New To Lake Malawi Cichlids

[nikitanain]

i am planning a 3 feet by 18 inches by 18 inches tank.......

i am facinated by the malawi cichlids and i would like to keep them.....

the ph of the water is around 6.5

i liked the following species
yellow labs
bumblebee cicjlid
red zebra
yellow tailed acie
powder blue cichlid
pseudotropheus
melanochromis sp blotch

since i am new to lake malawi cichlids i would like to know what i should keep in mind...how i should condition the water to their liking....how many to keep...what the tank structure should be like etc.......

 

[Ferris]

The main problem will be your Ph, it really needs to be 7 at the very least. These fish live in a Ph of 8-8.5 in their natural habitat although most available in LFS are tank/farm bred in a lower Ph than this, 6.5 is just too low.

Your water is much more suited to some of the smaller NW cichlids like Rams and Apisstogramma, it would be ideal for them.

 

[nikitanain]

isnt there any way i can adjust the ph!

 

[Ferris]

You can try using crushed coral as the substrate, that should make quite an impact on the Ph. You can also ensure you use plenty of rocks, which will also help and leave out bogwood as this lowers Ph.

There are various chemical products, which claim to increase Ph but i would steer clear of them as trying to maintain a stable level is near enough impossible and any major Ph fluctuations will prove fatal to your fish.

Bicarbonate of Soda also increases Ph but this raises the same problem, keeping the Ph at a constant level.

If you go for the crushed coral and plenty of rocks and then test your Ph, you should see a sufficient improvement.

 

[dthoffsett]

Also, if your filter allows you to add extra media, you can get little bags as your LFS for loose media (or you can use a clean unused stocking) and put crushed coral inside. That gets the maximum amound of water flowing through the crushed coral. I did that on my tank along w/crushed coral substrate, and it's worked wonders on my PH and KH.

 

[BiffMalawi]

I was able to locate a calcium carbonate quarry. They make baking soda and toothpaste and stuff out of it. The rocks are a cool sparkily white and buffer my tanks to a rock solid 8. Just google it and see if there are any locally. The one I found dumps truck loads of rock in the parking lot for people to take free. I guess so you don't climb the fence.

 

[dthoffsett]

I guess so you don't climb the fence.

Well that takes all the fun out of it.

 

[guppy_man]

how much is this crushed coral, sterling, just wondering because im starting a african cichlid tank and will probably have this.

 

[pmdf]

I got my crushed coral from Maidenhead Aquatics in Wenvoe... £3.99 per 2kg bag.

 

[boshank23]

i got a 20kg bag for £18, there is only one problem with coral sand, over time it breaks down and can irritate the fish so i would recomend syphoning at least 50% of it out every 2-3 months for a good wash.
this will get rid of the fine stuff that may irritate.