Home Adverts Recent Added Auction Scam Alerts Fishkeeping Forum List Your Ad ShopAds Videos Tropical Fish Aquariums & Equip Marine Fish & Marine Inverts Cichlids Malawi Tanganyikan Cichlids Wanted Discus Goldfish, Koi & Ponds Retailers & Services ALL ADS By County    Home      Reply     Viewed: 717 -- Replies: 82 -- Page: 1, 2  Next PM | All Topics | General | Cichlids | Marine | Coldwater | Tanks/Equipment | Diseases | Members Posted My Malawi(ish) Set-Up 08-09-2007 18:13 by Fry Lover Please let me know what you would advise for the long term of this tank, i think as some of the Malawi get bigger i will have to make alternative arrangements or upgrade. Anyway, i bought a Rio 300, which in terms of actual water carrying measures, 48" length x 20" wide x 22" high and like the name suggests holds approx 300 litres of water!!! It had a load of Malawi in when i got it, LOADS, massively stocked, also had x2 large Parrot fish in it. The trouble was, it had some more carnivorous Malawi (like Nimbochromis Venustus in it) mixed with Mbuna so after quite a few months of re-organising i am left with the following combination in the tank (most were already there, i have added a few small Malawi and most of the Tangs were added by me). The Tangs were added as i gave up on my Tang Community Plan. I know its not ideal mixing Malawi and Tang, so i am happy for some feedback here please Okay, Tank - Ocean Rock and Lava Rock, Lava Rock at front bottom area, Ocean Rock stacked up against the back. There is a fair bit of swimming space round the back of the Ocean Rock that all fish can fit in, and the Lava Rock on the surface of the tank provides lots of "nooks and crannies" so to speak!!! - The substrate is the usual very fine aqaurium sand, its quite light in colour - I have a black background - Heater is 1x 200W, ideally i would prefer 2x 150W for safety reasons, so if one fails i got a back up and also i dont want the wattage to high as although its never happened to me, i am terrified of a heater getting "stuck on" - Filtration is provided by x2 Eheim 2028 Externals. At the moment i also have x1 Fluval4+ internal as i ordered too much Eheim media, so i stuck some of it in my Fluval 4+. I also have a Fluval 2+ in there. Part of the reasons for these additional Fluvals is i own x2 Eheim 2028 and x1 Eheim 2026 and i am not overly impressed with the flow rate on them, no matter how i fill it with media and no matter how i clean the media, i wouldnt even want to leave my Malawi tank with just x2 Eheim 2028's (bioligically it seems more than adequate) but i am not happy with the water flow. I was wondering to just get x1 powerhead in there? - Lighting is x1 Marine White and x1 Marine Blue Fish Stock MBUNA 6 x Labidochromis Caeruleus approx 2-3" each 4 x Maylandia Pseudotropheus Zebra (Blue) approx 2" each 2 x Maylandia Lombardoi Female (Kenyi) approx 1.5" and 3.5" 1 x Maylandia Lombardoi Male (Kenyi) approx 2" 1 x Melanochromis Chipokae approx 3.5" 1 x Red Zebra Maylandia Estherae approx 4" 4 x Small Red Zebra Maylandia Estherae approx 1" each 4 x Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" (Ngara - white tailed) approx 1" each 1 x Maylandia Greshakei Male approx 3" 2 x Female Greshakei approx 1" and 2" 2 x Labeotropheus Trewavasae (Chilumba) approx 1.5" each 1 x Un-identified yellow "lab" type, either a yellow lab or some kind of Zebra 2" HAPS 4 x Copadichromis borleyi (Kadango) approx 1" each 1 x Aulonocara (un-identified type) approx 3.5" TANG 3 x Neolamprologus Tretocephalus approx 1.5" each 2x Neolamprologus Meeli approx 1" each 1 x Julidochromis Marleri approx 2" 1 x Julidochromis Dickfeldi approx 3" OTHERS 2 x Bristlenose approx 2" each 1 x Chinese Algae Eater approx 2.5" COMMENTS My Chipokae (despite the reputation) is as cool as a cucumber, doesnt trouble anyone and no one troubles him. PLEASE CONFIRM if you think he's a Chipokae from pic, one of mate thinks he's an AURATUS, i still think Chipokae My Kenyi's are pretty placid, although 2 of them are still quite small. Perhaps when they get bigger their reputation will become true? The biggest Kenyi i have is the female who is the mother of the other 2 in the tank. I had to move the father on as he was causing havoc after i got the tank, a true Kenyi!!!! One of the Trewavasae is constantly chasing the other one (violently) but no harm has come to it, and mostly they stay out of each others