My Fish Choice - Advise If Compatible

[blagger]

I've been trawling the forum and going through some of your Malawi "tank lists", I've come up with a list of fish I would like to keep, this is below. I'm assuming if they are compaible in your tanks they should be fine in mine!

I have a 4ft tank, measures 1200w x 477d x 745h mm. The rock set up isn't anything massive, picture below, please do let me know if I need more rock and less open space.

So here goes

4x hap sp. 44
4x Yellow Labs
4x Cynotilapia afra Jalo Reef
2x Pseudotropheus elongatus neon spot
4x Ndumbi red tops
4x Pseudo Elongatus Mpanga
2x Aulonocara Sunset
2x Aulonocara Orange Peacock
2x Horse Face Loaches - These bury themselves in the sand so could help turning the deeper parts over and prevent build up of gases

That's 28 fish there (if my maths is right), what do you think of them getting on with each other (most of the time)?

Is that too many fish for my tank?

I don't want to add them all at once so which should I go for first?

Looking forward to your replies.

 

[rifty]

dont think the loaches will fair too good with the malawis.
the others should be ok but sounds like too many other tank set ups! sp44 are a vic not a malawi so i wouldnt keep them but thats me! the aulonocara sunset are a poor quality firefish imo i wouldnt get these either and the other aulonocara are another linebred and may not colour up with lots of mbuna. shop about for them and avoid the obvious supplier of all the above to avoid being disappointed and overcharged!
neil on here has some really nice fish that would work in your tank!

 

[thereverendturtle]

I would only go with one species of peacock and one variety of elongatus, to keep from getting mutts. I would do 1 male and 3 females of whatever peacock and the same for the elongatus. That's just me though.

 

[blagger]

dont think the loaches will fair too good with the malawis.
the others should be ok but sounds like too many other tank set ups! sp44 are a vic not a malawi so i wouldnt keep them but thats me! the aulonocara sunset are a poor quality firefish imo i wouldnt get these either and the other aulonocara are another linebred and may not colour up with lots of mbuna. shop about for them and avoid the obvious supplier of all the above to avoid being disappointed and overcharged!
neil on here has some really nice fish that would work in your tank!

I've read in places that it is ok to keep the loaches with the malawis, in one place it states:

"Akanthopsis choirorrhynchus (commonly known as the Horseface loach, see photo below) gets out of the sand every now and then to feed. When a cichlid tries to get it, the loach will burry in the sand with an amazing speed. The predators, unfamiliar with this kind of defense, after the first couple of failures will not even bother to chase it."

So surely that is worth a try.

The SP44's are nice fish and again I have read that vic and malawi can me mixed, I have certainly seen the SP44's in malawi tanks.

I'm not going to jump straight in with the aulonocara sunset, these will probably be one of the last I get. I definetly want get some aulonocara, maybe not that one. But as stated by thereverendturtle I will only go with one type.

I am planning on buying from Neil, I have already stated that previously in another post. Will definetly pick my first lot up from him.

I will come up with what I have decided very soon..........

 

[jamesmacc]

dont think the loaches will fair too good with the malawis.
the others should be ok but sounds like too many other tank set ups! sp44 are a vic not a malawi so i wouldnt keep them but thats me! the aulonocara sunset are a poor quality firefish imo i wouldnt get these either and the other aulonocara are another linebred and may not colour up with lots of mbuna. shop about for them and avoid the obvious supplier of all the above to avoid being disappointed and overcharged!
neil on here has some really nice fish that would work in your tank!

I've read in places that it is ok to keep the loaches with the malawis, in one place it states:

"Akanthopsis choirorrhynchus (commonly known as the Horseface loach, see photo below) gets out of the sand every now and then to feed. When a cichlid tries to get it, the loach will burry in the sand with an amazing speed. The predators, unfamiliar with this kind of defense, after the first couple of failures will not even bother to chase it."

So surely that is worth a try.

The SP44's are nice fish and again I have read that vic and malawi can me mixed, I have certainly seen the SP44's in malawi tanks.

I'm not going to jump straight in with the aulonocara sunset, these will probably be one of the last I get. I definetly want get some aulonocara, maybe not that one. But as stated by thereverendturtle I will only go with one type.

I am planning on buying from Neil, I have already stated that previously in another post. Will definetly pick my first lot up from him.

