# Aquascaping a Malawi Tank



## BLUE RAM (Oct 4, 2005)

I recently moved my juvenile male peacocks and some juvenile blue dolphins into a larger tank (54 gal - 36" long tank). I previously had them in a 33 gal long with tahitan moon sand and few light coloured rocks. The fish's colours looked great with the black sand but it was a pain to keep clean. 
When I moved them into the larger tank, I went with target play sand which is very natural looking but the fish look totally washed out. I'd like to set the tank up so that it replicates (as much as possible) lake malawi. Looking for some suggestions on how to make it natural looking. What types of rocks, driftwood, fake or live plants would be appropriate. Did I make the wrong choice in changing the sand colour?? Do these fish need a lot of hiding places to feel secure. They may still be going thru an adjustment to the new tank but they appeared a lot more comfortable in a darker tank?? Any suggestions most welcome - thanks.


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## slimbolen99 (Apr 28, 2006)

I went to a local landscape company who sold colorado river rock in bulk. I talked them into ten cents a pound and bought about 210 lbs. I used egg crate on the bottom because I have a 75 gallon tank and didn't want to have anything shift on me. The egg crate also helps spread out the weight over the entire bottom of the tank.










I used recycled live sand from an older marine tank which was rinsed thoroughly and dried out in the sun to kill any of the marine life remaining.

From all my reading, there's not really much major plant life in lake malawi; although I believe there are some vallesneria stands on certain areas of the coast. That's what I use and the fish seem to leave it alone.

This is a pic of my tank 1 week after I set it up. You can really see the marbling of the rock and how "whited out" the tank appears:









And this is a pic of my tank about 3 weeks (current) after it was setup. The algae has really started to come in and the mbuna really enjoy grazing on it. I have cut back my feeding to once a day instead of 3 times a day because I want to see them grazing naturally on the algae. I would suspect that in another month the algae will be really going strong.









GOOD LUCK!


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## alicem (Jul 26, 2007)

Really nice looking tank, slimbolen99 
I'm lovin' the natural look. :wink: 
(I know your didn't ask for opinions, but might I suggest a black background to hide the hob boxes.)
That being said, the vals and rocky bottom look wonderful. 
Nice job :thumb:


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

You may want to add a black background (paint or stick on) to help.[/list]


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## macclellan (Nov 30, 2006)

Looks great!

A deep blue background would be nice too.

I've found that full-grown Aceis will nibble on any kind of plant enough to kill it. So, good luck!


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