# 75G Lake Malawi biotope



## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Hi,

I currently have an empty 75G and a 120G reef. I wanted to do a south american biotope in the 75G with discus. But now I am thinking of switching the expensive, higher maintenance, water wasting reef for a discus tank, which is better suited for discus at 120G. *** never tried freshwater before, but I know the basics from reading and having a reef for 4 years. So I would like to do a 75G Lake Malawi biotope to see if I like it.

My goals,
- Low maintenance, I like to automate and have it easiest possible
- Not expensive to maintain
- Low tech setup, no big lights or CO2

My 75G has a 25G sump to hide the heaters and filters, it uses a mag7 return pump. I will build a wet dry filter with a 5G bucket and bio balls. I plan on putting a 20W fluo lamp in the sump with some amazon plants to help with nitrate and help plan for the 120G.

In the tank, I will put anubias plant and hope they make it trough with the fish. I plan on making a little LED light system in the tank with a mix of white and blue leds, with enough power for some growth.

For the substrate, sand and rocks, I am not a 100% sure. What is the best for maintenance. I have some new crushed coral and aragonite sand, but these are a nightmare to clean in a reef, ok for freshwater? What are the best rocks to use? The tank will be viewable from both sides, and I would like see trough only from the middle.

For the population, I like saltwater fishes, so Im looking for fishes with nice colors and personality, which cichlids do you recommend for a 75G(I saw the cookie cutter setup, but I would like more recent and pro advice)?. Fishes that are not too shy since this room has a bit more traffic (between computer room and dinner table).

Which other can complement the cichlids? I would like to have some catfish to help keep the bottom clean, the cichlids would have to be compatible with them too. Which catfish could I put, I could even put ones from other african lakes if they look nice?

I saw this recipe on the internet, should I use it? For every 5 gallons of water, add 1-tablespoon Epsom salts, 1-teaspoon baking soda, and 1-teaspoon aquarium salt. If it's good, I would keep my saltwater buffer and salt mix.

Thank you


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Zythum said:


> Low maintenance, I like to automate and have it easiest possible


Plan on 50% weekly water changes with substrate vacuuming.



Zythum said:


> I will put anubias plant and hope they make it trough with the fish.


Mine get eaten, some have better luck than me.



Zythum said:


> For the substrate...What is the best for maintenance.


Pool filter sand is easy to maintain.



Zythum said:


> which cichlids do you recommend for a 75G(I saw the cookie cutter setup, but I would like more recent and pro advice)?.


The cookie cutters are relevant and professional. Colorful and easy, I would go with 1m:4f labidochromis caeruleus, 1m:4f pseudotropheus acei, 1m:4f melanochromis cyaneorhabdos and 1m:4f albino pseudotropheus socolofi.



Zythum said:


> Which catfish could I put


My favorites are Synodontis, either Multipunctatus or Lucipinnis, group of 5.



Zythum said:


> I saw this recipe on the internet, should I use it? For every 5 gallons of water, add 1-tablespoon Epsom salts, 1-teaspoon baking soda, and 1-teaspoon aquarium salt.


Check out the recipe in the Library under Water Chemistry.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Thank you for your anwsers, these fish look very nice. Is there an introduction order with the proposed cichlids?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'd add them all at once, but if you are doing groups the order I presented them would work. The first two species are more peaceful and the last two are more aggressive.


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## alanvickiuk (Jun 14, 2009)

hi

i keep anubius and java fern in my tank with aquarium sand and my plants are growing well using just liquid ferts and easy carbo and the fish dont bother with them at all

i also use coral skeletons packed in my filter to keep my ph at a steady 8 and so far is going well

granite rock for hard scape

and fish i have

yellow labs
yellow tail acei
white tail acei
and albino socolofi

they seem to be getting on good

and for bottom cleaner i have a red tail black shark who is fine with them all and keeps the tank spotless

my tank is very low maintenance and is really calm all the fish are lively and dont mind the traffic at all


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

How long has it been set up, alanviciuk?


