My Lake Malawi Cichlids

[Desi]

Hey guys! I just couldn't stop the urge; I went out and bought two demasoni cichlids and the next day I bought like 10 malawi cichlids (at least I sure as hell hope they are) for my 65gal; on account of evenly distributing any anger within the tank.

Also I"ve placed the platties and a few swordtails as dither fish. I imagine I'll have to raise my pH to something like 7.5 to 8.0. What product should I use?

Also, I would really appreciate any input from anyone who is familiar with the malawis. I've been doing a lot of reading and everythign points to them being territorial and vegetarian. My tank is sure as hell big enough and eventually i hope to have close to two dozen malawi's in there (including the 4 loaches that are already in that tank).

WOOOW GUYS I'M SO HAPPY! All my other fish are doing well and looking beautiful in their new environments. The 65gal is giving a lot of leg room to this dozen that I have. I know the platties shouldn't be in there; but I'm using them as dither fish for the cichlids. My apistograma is also seemingly doing well with these other fish; which is a nice thought for now. I'm only worried that when the malawis get bigger; they will be harmful to my apistograma.

Sooo, very exited; hope to hear from anyone soon.

 

[Blair]

Which Malawis do you have? There are only about 900 different species. Are they mbuna? Haps? Peacocks?

The demasoni are mbunas and are primarilary vegitarian but as for the others I would need alot more info.

Thanks,
Blair

 

[oscarowner559]

You could say I have some experience with them. I have a 55 gallon full of them. Like 5 yellow labs and red zebras, cobalt blues, red peacock, and others, like kenyi.They tent to be aggressive, and defend their "room".They are the closest related fish to the marine fish, so they are quite colorful. I would say that the 65 is big enough, because I have about 20 in a 55. Crushed coral substrate works to raise the ph. I have a Ph of 7.8, just because of the crushed coral substrate, I think 7.8 is perfect for malawi cihlids.

 

[Desi]

I made it a point to have the manager of the lfs help me pick out the mbuna's. Gawd I hope they are mbuna's.

Should I get rid of my current substrate. Its just a rounded white gravel. Or is crushed coral something you mix in moderation with existing substrate?

What do you think will be the consequences of using the livebearers as dither in this mbuna tank? I'd like to eventually remove them; but its really really not a priority.

The mbuna's s eem to be eating allright; I bought these cichlid stick foods that I had to crush up very very small for them; they also nibble at flake food that is meant for the guppies.

 

[oscarowner559]

I would say you dont really have to have CC, but it is a way of raising Ph, you could just try the drops called raise Ph, or something. could add some cc to your current gravel, or completely change, if you want..Crushed Coral (CC) is exactly what is sounds like it is coral that is crushed..I dont have any dither fish, so I wouldnt know that stuff..I feed mine tetra colormin, color bits, goldfish flakes, brine shrimp, bloodworms, and color enhancing pellets..

 

[Desi]

the only reason I'm particularly worried about my mbuna's diet is because I've been reading a lot about malawi bloat; and mbuna's seem to get it from all the online literature I've been browsing.

Because of this impression I'm left with; I no longer feed the frozen bloodworms into the 65gal; and I'm cautious about putting too much of the tetra flake.

Tetra colormin is that stick-like orange colored food that floats right? If so; do you grind it up or are your cichlids able to tare away at it?

 

[oscarowner559]

No, colormin is color enhancing flakes..Color bits, made by tetra is a color enhancing pellet food made for large cichlids to enhance their natural color, It works on salvini to enhance their pink, and kenyi to their yellow..and any others..

 

[Swordtail8]

The 2 mbunas in my temporary ten gallon killed a krib. The fish that was too aggressive for every other tank in the house got his butt kicked with the mbunas. I gave my mbunas some feeder minnows (before I ever heard of malawi bloat) and over night they killed over half of them. We are talking about fast minnows killed in the dark.

Now sure how mbunas respond in larger tanks but I am under the impression that they will eventually catch your swordtails and platys. I may depend on your mbuna's aggressiveness too. I think the two dominates I have are just more aggressive than average, especially the afra. You might just wanna wait and see what happens. They won't likely kill all of them at once. Keep an eye on them and see what happens, unless you are feeling weary of keeping them together.

 

[Desi]

I purchased my mbuna's from the "assorted small cichlid" tank. Therefore my largest mbuna at this point is only about 3/4 of the size of my platties.

Swordtail8; what are mbuna's doing eating feeder fish? I thought they wre vegetarian?

 

[Swordtail8]

I responded to you in the other thread but if your fish are 3/4 the size of the mbunas, maybe that is why they haven't killed them yet. If that's the case, then when they do get bigger, there could be trouble.

Something you might wanna do is figure out what cichlids you have. Try looking at the fish profiles at aquahobby.com or africancichlids.net. It took me a while to figure out what I have and I still am not sure my afra is an afra.

 

[wayne]

Most mbuna are very aggressive, but they may , or may not even look at the dithers. I only used dithers with territorial fish, not mbuna.
Mbuna are not obligatory vegetarians, there is a quite large crustacean component inthere diets, but it varies from species to species. But they all eat quite a lot to almost all algae by mistake, so feed them good quality flake with lots of spirulina, and don't overfeed. Too much flake and pellet will tend to give them bloat, as will poor water quality, so research some other foods.

Don't keep apistogramma with them - they will simply be destroyed.

All cichlids are derived from something similar to a damselfish that moved from salt into freshwater. However this happened some 70 million years ago (check that), so to say they are closest fish related to marine fish is pretty much a nonsense sentence.

 

[Desi]

Swordtail; I would love to label my mbuna's lol; problem is every picture site i find has contradicting info; like i've seen pages that show fish that look like demasoni as pseudotropheus.. lol; but I agree with what OScarowner59 said; experience and time will help me (hopefully).


The apisto can come out; but now not; let m see how these cichlids do for now for a few more weeks as they grow a bit more.

 

[mike the zealot]

Desi - their genus/species name is Pseudotropheus demasoni

And I might be misunderstanding you, but a south american apisto is not gonna last long in a tank of mbuna, especially demasoni

 

[Desi]

thanks mike; I've gotten that feedback already; I will move the lone apisto to the 29gal where I have 3 female betas and two angelfish. I imagine my apisto will hold his own there.

hehe... yeah I only realized pseudotropheus demasoni is the genus after the fact; thanks though lol

 

[Purple]

if you can get your ph up to 7.5 they'll be fine - no need to go all the way up to 8's - (coral sand, in a sock, in the filter flow - cheap, simple, reliable)