I will come up with what I have decided very soon..........

as you know i have sp44's in a malawi tank and they are fine, i woulnt usualy mix the lakes but there are quite a few people on here who have kept them together for years without any trouble, + they are gorgeous fish

 

[blagger]

Thanks James, I know you had them, after doing some online research I want to go for them or something similiar from Lake Vic

 

[Dieses Madchen]

another great bottom feeder is Synodontis sp. cats, either fetherfins or upside down.....they do great with my cichlids. Cichlids don't pay them no mind at all.

 

[blagger]

Thanks Dieses, will take a look into those.

There is way too many fish to choose from, think I just need to make a choice and stick to it.

Mind you I've probably still got about 3 weeks to wait for the tank to cycle!

 

[MBOU]

I have Nyeri (victorian) with Malawis and as juvis, they are tolerable but as they get older they cause so much agro I will be giving my nyeri away to whoever asks first, he wasnt even meant to be in there. Think i have a female Brownae (victorian) too but she only has one eye and is very well behaved.

Personally I wouldnt keep Victorians or loach in with malawis, it *might* be ok...sometimes... but in reality... your tank isnt very big when you count the malawis as adults.

I agree with keeping one species of Aulonocara, they get HUGE, I have a trio of Borleyi and they are gorgeous but got too big for a 250L IMO.

 

[Malawi MaD]

Id personally just keep one or the other mate for many reason (mbuna or haps/peacocks) as mentioned earlier most haps/peacocks are much more shy fish compared to the mbuna meaning they may not colour up to their full potential. Plus the mbuna and haps require slightly different tank set-ups + stocking differences. Basically easier for you in the long run, easier on the fish etc.. 3 to 4 species in groups will look brilliant or larger groups of 2 to 3 species, going to need more hidey places for the fish as well.

 

[blagger]

Just keep the malawi's (Mbuna) mate with some syno's. Will look more natural, natural behavior, less chance of hybridization. Basically easier for you in the long run, easier on the fish etc.. 3 to 4 species in groups will look brilliant or larger groups of 2 to 3 species, going to need more hidey places for the fish as well.

What are Syno's?

 

[Malawi MaD]

Synodontis Catfish. They work brilliantly with malawi's as well as Bristlenose's these to work well. Seen a few set-ups with clown loaches too, not sure how well these work out as they do get quite large. Out of The fish you mentioned before id go these:
4x Labidochromis caeruleus
4x Cynotilapia Afra Jalo Reef
4x Pseudotropheus ndumbi red top

As long as the filtration is up to scratch you could raise the numbers to 6 per species or add an extra species. Personally i wouldn't have as many species as you listed earlier, will more than likely cause more problems for both you and the fish.

 

[blagger]

Thanks for that, I think I am going to change the horses to bristlenoses's, they look good.

Think I got over excited and probs need to stick with just 20 malawis plus a couple of bristlenoses. I'm going to have another look and let you know.

 

[Malawi MaD]

Thanks for that, I think I am going to change the horses to bristlenoses's, they look good.

Think I got over excited and probs need to stick with just 20 malawis plus a couple of bristlenoses. I'm going to have another look and let you know.

Your welcome, yeah there nice fish. Just remember the filtration/maintenance, as long as that's decent that opens the doors to slightly heavier stocking n changing about a little until you get the right stocking levels that you like or suits the set-up. Any help/advice you need just ask

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Synodontis Catfish. They work brilliantly with malawi's as well as Bristlenose's these to work well. Seen a few set-ups with clown loaches too, not sure how well these work out as they do get quite large. Out of The fish you mentioned before id go these:
4x Labidochromis caeruleus
4x Cynotilapia Afra Jalo Reef
4x Pseudotropheus ndumbi red top

As long as the filtration is up to scratch you could raise the numbers to 6 per species or add an extra species. Personally i wouldn't have as many species as you listed earlier, will more than likely cause more problems for both you and the fish.

+1

Synos are great catfish, and they are super cute and fun to watch. I have upside-down catfish in mine and it is so cool to watch them as they love to hang from the underside of my rocks. And they are gentle and generally do not bully. Even the most aggressive cichlids will not pay attention to these little guys. These cats are the ONLY fish my Jewel Cichlid has not tried to kill.