Need Some Advice On Malawis

[johnnybravo]

i have recently setup a malawi tank which consist of sand and ocean rock
i bought 6 malawi to begin with and they are roughly 2" long (it is the first time ive kept malawi)
My tank dimension is 39" length x 20" height x 14" width but i do plan to get a larger tank in the near future

Someone in chat was a little concerned by what i had bought

Melanochromis johannii
Cyrtocara moorii
Cynotilapia afra
Copadichromis borleyi
Aulonocara ruby
(i dont know the name of the 6th malawi i bought)

can anyone give me some advice, i am feeding them 2 types of food, spirulina (meat flakes??) and cichlid pellets by aqua one which i beleive is the veg
as i said i would be gettin a larger aquarium in the near future but any advise on stocking and what i have now would be useful

 

[Colin_T]

spirulina is an algae, so unsure of spirulina meat flakes???

the melanochromis johanni is one to watch. The others shouldn't get to agro, although without knowing the 6th fish can't be certain about your choice.
The borleyi will get to about 8inches. The others shouldn't get any bigger than 5-6inches.

Monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels if the tank is newly set up. Ammonia is very toxic in alkaline water (PH above 7.0).

 

[dthoffsett]

Melanochromis johannii - up to 5", mbuna, herbivore, aggressive as most of the melanochromis speices are, minimum 75gal tank, should be kept in groups of 1m/3f or more as they are harem breeders (1 male will mate with as many females as possible)
Cyrtocara moorii - up to 9", hap, carnivore, mild tempered, minimum 125gal tank, harem breeder, they are pretty mild mannered and will likely be beat up by the mbuna.
Cynotilapia afra - Up to 3", mbuna, herbivore, mildly aggressive, minimum 55gal, harem breeder, while not as aggressive as the johanni, they are still mbuna and more aggressive than your haps
Copadichromis borleyi - up to 8", hap, carnivore, peaceful, minimum 75gal tank, harem breeder, will likely be beaten up by the mbuna
Aulonocara ruby - probably Aulonocara (Rubescens), peacock, 5", peaceful, minimum 55gal, harem breeder, will be beaten up by the mbuna
(i dont know the name of the 6th malawi i bought) I'd suggest posting a pic for id

Very interesting mix. At this point my suggestion would be to decide which group of Malawis you like best, haps, mbuna or peacocks and then rehome the ones that don't fit and up your stock for the ones you want to keep (in a larger tank of course). If you are having trouble deciding, have a look at the articles in the link below, and feel free to ask more questions.

[URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/introduction_list.php"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/introduction_list.php[/URL]

 

[dthoffsett]

can anyone give me some advice, i am feeding them 2 types of food, spirulina (meat flakes??) and cichlid pellets by aqua one which i beleive is the veg

Just realized I completely forgot to address the food question.

As Colin pointed out, Spirulina is a high protein algae, so not meaty at all. Excellent food source for the mbuna, though I wouldn't feed it more than 3-4 times a week as they can start to develop dark pigment spots from too much spirulina. Not harmful at all, just unsightly.

Not sure on the cichlid pellets by aquaone, can you post the ingredients?

Ok, I'll try not to get too indepth but still informative. The three biggest challenges of keeping mbuna and haps together are:

1. Aggression. It's a fine balancing act to find mbuna and haps that get along well. The trick is to go with the more peaceful mbuna, and haps that are a little more aggressive, but not large enough to predate on the mbuna. This can be done with success, but it does involve some trial and error, and an ability to return/rehome any problem fish.

2. Territory. Mbuna are rock dwelling species while haps are mostly open water. So you need a large enough tank to allow room for plenty of open swimming space for the haps and rocks for the mbuna.

