Need Some Help In Setting Up A Malawian Cichlid Tank

[superman1]

Hello

ok so i have just sold my tank that you can see in the pic below. it used to be marines but then due to finances i converted it to a freshwater tank. but recently have been remodelling the house so sold that tank and now brought a 6 foot tank, dimensions are L180cm H55cm W50cm

right so i want to set this up using coral gravel and ocean rock as the decor. i want to have a nice mix of colours and a few plecs in there

could someone help me in terms of choosing stocking or if not point me in a direction on where to start.
i will be takin my time with this and am picking the tank up at the end of the week so should be able to shed some more light on filtration.

but any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

 

[fatheadminnow]

As a freshwater tank is different that a salt water tank, have you put any thought about how you are going to cycle the tank?

-FHM

 

[superman1]

well with the salt water tank the live rock did the cycling. but when i had it as a freshwater tank i would does with ammonia in order to bring the benificial bacteria levels high enough in the filter in order to process the fish waste.

is it similiar with the cichlids. ive been looking around this section and decided i want to go for a mbuna set up.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Very good, so you are going to be doing a fishless cycle which, on average, takes 4-6 weeks to complete. A fishless cycle works for all freshwater tanks/fish.

You have a very nice size tank for mbuna Cichlids.

I would look into a good canister filter for that size of tank.

As for stocking, you could get roughly 20 Cichlids in there safely, if not more.

-FHM

 

[superman1]

thats good to know. the tank i brought currently has a cannister filter with it. but i am on the hunt for a tetratec ex1200 to add to it.

as for decor i was thinking of using coral gravel to push the ph up from what i read a ph of 8 is good isnt it.... please correct me if i am wrong

also i wanted to add a few BN plecs as i have seen a few people have these. but from what i read they prefer a lower PH... so what is good for an algae eater in cichlid tanks

 

[fatheadminnow]

A pH of 8 is good.

The Pleco(all fish) can adapt to a very wide range of pH levels if you acclimate them properly. I have a Pleco in my Cichlid tank and he is just fine. My pH is 8.

-FHM

 

[kribensis12]

Has the coral gravel and ocean rock been used before? If so, you might want to rinse it through several times. You don't want any salt in the tank! Bristlenose will be fine in your tank. I got mine to breed in mine! My pH is at 8.4! Your tank is about 13, Gallons. If you plan on doing a Mbuna tank, you could put 40 fish in there. You WANT to overstock with Mbuna. They are very agressive and when there are that many fish, they don't have any territory and they are less likely to fight. You NEED to have a good filter. It should ideally be able to turn the tank 4-5 times over in an hour. They will produce a lot of waste.

 

[superman1]

Has the coral gravel and ocean rock been used before? If so, you might want to rinse it through several times. You don't want any salt in the tank! Bristlenose will be fine in your tank. I got mine to breed in mine! My pH is at 8.4! Your tank is about 13, Gallons. If you plan on doing a Mbuna tank, you could put 40 fish in there. You WANT to overstock with Mbuna. They are very agressive and when there are that many fish, they don't have any territory and they are less likely to fight. You NEED to have a good filter. It should ideally be able to turn the tank 4-5 times over in an hour. They will produce a lot of waste.

Hello

coral gravel is fresh and so is the ocean rock. with having this many fish do u have to always gravel vac in order to get rid of the waste all the time.

how many different species of mbuna are there as i normally go by using info from tropical fish 4 u but they dont seem to have alot of species on there.

thanks

 

[dthoffsett]

Have a look here for profiles, as you can see there are quite a few to choose from.

 

[superman1]

Have a look here for profiles, as you can see there are quite a few to choose from.

wow... thats a hell of alot more then the other site, thanks for that. that will keep me busy for a while.

quick question. as you should overstock to reduce aggression. how do you go about introducing these to the tank. do you do it all in one go or can you do it slowly over asmall amount of time.

thanks

 

[dthoffsett]

wow... thats a hell of alot more then the other site, thanks for that. that will keep me busy for a while.

quick question. as you should overstock to reduce aggression. how do you go about introducing these to the tank. do you do it all in one go or can you do it slowly over asmall amount of time.

thanks

And that's not all the mbuna available, it seems they're discovering and importing more species all the time. There are two ways to stock the tank you can introduce them a species at a time starting with the least aggressive and ending with the most. You'll probably want to rearrange the rocks/decor with each new introduction, and you'll definitely want to add them all as juvies. Or you can do a fishless cycle and stock you tank all at once, it's up to you.

 

[sumtin_crazy]

Has the coral gravel and ocean rock been used before? If so, you might want to rinse it through several times. You don't want any salt in the tank! Bristlenose will be fine in your tank. I got mine to breed in mine! My pH is at 8.4! Your tank is about 13, Gallons. If you plan on doing a Mbuna tank, you could put 40 fish in there. You WANT to overstock with Mbuna. They are very agressive and when there are that many fish, they don't have any territory and they are less likely to fight. You NEED to have a good filter. It should ideally be able to turn the tank 4-5 times over in an hour. They will produce a lot of waste.

Hello

coral gravel is fresh and so is the ocean rock. with having this many fish do u have to always gravel vac in order to get rid of the waste all the time.

how many different species of mbuna are there as i normally go by using info from tropical fish 4 u but they dont seem to have alot of species on there.

thanks

there are more than you can count as far as different types of cichlids and man keep making more types as they cross breed them.. as far as pleco or algea eaters most african cichlids are only algea eaters and can get bloated from eating to much protien and die!!! so you need to somthing below 40 percent protien diet as NEW LIFE SPECTRUM is the best food for cichlid or any fish i have 2 plecos in my 135 gallon tank but you can also find some catfish that will eat algea that can go greate with cichlids yes u need to use gravel vac once a week atleast when u do a water change ,cichlids give of alot of waste and i mean alot so very good filtration is a must i have 2 canister filters for my tank that gives me almost double the filtration that i need for the tank so hope that helps alittle good luck!!!

 

[superman1]

yeh that defo helps.

i brought my tank on sunday. its a 5ft tank 400l. it came with a rena xp3 external filter but i am currently on the lookout for an fx5.

spent today painting the back and attaching the lights to the hood. it will probaly be a few weeks before water goes in but for the time being i will visit a few lfs and see what cichlids they have.

 

[salty pig]

yeh that defo helps.

i brought my tank on sunday. its a 5ft tank 400l. it came with a rena xp3 external filter but i am currently on the lookout for an fx5.

spent today painting the back and attaching the lights to the hood. it will probaly be a few weeks before water goes in but for the time being i will visit a few lfs and see what cichlids they have.

Hey, caught up with you at last, and thats why you wanted the plants.. Good luck with your tank and take keep us up to date. The Salty Pig.