# Ok, I've narrowed it down to a particular lake...Malawi



## Auntbeast (Mar 1, 2006)

Planet, continent, lake. I am making progress.

I have a 90g that I am setting up for Lake Malawi Cichlids. Since I've gone blind going through all the species and cookie cutter setups, I decided to find a tank in the gallery that had a setup that I liked. Beats throwing darts at a chart.

The one I picked to start from is called PEARLS OF MALAWI by Berkasgeri. It is a 53 gal and here is the stock list:

5 Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos "Maingano"
5 Pseudotropheus saulosi "Red Coral"
3 Pseudotropheus sp. "kingsizei"
5 Labidochromis caeruleus "Yellow"
1 ancistrus
1 pleco

Here is a pic:









I like the colors, I like the size of the fish, I like the apparent activity level. Obviously, I can have a few more fish, and I am not a fan of plecos, so I'd like to ditch those.

One additional fish I personally like is: Copadichromis azureus Would he fit with the others?

So, oh great Malawi Masters. Give me some advice. Anything you don't like? Got a suggestion for a good replacement? Any additions I should get? What about the M/F ratio?

I lay myself at your feet. Oh, here is a cloudy shot of my tank. I've since added aragonite since evidently, I have the most acidic water on the planet. (Don't say discus, please)









Thank you all.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Welcome to C-F! Compliments for doing your research! Some general comments. Just because someone else has a tank, doesn't mean it works! A 53G with that stocking would not be a model I would use. The number of species is good for a 90G but I would not add species. Having plants with mbuna works for some but I'd guess it usually is a problem. Mbuna are herbivores and nibble. I didn't like the tattered plants in my mbuna tank, but my plants are fine with my peacocks and tangs (carnivores).



Auntbeast said:


> Copadichromis azureus Would he fit with the others?


In general, haps and mbuna mixes don't have the highest odds of success, especially with aggressive mbuna like you've chosen.



Auntbeast said:


> Anything you don't like? Got a suggestion for a good replacement?


 I would not combine the Saulosi and the Kingsizei. Avoid two blue-barred fish in the tank. I'd omit both (Coral Reds are hybrids and Kingsizei are dimorphic, only male is colorful) and replace them with 15 Demasoni. I'd consider Socolofi or Acei for your fourth species.



Auntbeast said:


> What about the M/F ratio?


One male and the rest females, but don't worry about ratio for labs, Demasoni or Acei.



Auntbeast said:


> I've since added aragonite since evidently, I have the most acidic water on the planet.


Actually this is where you should start. What is your pH? Aragonite may not be enough to achieve your pH goals. Might want to remove the driftwood as that tends to lower pH. What are your other water parameters? How are you cycling your tank?


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## Auntbeast (Mar 1, 2006)

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I just put the aragonite in yesterday, I'm not sure how long it takes to get a 90g buffered, so what my current pH is, is yet undetermined. I'm going to test everything probably tomorrow, just to see what kind of change has occurred. I have not put the driftwood back in. The water in the tank is a tad higher, maybe because of the concrete background than my tap water, I had him test both. I need to see what the aragonite does and what else I may need to do to get the pH up where it needs to be.

I haven't begun the cycling process until I get the base parameters in check. This tank has been a 3 year project, I am in no rush to introduce fish. I want it to be right, more than I want it to be full.

I'll spend some time looking over your recommendations for stock.


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## Auntbeast (Mar 1, 2006)

5 Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos "Maingano"
5 Labidochromis caeruleus "Yellow" 
15 Pseudotropheus demasoni (Pombo Rocks) 
1:5 Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei"

Ok, with this modified list. Is there one that could be replaced with another species with red/orange coloring? There's a lot of blue.  I found this one: Aulonocara (Rubescens) http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1311

I read up on the Red Coral and I understand it is a hybrid and I would prefer to avoid them. I was expecting that.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You would not want peacocks with aggressive mbuna either. Red/orange is always a quandry with labs because the only fish that's close (red zebra) hybridizes with labs.

I have both, but the zebras are proven females and I don't save any fry they hold.

Note it's the maingano that need 1:5 and not the acei.


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## kodyboy (Dec 9, 2007)

5 Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos "Maingano"
5 Labidochromis caeruleus "Yellow"
15 Pseudotropheus demasoni (Pombo Rocks)
1:5 Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei"

I like auntbeasts suggestion, except I would add 1 cyaneorhabdos, 3 more yellow labs and another species, I suggest the rusty cichlid Iodotropheus sprengerae (2m, 4 female).