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## alanvickiuk (Jun 14, 2009)

this set up mate just over a month but had these plants in with cichlids for over 3 years well the java and the anubius around 5 months 

honestly although some may not belive me they never touch them at all the only cichlids that ever did was my golden rams in my planted tank lol


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

My live rock is almost all gone, can't wait to start my 75G. For the fishes, I don't like the albino that much, what other mbuna could replace the albino pseudotropheus socolofi with the following fishes?

1m:4f labidochromis caeruleus
1m:4f pseudotropheus acei
1m:4f melanochromis cyaneorhabdos
1m:4f ?

I plan on using 2x 39W T5-HO 50/50 blue lights on the tank. I will put some anubias and try to place some potted vall between rocks. I will grow these plants in the sump too to help replant or for my 120G.

I found some pool filter sand that is made of crushed rocks with a more brownish color (same grains size as sand), I don't know if it would be good for substrate?


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

How about a species from either the Labeotropheus or Cynotilapia genus?
The rock-sand should be fine for a substrate.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Would this be a good choice, I find the fish looks nice:

1m:4f Labeotropheus trewavasae


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## bcyra (Apr 5, 2010)

Iodotropheus sprengerae would work well

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=707


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## bcyra (Apr 5, 2010)

Labeotropheus trewavasae might be a bit to aggressive for the other fish that you will be having in your tank. I have to aggree though, they are a very nice looking fish.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I'm with bcyra... Iodotropheus sprengerae "rusty" cichlids would be a great choice. They usually look better in person than they do in pics.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Ok, here it is. I've setup the tank with the rocks and the sand. The wet-dry is built and filled with bioballs. The lighting is 2x39W T5-HO, one aquablue and one actinic. I used prime in the original water and added the homemade salt buffer recipe. Now I am waiting for the cycle, I added Seachem stability to try it. I will go for a long cycle, feeding a bit every 2 days.

Kitchen side









Computer room side (the colors are less blue in real)









The sump









The planned population goes like this:
5 syno multi
1m:4f labidochromis caeruleus
1m:4f pseudotropheus acei
1m:4f iodotropheus sprengerae
1m:4f melanochromis cyaneorhabdos

Maybe i'll grow algae in the sump eventually, is there any I could use as food for the Mbunas? Or a fast growing one that would use nitrate?


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Hi,

Since I have a more blue light because of the actinic, I was thinking of different fish from my initial list. What do you think of this mix:

- 1m/3f Pseudotropheus saulosi
- 1m/3f Metriaclima estherae (Red)
- 1m/3f Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos
- 1m/3f Labidochromis sp. "Hongi"

I also like the Pseudotropheus demasoni.

Thank you


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'd have at least 4 females for each group. And the Saulosi and Hongi are both blue barred fish so I would switch out one of them. Pseudotrophens Socolofi are one of my favorites.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Hi,

A little update. I am still waiting for the fishless cycle. My ammonia peak fell about a week and a half ago. Now I add ammonia every 2 days. I have a ton of nitrites and not much nitrates yet. I use a 5% pure ammonia cleaner as a source of ammonia. I also add a little bit of food. I am not a 100% sure of which mbunas I will put, I will have to see what the genus look like at the fish store. I can't wait, I hope the tank will be ready this week-end, but I guess it will go to the next one after.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Here is an update.

I changed some water and my cycle finished. I added some fish and plants. Did all tests after 2 days and everything is perfect.

- 5x synodontis eupterus
- 3x pseudotropheus acei msuli

I got the syno eupterus because the fishstore only had wild ones of the syno multi (50$). Is it too many 5 eupterus in a 75G? I will add 2 other acei msuli, the store ran out of them. So, to come:

- 2x pseudotropheus acei msuli
- 5x Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos
- 5x Pseudotropheus saulosi

I am also starting a 120G all males haps + peacocks, I could relocate my eupterus there. Then I could get some wild syno multi to breed in my mbunas tank. I will post pictures of the fully stocked tank in 2-3 weeks.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Zythum said:


> Is it too many 5 eupterus in a 75G?