way In x3/4 months approx i have had x1 death (yellow lab) died out the blue, no markings or anything on it. Its very rare i see a fish with any damaged finns in this tank, very rare. There is some "argy-bargy" at feeding time but thats about it. The Greshaki sometimes hassles one of the Blue Zebras and sometimes the big Red Zebra gets fed up of all the Yellow Labs chasing each other (its like they are playing with each other and the Red Zebra cant be bothered to watch it anymore LOL) DIET (approx figures) x1 per week, Courgette and Cucumber, left in for 24 hrs x1 per week, Lettuce left in for 24 hrs, gets 90% eaten anyway x2 per week, JBL RIFT Algae Pellets x2 per week, Hikari Cichlid Excel pellets (Wheat Germ and Spirulina) every 3-4 days or so, FROZEN SELECTION (Brine Shrimp, Mysis or Cichlid Diet) Pics to follow 08-09-2007 18:14 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:15 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:16 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:17 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:17 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:18 by Fry Lover thats a Labeotropheus Trewavasae by the way above and so is this one below 08-09-2007 18:19 by Fry Lover and again 08-09-2007 18:20 by Fry Lover Labidochromis Caeruleus 08-09-2007 18:21 by Fry Lover is this a Yellow Lab or some kind of Pseudotropheus do you think? 08-09-2007 18:22 by Fry Lover Maylandia Greshakei 08-09-2007 18:23 by Fry Lover and again, this guy is stunning and in no way do the pics reflect his colouring when you are here in front of tank!!! 08-09-2007 18:24 by WAYNE nice tank alex 08-09-2007 18:24 by Fry Lover Maylandia Lombardoi Male, actually colour wise my fave fish in tank along with the Greshaki 08-09-2007 18:25 by Fry Lover Thanks Wayne 08-09-2007 18:25 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:27 by Fry Lover And here is the mother of "bumble-bee" as i call him (the male Kenyi above) Female Kenyi (Maylandia Lombardoi) 08-09-2007 18:27 by Fry Lover again 08-09-2007 18:28 by Fry Lover Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" (Ngara) 08-09-2007 18:30 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:30 by Fry Lover am i right in thinking this is a male? 08-09-2007 18:33 by Fry Lover Melanochromis Chipokae how evil does the Chipokae look in that pic? Its ironic as i am constantly telling peeps how placid he is. I get lots of advice to move him from tank as peeps say he will "start killing" at some point. Well he is very well behaved and was the previous owner too 08-09-2007 18:35 by Fry Lover here is again looking a bit more sociable and a bit less like a psycho-path Malawi 08-09-2007 18:37 by Fry Lover Now some Tangs, as described in first bit of thread, this is not a "text book" set-up and i need to think of what to do longer term perhaps, not just with mixes but also when some of the younger Malawi grow up. Ladies and Gentlemen i give you...... Neolamprologus Meeli 08-09-2007 18:38 by Fry Lover and again, there are x2 in the tank 08-09-2007 18:40 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:40 by Fry Lover They are the smallest fish in the tank, i have x2, but they can hold their own, basically they are "shell dwellers" so my two just dig themselves a cave in the sand and sit-tight!!! The longer i have had the set-up the more i see of them, they used to sit in their cave all day and only come out for feeding, now they always out, what amazes me about these two is no matter how hectic it gets they are completely un-fazed by it all, and no other fish has over tried it on with these guys. They dont hang out together, they dont really get on!!! They mostly spend their time on the very bottom of the tank, almost like a tiny version of a Bichir, almost crawling on the sand. I used to think they were just scared of the Malawi etc, but now i think its just the way they are I really didnt want to put them in with the Malawi, but i had no where else, it was either the Malawi tank or my Community Livebearer tank, but i didnt want them eating my live-bearer fry. 08-09-2007 18:42 by Fry Lover Neolamprologus Tretocephalus 08-09-2007 18:42 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:43 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:45 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:47 by Fry Lover above is a Julidochromis Dickfeldi, below are pics