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## mpmitche (Apr 28, 2005)

The Iodotrohpeus can definately be very attractive, i think a lot of the pics out there don't do them justice. I didn't care for them until i saw some in person and was very surprised. If it was my tank i would also toss in some syndontis cats; i love watching them sneak in and out of the rocks and think they create water movement along the bottom of the tank that helps keep it cleaner.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

The red zebra that DJRansome referred to is Metriaclima estherae. Some of them are a very red orange.


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## Auntbeast (Mar 1, 2006)

It seems there are quite a few Synodontis Cats. Are any particular ones better with cichlids than others? (Ok, I'm reading up on them. Native to the lakes.)

That Iodotropheus sprengerae is a good looking fish. And you say the pics don't do them justice?

Stock List:
1:5 Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos "Maingano"
8 Labidochromis caeruleus "Yellow"
15 Pseudotropheus demasoni (Pombo Rocks)
? Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei"
2:4 Iodotropheus sprengerae
? Synodontis Multipunctatus

I am a big believer in understocking tanks. Always have been. It is going to be TORTURE for me to put this many fish in my 90. I understand about overcrowding to avoid aggression...but egads.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would lose one species and reduce the numbers:
1:4 maingano
15 Demasoni
6 labs
6 acei
6 Syno. Multipunctatus

The multies are best at fry control. Syno Lucipinnis is cool too if you like a smaller fish.


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## Auntbeast (Mar 1, 2006)

Really? Six catfish?

Now I just got talked into the Iodotropheus. Is there a blue-ish fish in my line up I could ditch for this one?

How about stocking order?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

They are happiest in groups. You can switch any of your existing species for rusties. One male four females.


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## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

I think you'll need some more rocks in this tank to keep the demasoni happy. I would get rid of the plant and add a rock pile in one end of the tank.

As for the stocklist, I'd say keep the dems, labs and mainganos. I'd ditch the acei and rusties and try some albino socolofi. They really stand out in a tank...especially with the blue, black and yellow that's in your tank already.

You could go with DJs suggestion (he has a lot of experience from what I've seen), but to me you'd have too many dark fish. I also think the Acei would be ok in here, but with the background taking up swimming area and the acei's larger size (6" or so), they might feel a little cramped in there.

BTW, this is just my 2 cents based on my experiences. Check my sig and you'll see I like to try different things.


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## mpmitche (Apr 28, 2005)

As far as the syndontis go you can really narrow your choices with a few questions. If you want a Malawi syn. there are not many choices the only one I've heard of (sure there are a few more though) is Synodontis njassae and it is not readily available in my area, not sure about others. If you don't mind a Tanganyikan syn the multipunctatus and petricola are pretty easy to find. I've had both and like both. The petricola are much smaller and fit a tank like my current 55 better than the multipunctatus, but with 90 gal you could go either way easily.


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## kodyboy (Dec 9, 2007)

I like petricola catfish, and I think five species in your tank would be just fine Add them all as juvies and watch them grow


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## Auntbeast (Mar 1, 2006)

Osmosis must be working. I am going to have more rocks, turns out, I live on a mountain made of blue granite and finding lime rock locally is going to be a challenge. I may end up ordering the texas holy rock. I've got another thread dealing with my pH challenges, be rest assured, until I have it right, fish are a hypothesis.

Catfish: I didn't even know there were Malawi catfish. Going to research those choices. The good news is that NOTHING is available to me locally, I'm going to have to order everything, might as well be picky.

I was looking over my fish choices and decided if I had to ditch anything, the acei was the most likely choice since visually, he wasn't bring much to the table. I'm not certain why I have to have a billion demasoni, but it seems a popular choice and they are striking fish.


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## kodyboy (Dec 9, 2007)

Demasoni are very aggressive towards each other but not too much to other fish, that is why it is best to keep them in large groups. If you want a less aggressive, but just as attractive fish get melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (maingano) same colors, but horizontally instead of vertically striped.
I like accei because they are not aggressive and they tend to swim in the upper water regions that the other fish commonly ignore


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

I am curious of the exact fish you deciced to go with? I have a 55 gallon and I have been searching for weeks now trying to decide what fish I want to keep in it. Right now all I have is one electric blue (maingano) but I'm not sure if I should keep it or not. I really like the yellow labs. I think yellow and blue fish swimming around together would be beautiful. I would also like to have some orange (maybe) and possibly some red fish too, but I'm really clueless about what fish to keep together. I want lots of bright color and I want the fish to stay kinda small.

I have a 55 gallon with a black background. I have feather rock caves that I made myself as well as caves made from Mexican Beach Rocks. My substrate is black sand mixed with the eco-complete african cichlid "gravel" which is actually crushed shells. I think colorful fish will "pop" against my black background and the fact that my "gravel" isn't completely black keeps my tank from being too dark in my opinion. My fish research is really confusing because everyone on here has their own preference and opinion; I just need some advice and was hoping to have a decision made by this weekend.


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