Yes I think so. They are more solitary and territorial (may fight) than the multipunctatus and get larger. Maybe 2 in the 75G and 3 in the five foot 120G?


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Ok,

I will do that, these are not shy anyway for catfish, loll. 
So for stocklist:
- 2x synodontis eupterus
- 5x pseudotropheus acei msuli
- 5x Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos 
- 7x pseudotropheus saulosi

Is it too crowded?

thx


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Not too crowded at all. In fact, I would add to the numbers. 1m:7f maingano and 3m:9f saulosi.


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## Ruthiebaby88 (Jul 29, 2010)

I am new to this but having looked at lots of fish pictures I think rusties and exasperatus would look nice with your mix


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Ok,

I got more fishes and precision on my synodontis.
So presently:

- 5x synodontis ornatipinnis
- 3x pseudotropheus acei msuli
- 5x pseudotropheus elongatus usysia

Planning to add:
- 5x Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos
- 7x pseudotropheus saulosi

There is a lot of action so far.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I don't see the elongatus usisya in the Pseudotropheus group, but rather in the Metriaclima group. This is a yellow male and brown female?

If you are back up to four species, I'd decrease the saulosi to 1m:4f. The elongatus and cyaneorhabdos might need the extra females however.

The synodontis ornatipinnis are riverine and get 16" long.  Do they like to be in groups?


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

I dont know for the catfish, my LFS tells me they stay at 4 inches long, it must be another kind of catfish. If they get too big, I will fish them out and replace them with synodontis multipunctatus.

The usisya is yellow to brown with horizontal blue bars in the face. They are smaller mbunas. I will try 4 groups, my LFS is supposed to get the other breeds I am looking for.

Thank you


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## dougrhon (Jun 11, 2010)

My 80 gallon Mbuna tank has 7 synodontis catfish, 1 fancy pleco and around 20 assorted Mbuna of different levels of aggression. I put everything in the tank at once and used a pre-cycled filter. This is the best way to avoid excess aggression by allowing all to find their way in the pecking order at once. I have a LOT of rocks and caves, even more than your set up which looks great by the way. It has been six months since I set it up and all is well so far. Agression, though not at a peak yet, has been diffused. All the fish have plenty of escape places and room for territories. I recommend putting in all the fish at once. Your fishless cycle should permit that. The cats are great. They are all over the place, are totally safe from the Mbuna and will eat upside down off the surface.


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## Ruthiebaby88 (Jul 29, 2010)

fishless cycle - meaning you just set it up ahead of time and waited a month or two before putting fish in?

after you added all the fish at once did you have to do really close monitoring of chemistry and frequent water changes?

did you add bacteria?


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

This is what I did for my fishless cycle:

- Setup the tank with filter (wet-dry)
- Add pure ammonia to 2-4 ppm
- Wait for ammonia to go down to almost 0
- Add amonia to go up to almost 1ppm
- Do the same the day after the ammonia goes back down to 0, I use an ammonia alert to monitor
- Monitor for nitrites and nitrates
- When nitrites are going down and nitrates are going up, I do a few big water changes
- If im not ready to add fishes, I add ammonia <1 ppm not to lose the bacteria

I tried the Seachem Stabilizer and it didn't do much for me.

So far, since I started adding fish everything is stable, I will test again tonite and take some pics.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Hi,

Pictures of my tank:
Kitchen view









Computer room view









Computer room view with the flash, those are the colors I see in real









A+


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Difficult to set up a tank viewable from both sides. :thumb:

That stack looks very precarious.


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## Ruthiebaby88 (Jul 29, 2010)

Wow that's very scientific!

Pretty rocks - that is amazing that they stay up there in the middle without leaning on anything - are they glued together?