of my Julidochromis Marleri They are now breeding and there is quite a few fry at the moment they are guarding, the fry are about 7-8mm at moment, pushing 1cm, i noticed the fry about a week ago Obviously they will be hybrids, but i will let them stay in tank and actually i hope they make it. 08-09-2007 18:48 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:49 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:50 by Fry Lover you will notice 1x fry there above, they are being guarded quite well 08-09-2007 18:51 by Fry Lover Back to Mbuna Maylandia Pseudotropheus Zebra (Blue) 08-09-2007 18:52 by Fry Lover Labidochromis Caeruleus 08-09-2007 18:52 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:53 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:53 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:53 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:53 by Fry Lover 08-09-2007 18:54 by Fry Lover If you think any of the fish are not what i have said they are, please let me know (if i got the species wrong or anything) 08-09-2007 18:55 by Fry Lover thats all folks, its a wrap, i know i should have bit more of an effort really and done more pics 08-09-2007 19:50 by robert.pope 10/10 for the time put into the thread!..im no help with africans sorry a few more pictures would be great 08-09-2007 19:52 by Fry Lover Thanks Pope, glad to see your still here, you the old-man of the forum now i guess! And yes, it takes *** ages to upload that many pics 08-09-2007 21:32 by telboy nice pics of quality setups master fry lurver!lurver lurver! 08-09-2007 22:23 by Fry Lover why thank you Uncle 09-09-2007 03:07 by -Rob C- Nice pics, if the fish are happy and healthy then it must be ok! 09-09-2007 12:42 by Ray Hello Fry lover, first of all I do not think that the lakes should be mixed as the water in them is different,Tanganyika is much harder tham Malawi,also fish like Tretracephalus do not compete well for food with Mbuna,they may seem to but usually they just fade away. M.Lombardoi and Chipokae are killers,they will eventually start to murder their tankmates,bear in mind I am talking long term here,your fish are sub-adult,when they get bigger they will start to form a teritory and begin to defend it.I would remove them and replace with more placid species(in Malawi terms lol)I hope you are not upset by my coments,the tank looks very good but you are storing problems for the future 09-09-2007 12:58 by Fry Lover not upset at all, you are correct about the Chipokae and Lombardoi but i do not agree with you about water requirements being different for Tangs and Malawi, i doubt many (if any) of mine are wild caught and even if they were a very small pH and hardness difference from Tang Lakes and Malawi is not significant if other factors are properly maintained (i.e. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, water changes, good diet etc). My tap water is closer to 8.0 than 7.5 But its the reason i posted, not just to look at pics but to get feedback for the future of the set-up like you have done, so its much appreciated. My Chipokae is about 4-5" Ray, so he's not really a sub-adult and is pretty much full grown and very well behaved and the same is true for the Lombardoi who is the mother of the other two, although she probably has another 1-1.5 inches of growing in her. But when i had the father Kenyi (lots of these fish came with tank) he was 6" i had to move him on, he was difficult and bossy, and didnt take the move well, all the other fish did, so i know their repuation is well founded. I am more worried about my Male Kenyi who is only about 2" now. Overall i think your advice is good Ray and welcomed, its only a 300 litre tank so i do need to start thinking about the long term, thanks for coming into the thread 09-09-2007 13:00 by Fry Lover I'd like to add your point about fish "competing for food" is the first comment someone has made on this in about x3 different forums i use, and its a great point and thanks for making me focus on it for the future 09-09-2007 13:29 by Ray ok,the lakes are very different,for example the PH in Malawi is in general 7.7,in Tanganyika it is 9. PH is logarythmic wich means 1 degree is 10 times harder or softer,so Tanganyika is 13 times harder than Malawi,also captive breeding does not reduce the needs of species that have taken millenia to evolve. 