice setup

 

[jamesmacc]

hey guys, thanks for the kind words. im back in action now so will hopefully get the tank completed soon. picked all my rocks today to use in the tank, havent worked out how i will set them out yet, think i will just go with the flow when i put them in the tank (excuse the pun ) the frame for the tank is completed and just needs the mdf put on the bottom as the final layer, hopefully wont need polysteyrene or rubber because its very level? tank cant go in until all the workers are gone as im worried about anything happening to the tank. while im waiting on them going im going to start looking into what fish i would like and compatable. mark i want prity much all the fish you have in your tank, there colours are stunning. im new to fish keeping and malawis so hopefully google can help me find colouful compatable malawis

 

[jamesmacc]

hey guys. been looking at fish and have come up with some lovely ones which i hope to get. can you have a look and see if they will be ok. hap sp.44 apparantly very egressive and actualy from lake victoria
aulonocara malauna
aulonocara sunset
aulonocara jacobfreibergi "eureka colour
aulonocara usisya
Cynotilapia afra Jalo Reef
pseudotropheus elongatus mpanga
yellow labs
how many of each could i have in the 385l 50x18x26 tank
i plan to keep them at 25 degrees and try stock 1 male to 3 females
and feed twice a day for as much as they eat in 30 seconds. then not feed them one day a week.
what fish food do you all use, i have heard some good review about: New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula 2270gms 1mm pellets. its about £70 a tub. i could feed them this twice a day and then maybe green peas or similar to good extra goodness.
sorry if this info is not right, im just gathering the best i can from online, google is not coming up with much when i search scientific names of fish.

 

[Malawi MaD]

Hey mate, Yeah The Haplochromis sp 44 is from lake Victoria, wouldn't say they are any more aggressive than mbuna and ive seen them kept with malawi's on many occasions.The Peacocks Could cause a few problems as the Alunocara's do tend to breed with the wrong female, as most alunocara females look very similar. In saying that if you plan on having 3 females of each then they (should) be ok, not an expert with keeping haps/peacocks but i dont see a problem with keeping the fish you've listed above all together. Im not a fan of mixing the lakes but many people do it and they seem to have no problem's so each to their own really .As for numbers im not sure if you where doing an all mbuna set-up id say roughly 25 to 35 fish maybe more depending on filtration. The Haps/peacocks get larger so therefore do need more space, you said you wanted to have 1M to 3F? If that's for all the species you've listed above then that's 32 fish, could be a little too much if your wanting to keep the Alunocara's with the mbuna. The mbuna are quite boisterous/over powering fish which could stress the Alunocara's out which are more peaceful. Then again if there is enough rockwork for the mbuna to keep them occupied+females for the males to keep them occupied then everything could be ok. Make sure aswell you have plenty of filtration (think you do though looking back through the thread. Yep NLS is really good, New Era cichlid pellets are really good quality food's too, spirulina flakes, tetra vegi pro flakes and cucmber/lettuce as a treat every now and then etc..There is a lot of foods out there to choose from, anything vegi based is a good start for african malawi's.

Hope this helps

 

[jamesmacc]

i have 2 large external filters so i should cope fine with a well stocked tank. yes i am planning 3-1 as i see most people stop this way and seem to get on ok. im sure i read somewere about the problem you described about the peacocks and there breeding problems. i hope this wont be too much of a problem as they are lovely looking cichlids. im going to order some food so i have it ready for stocking, how much food do your fish go through in a month?

 

[rifty]

nls you should only need to feed once a day i feed my fish this 5 out of 7 days
i take it you are getting all your fish from tony
id shop about for better prices and only buy male aulonocara the females will just add to the agression and you will get hybred fry and not necessary to achieve coloured aulonocara males! plus you can add more different excellent coloured male fish over drab female aulonocara

 

[Malawi MaD]

nls you should only need to feed once a day i feed my fish this 5 out of 7 days
i take it you are getting all your fish from tony
id shop about for better prices and only buy male aulonocara the females will just add to the agression and you will get hybred fry and not necessary to achieve coloured aulonocara males! plus you can add more different excellent coloured male fish over drab female aulonocara

+1

My mbuna go through quite a lot of food over a month's period but now got algae on the rocks so they graze a lot through the day which helps

 

[jamesmacc]

nls you should only need to feed once a day i feed my fish this 5 out of 7 days
i take it you are getting all your fish from tony
id shop about for better prices and only buy male aulonocara the females will just add to the agression and you will get hybred fry and not necessary to achieve coloured aulonocara males! plus you can add more different excellent coloured male fish over drab female aulonocara

thanks for that advise, i will maybe just get all males in the aulonocaras like you have said. will i be ok to get males and female mbuna and keep all male in the auloncaras.
cheers, james

nls you should only need to feed once a day i feed my fish this 5 out of 7 days
i take it you are getting all your fish from tony
id shop about for better prices and only buy male aulonocara the females will just add to the agression and you will get hybred fry and not necessary to achieve coloured aulonocara males! plus you can add more different excellent coloured male fish over drab female aulonocara

+1

My mbuna go through quite a lot of food over a month's period but now got algae on the rocks so they graze a lot through the day which helps

how long is a 300g tub likely to last me with around 30 fish. or should i bite the bullet and get the big £70 tub

 

[rifty]

300g would last at least 2-3 months imo i get the big tub for much less than 70 quid btw

 

[jamesmacc]

would you be so kind as to let me know what price and were to get them

 

[jamesmacc]

sorry for the dealy guys, had some hold backs with the air circulation system for the house and have to get it ready for the open day next wednesday. tank is hopefully getting lifted into place on saturday and then going to add water and some prime. should i clean all my rocks and add them into the tank before cycleing? most people seem to set temperature between 25-28, its better to go more towards the 28 isnt it to promote bacteria growth? also will i cycle both my filters at the same time or cycle one and then swap some media over into the other one to help it cycle.

 

[jamesmacc]

tank is in wohooo. it looks great and looks much bigger than i thought it would. decorators are just finishing off the edges of the wall around the tank and then i will get some photos later. i took a few earlier and the tank looks alot smaller than it does in person, maybe its because its empty

 

[jamesmacc]

update: moved into the house last week and we have no internet just now wont be for another few weeks. tank is installed, both pumps running, inline heater setup, substate and rocks and water have all been added and lights set up. looks amazing. started cycling 2 days ago,did all the water tests and added 20ml of ammonia which brought the tank to around 5 ppm so im currently waiting on the level dropping, tank is set to 29 degrees as the guide im using says warmer water promotes more bacteria or quicker bacteria growth. hopefully my cycle goes well as the guide from here is all i have as ive never cycled a tank. if i have any questions then i will just have to go to my folks house to use their internet. wish me luck

 

[sted]

update: moved into the house last week and we have no internet just now wont be for another few weeks. tank is installed, both pumps running, inline heater setup, substate and rocks and water have all been added and lights set up. looks amazing. started cycling 2 days ago,did all the water tests and added 20ml of ammonia which brought the tank to around 5 ppm so im currently waiting on the level dropping, tank is set to 29 degrees as the guide im using says warmer water promotes more bacteria or quicker bacteria growth. hopefully my cycle goes well as the guide from here is all i have as ive never cycled a tank. if i have any questions then i will just have to go to my folks house to use their internet. wish me luck

Wow mate just read your blog and cant wait to see more pics. Good luck with cycle!