3. Dietary Needs. Probably the most important part. First a little background, in the wild mbuna feed primarily on algae as Lake Malawi has little to no other vegetation. Because of this type of feeding, they have developed long intestinal tracts to break down the tough algae in order to extract as much nutrition as possible. When fed mostly meaty proteins which break down much faster, the food can start to decompose in the digestive tract. This can lead to the dreaded Malawi Bloat ([URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_bloat.php"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_bloat.php[/URL]) which is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. However, almost all haps are carnivores (predating on small fish) and while they benefit from some vegetation in their diets, will be more prone to illness if not fed meaty foods. Don't despair, haps and mbuna can be kept successfully together, as I said before it's just a balancing act. I would lean towards mbuna such as the labidochromis species which largely feed on small crustaceans as well as algae and do enjoy some meaty additions to their diet. Weekly feedings of frozen brine shrimp (spriulina enhanced if you can get it), should satisfy both types dietary needs.
Here's a great article on feeding [URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/feeding_african_cichlids.php"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/feed...an_cichlids.php[/URL]

So, in summation, while haps and mbuna can be kept together successfully, I dont' recommend it for the beginner.

 

[johnnybravo]

thanks for taking your time to reply much appreciated
i guess im in a bit of a pickle

heres the pic of the foods i was recommended

they dont seem to like the cichlid pellets, the alonocara ruby spits both pellets and flakes out

the guy in the lfs said they would mix ok but you guys here know your stuff

ill try and get a pic of the 6th fish its hard because they seem to go behind the rocks if i go within a metre of the tank!

 

[dthoffsett]

thanks for taking your time to reply much appreciated
i guess im in a bit of a pickle

heres the pic of the foods i was recommended

they dont seem to like the cichlid pellets, the alonocara ruby spits both pellets and flakes out

the guy in the lfs said they would mix ok but you guys here know your stuff

ill try and get a pic of the 6th fish its hard because they seem to go behind the rocks if i go within a metre of the tank!

Both of the foods look ok, just keep trying with the pellets, if you skip feeding for a day everyone should be hungry enough to eat. And until you work out your stocking I'd suggest picking up some frozen brine shrimp (spirulina enhanced if you can get it) and feed them that once a week to make sure the haps and peacocks are getting enough nutrition.

As for them hiding, that's pretty normal. Try sitting in front of the tank without moving for 10-15 minutes, then start making slow gentle movements. It may take a few sittings, but they'll start to get used to you, especially once they associate you=food.

 

[johnnybravo]

here is the 6th malawi if anyone can name it

the pic isnt too good but the fish is a silver colour with black stripes and has a black distorted horizontal line through the center of the stripes
oh and it has like a greeny / orangey line at the top of its dorsal fin, its hard to tell what colour it is exactly

 

[darrel69]

The head shape reminds me of the Sciaenochromis fryeri species maybe ?? ... I have one and mine also has an orange stipe across the top of its dorsal.

 

[johnnybravo]

am i ok to mix the haps with the peacoks and get rid of the mbuna?

eventually i will be getting a larger tank

the blue top afra seems to be the dominant one chasing at the minute

 

[dthoffsett]

am i ok to mix the haps with the peacoks and get rid of the mbuna?

eventually i will be getting a larger tank

the blue top afra seems to be the dominant one chasing at the minute

As far as I know the less aggressive haps and peacocks will go well together. Just make sure you get a pretty large tank, I'd recommend at least a 125gal.

 

[johnnybravo]

here is the 6th malawi if anyone can name it

the pic isnt too good but the fish is a silver colour with black stripes and has a black distorted horizontal line through the center of the stripes
oh and it has like a greeny / orangey line at the top of its dorsal fin, its hard to tell what colour it is exactly

aparently this is an acei / acie ??? my mate says

 

[dthoffsett]

That's not an acei, I'm fairly certain darrel is correct with s.fryeri.

edited for atrocious spelling.

 

[Colin_T]

acei are dark blue with a yellow tail
looks like a peacock to me. electric blues don't normally have such vivid stripe on them and are either silver all over (when young) or a nice blue colour when they colour up

 

[johnnybravo]

thanks for your help

any suggestions on which haps i could possibly mix with the aulonocara rubescens?
my tank seems to be ok now ive rid of the mbuna
the aulonocara rubescens occaisonally chases away the haps usually when i feed them but its not a constant thing like it was with the blue top afra