09-09-2007 14:07 by Fry Lover Ray, with respect, i dont think its that black and white mate, the pH in each lake will vary. Although yes Lake Tanganyika has a higher pH, i certainly would bet against the "average difference" being a whole 1.3 thats taking both extremes of the average pH was each lake probably? I could be wrong but virtually every single pH reference for the actual Lake Malawi i have seen has been in the region of something like 7.8 and 8.6 or something and Lake Tanganyika about 8.6 upwards I am not arguing your point about Lake Tanganyika having a higher pH, that is well reflected in the material available. I personally think the arguemnt for not mixing Malawi and Tangs is strong in terms of behaviour and diet, but the argument is a weak one in terms of pH requirement, although you could argue that if you have a pH of 7.0 to 7.5 it would be easier to keep Malawi and better advised to try for Malawi as opposed to Tangs 09-09-2007 16:45 by Fry Lover to be fair to your point Ray (in terms of differing water params between the lakes) i am aware Lake Tanganyika has higher general and carbonate hardness that Malawi, and perhaps these figures could be just as relevent as pH. Although i still feel (normal tapwater readings), that with my pH approaching 8.0 on different test kits and the GH being... actually forget that here's a direct cut & paste of recent results from my tanks Tap Water- GH - 200 mg/l (ppm) KH - 130 mg/l (ppm) Malawi Tank with loads of ocean rock GH - 210 mg/l (ppm) KH - 120 mg/l (ppm) Mixed Cichlid tank with loads of bog wood (parrots, convicts, kribensis) GH - 200 mg/l (ppm) KH - 110 mg/l (ppm) Community, heavily planted GH - 210 mg/l (ppm) KH - 130 mg/l (ppm) according to the instruction booklet (Nutrafin) my KH is "unusually high" my GH is "very hard" The pH on the test kits for all tanks and tap water are somewhere between 7.5 and 8.0 and again i have done them twice, but each time when i look closer it looks as if my tap-water and my community tank have a slightly (very slightly) lower pH according to the internet (two different sites) 200-210 mg/l General Hardness is about 12-13 degree's GH which is only "modertately hard" although on the instructions of my Nutrafin Test Kit it says anything over 200mg/l is "very hard" I think it worked out as 12 degree's for GH and 7-8 degrees for KH, although i think the nutrafin guide was a bit misleading as apparently my results merely indicate "hard" water and not necessarily "very hard"??? am i correct there? My view based on research and other's feedback is that my tap-water suits both Malawi and Tangs. There is some statistics here but i think its from 1965!!!! http://malawicichlids.com/mw01011.htm Dont get me wrong Ray, ultimately i know my set-up is "risky" to say the least. RAY - Basically, if it were YOUR tank (suddenly someone just dumped it on you lol) would you remove all Tangs EVEN the Julidochromis? and would you take out the Chipokae despite him being adult and not causing grief? Would you just move on all Tangs, Chipokae and Kenyi? Do you think the rest of the mix os okay for a 300 litre, 48x20x20 09-09-2007 17:13 by Ray Hi the Gh KH seem to be about right for my area,Brighton,but test kits are not always too accurate,I would definately remove the Chipokae and Lombardoi,the Tangs are up to you,but as I said I would not mix the lakes,the Copidachromis will need more room when they are older. 09-09-2007 18:11 by perky cor blimey theres a mixture in there you dont change do you mixture lover... 09-09-2007 19:42 by Nick G Nice tank and fish mr 'Fry lover'. How many set ups have you got mate? 09-09-2007 19:59 by Fry Lover I got x4 Rio 300's basically, i collect them like stamps I got quite a small flat, so i make up for not been able to have a 6x2x2 or 7x2x2 by having loads of 48x20x20 Planning on using a spare 48x12x15 as a fry "grow on" tank also. Malawi "mix" Parrots and Small Cichlid "mix" Community Planted Senegal Bichirs, Reed Fish, Red Devil, Blue Acara Pics of other set-ups to follow this week 09-09-2007 20:00 by Fry Lover oh and Perky will continue to make references about "water on the floor" etc, thats coz i smashed a Rio 300 full up with water a few weeks back 09-09-2007 20:17 by Nick G Look forward to seeing them pal. I take it you have to sleep stood up then 09-09-2007 20:34 by Fry Lover i hang upside down from my wardrobe like Batman 09-09-2007 22:27 by Nick G Just posted on your