My tank is a 2 sided view as well - it divides the kitchen and the living room

Right now the rocks are stacked against the kitchen side - but I was thinking of doing a center rock pile if I get a bigger tank.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Oups, the first two were old pictures


















The stack is stable, it took me 2 hours to obtain that result. I went to a landscaping place to choose my rocks, they had a pile with about 10 000 of them, so a lot of choice available. I placed 2 rows at the bottom and piled from them. There is an eggcrate on the bottom to hold thing better and prevent movement when the fish dig.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Added more fish today, 5x Iodotropheus sprengerae.

Population:
- 5x synodontis ornatipinnis
- 3x pseudotropheus acei msuli
- 5x pseudotropheus elongatus usysia
- 5x Iodotropheus sprengerae

I will wait a few weeks to see my nitrates progression, I would like to add a group of Pseudotropheus or saulosi or Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos, if my water change allow more fishes.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Hi,

I lost a rusty tonight. First loss with 18 fishes, not that bad. I now have 4 rusty, what should I do, add two more females? I did the tests, eveything is ok, cant wait to see if the nitrates are gonna stay low to add more fishes.

Merci


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

May as well. What happened to the rusty?


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

I don't know. All the other fish are doing fine. This one was suddenly swimming upside down with all the other fish picking on it. He was about 1.5".


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## Ruthiebaby88 (Jul 29, 2010)

Poor fella!

I love rusties! I hope to add one when I upgrade my tank size. Though most of the pictures I have seen are males - the females are just a little duller than the males right? Not plain brown?

This may be a silly question - but when you guys talk about egg crates - are you talking about styrofoam egg cartons? Or that egg crate mattress stuff used on beds? I don't have anything like that in my tank but would like to add it to my new one.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Eggcrate is the plastic thing with square holes that you usually use with neon fixtures on the ceiling. It's usually available in white or chrome. *** used it on my tank to put under the rocks at the bottom, and to build my 2 wet dry filters. These didnt fully color yet, but they are starting to show some more. I will take pics this week of the fishes.


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## jackh (Dec 6, 2010)

DJRansome said:


> Zythum said:
> 
> 
> > which cichlids do you recommend for a 75G(I saw the cookie cutter setup, but I would like more recent and pro advice)?.
> ...


where can i find this "cookie-cutter" setup? is there any other species i could substitute for the melanochromis cyanerohabdos and the albino pseudotropheus socolofi that would be compatible with first two species listed?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Menu > Library > Quick Reference. Scroll down to your tank size. Go by dimensions, not gallons. Especially length.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Little update.

I lost a catfish. I added 2 rustys. All the parameters are good. The tank is staying clean. Still monitoring the nitrates, I would like to add another group.

Population so far:
- 4x synodontis ornatipinnis
- 3x pseudotropheus acei msuli
- 5x pseudotropheus elongatus usysia
- 6x Iodotropheus sprengerae

Thanks


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Nitrates are going down fast, I added a last group.

Population:
- 4x synodontis ornatipinnis
- 3x pseudotropheus acei msuli
- 5x pseudotropheus elongatus usysia
- 6x Iodotropheus sprengerae 
- 5x Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos

Pictures coming this week-end.


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## dielikemoviestars (Oct 23, 2007)

Nitrates are... going... down? That's not possible, unless you have a massive amount of plant matter that's using them up. Which... you don't, judging from your pics. Unless you mean you're doing water changes to lower them.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

I change 30G a week, from a total volume of 100G. I did a fishless cycle, my nitrates were up to 80-100 ppm. I added the fish at 20, now they are at 10.


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

Here are the pictures


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## Ruthiebaby88 (Jul 29, 2010)

Looks great!


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

A little update.

I lost a pseudo elongatus. I added 2 more:

Stocklist:
- 4x synodontis ornatipinnis
- 3x pseudotropheus acei msuli
- 6x pseudotropheus elongatus usysia
- 6x Iodotropheus sprengerae
- 5x Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What happened to the elongatus?


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## Zythum (Sep 3, 2009)

I think it was a second male, my main male is very colorful and super agressive with everyone. I think he his the bully of the tank.


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