Thinking Of A Malawi Set Up

[Spurry]

Hi im getting a bit of overtime at the end of this month and was thinking about another second hand rio 180/200/220 ish
and putting the smallest of the malawi in there, if anyone has any advice setup guiding im all ears
i read they need a higher ph, all advice is welcome

many thanks

 

[Spurry]

no one posted

 

[Malawi MaD]

Long time mate.

A rio 180 will be slightly limited for malawi's but still doable. A higher Ph is needed plus the water hardness needs to be higher and more crucially it needs to be stable. Some dwarf species would be a fine start mind you, Pseodotropheus saulosi are especially popular with people starting out with malawi's, one reason been for their fantastic colour of the male and females, plus the character of the fish. Got any ideas of your own as far as fish go??

 

[Spurry]

Right this is now going ahead I have room for a rio 180
Arriving Monday it has a Tetratec EX1200 filter with it I'm looking at river cobbles and sand
Any advice on:
Getting the right ph
What sub to use
Lifting the kh

What type of cichlids Can I keep Malawi or others
Thanks

 

[Malawi MaD]

Right this is now going ahead I have room for a rio 180
Arriving Monday it has a Tetratec EX1200 filter with it I'm looking at river cobbles and sand
Any advice on:
Getting the right ph
What sub to use
Lifting the kh

What type of cichlids Can I keep Malawi or others
Thanks

Ok, what are your water perimeters from the tap? This will make it easier when it comes to knowing how much you need to buffer your water and the best way to do it. You dont want to be messing around too much with your water, keeping it stable with a relatively high PH is best but when i know what your stats are from the tap i will go into full detail about different options etc... Substrate is all about preference really, you can go with a typical malawi set-up substrate and have crushed coral, It acts as a natural buffer(as you may know) and keeps the water stable, which i think is the more crucial factor when keeping malawi's. Play sand,fine gravels, silica sand, Carib Sea Eco-Complete African Cichlid substrate's are good options to have too..

As i said before you could have some dwarf malawi mbuna in a rio 180 (Pseudo saulosi, Iodotropheus sprengerae, pseudotropheus minutus etc..) Could also go the tanganyikan route which have a lot smaller species of cichlids plus different body shapes and characters.

 

[Spurry]

ThanksI will post the stats tonight when I'm home from work, but I'm on 12am finish again

 

[Malawi MaD]

ThanksI will post the stats tonight when I'm home from work, but I'm on 12am finish again

No worries i might still be awake then lol

 

[Spurry]

Ok my tap water it:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 7.6 with api test kit
PH 7.2 with nutrafin test kit
KH 3

That's all I can test for, I don't really want that coral sand I think
I looks messy, thinking of black/dark sand and river cobbles

Cheers

 

[minnnt]

Just so you know, I'm taking no responsibility for this tank.

 

[Spurry]

Just so you know, I'm taking no responsibility for this tank.

Lol....

 

[Spurry]

ThanksI will post the stats tonight when I'm home from work, but I'm on 12am finish again

No worries i might still be awake then lol

Ok my tap water it:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 7.6 with api test kit
PH 7.2 with nutrafin test kit
KH 3

That's all I can test for, I don't really want that coral sand I think
I looks messy, thinking of black/dark sand and river cobbles

Cheers

I posted them...


Called in to tingly tropics today to see what i could go with and so far it looking between:

tanganyikan and saulosi as you would think giving the size

if i go the saulosi way he said i could have some demasoni as well and a dark gold colour small cichlid sorry forgot it name

could you list me some that can go with the saulosi please

as for the tanganyikan im not sure what can go with what and they seem to be twice the price as well
he said i would be good for about 18 fist in that size tank ?

cheers

 

[minnnt]

18 Saulosi.

 

[Spurry]

18 Saulosi.

Yes but there all the same

 

[minnnt]

At least with Saulosi you get blues AND yellows. With Demasoni you get blue....

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=axCkx8AZo28

 

[Spurry]

Yes, they was all yellow in shop but I could see what I thought was the stripes coming though
On the males, what male to female should the be kept at ?

Cheers

And later if I got more water can you mix ?