other planted thread fry lover 10-09-2007 01:33 by Caz Nice tank and fish, bit of a mix but we have Tangy, Malawi & Vics in a couple of our tanks & they're OK - mind you we have haps not mbuna. Take the advice already given about removing the nastier mbunas into somewhere else - they can turn overnight & you end up with a tank full of floaters. I think you should add a good quality spirulina flake to your fishes diet, best I've found (for bulk amounts) is on ebay (seller called robbobaggins who is ZM) The yellow fish you want id'd is most likely a Pseudotropheus Saulosi female - they're completely yellow. Do your shellies a favour and please get them a shell each and put them at opposite ends of the tank cause they sound like 2 males if they're fighting - wait till you see them defending a shell, it'll be their home, they'll look after it, move it around, pile the sand up around it, change their mind, pile it up a different way etc. etc. and they'll love you for it 10-09-2007 02:02 by Fry Lover thanks Caz, what a great and useful post. Right, I am almost certainly going to take out my x2 female Kenyi's, the larger female is already getting a bit bossy, I know i "should" move my male Kenyi on, but i am wondering if he will be okay for a bit, especially with no female Kenyi in the tank, or does that make no difference? He's okay now, but like Ray pointed out, he's only a sub-adult and is about 1.75 to 2.00 inch now. I just love his colour, i know that makes me sound like a complete newbie!!! My Chipokae, thats a toughie as he's so placid. But i need to think about it for sure. I will look out for the Spirulina flake you mention. I have just looked at a lot of pics on google and i can see where your coming from about the Pseudotropheus Saulosi female, its just mine is a bit paler (bit more lemon) than most, but it could well be Yeh the Shellies, if i had seen them getting terrorised Caz or even slightly bullied i would have moved them out and even put them in a spare 24" tank i got, i would not want them to perish in this tank, but as they holding their own and feeding well and looking great, they are staying for now, but yes i will look into getting a shell, when they see eah other in the tank, they start flaring their gills at each other, but never actually touch each other, and they are 90% at opossite ends of tank, building tunnells under the lava rock, geez they dig quickly for a little fish!!! Arrrgh, you got me wanting a proper shell-dweller set-up now! Thanks for such a great balanced reply to my post, its on a few forums and people always just seem to focus on only one or two issues, which i dont blame them for, i am glad you have looked at my post in detail and replied methodically (sorry to use long words Perky) 10-09-2007 10:27 by yanton That is a really nice tank, plenty of rockwork for the fry. I have never had issues in mixing tanganyikans and malawis in the sale aquarium. ... you are tempting me to get back into malawis 10-09-2007 11:07 by Fry Lover thanks 10-09-2007 11:09 by Fry Lover what was your tang / malawi mix please Yanton 10-09-2007 14:24 by Caz Awwww you made me blush - you're welcome by the way. Shellies are great fun with some absolute classic behaviour and you can create a shellie colony in the tiniest tanks, we got a group of Multies in a 12x8x6 inch tank - all you need is an inch of sand & a few shells and off they go We've also got Occelatus and they are so fierce for such tiny things - they regularly see off everything including tank bosses 1000 times their size 10-09-2007 21:41 by Fry Lover awwww shucks I have committed to selling the x2 Kenyi Females, i think someone will be round next weekend for them, even though they fine, i cant ignore all the advice i have received. As for the Male Kenyi and Chipokae i still havent mentally committed to losing them! I hope Yanton returns to this thread to let me know what Tang and Malawi mix he had CAZ - do you have an intro or something about yourself and your tanks? -- Page: 1, 2  Next NEW REPLIES ARE NOW CLOSED ON THIS FORUM We invite you to join the NEW Aquarist Classifieds Fishkeeping Forum HERE Your contributions to this forum are greatly appreciated. This forum will be retained in archive status for reference. Adverts Previous Fish Biz Sitemap Links All Sponsor Clubs Webmaster Our Sponsors ShopAds Visits

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