Lake Malawi

[Mith]

Hey, I was over at the other forum looking at their pictures. I think I've decided to go with Lake Malawi Cichlids. They also have that yellow one that I like!

How many would be a good number to start out with for a 125 gallon tank if I got the Lake Malawi Cichlids?

I'm going to add more rocks too.... I notice that a lot of people have rocks with holes in them, haven't seen any of those in the LFS, but I'll look more.

[Sharon]

Mith, I picked up all of my rocks on walks. If you do this, try to get different shapes, not too heavy. Slate is good, but make sure the edges aren't sharp. I think if you have to buy rocks at the LFS, it's going to cost a fortune....considering the size of the tank.

[Mith]

Mith, I picked up all of my rocks on walks. If you do this, try to get different shapes, not too heavy. Slate is good, but make sure the edges aren't sharp. I think if you have to buy rocks at the LFS, it's going to cost a fortune....considering the size of the tank.

You're right Sharon! I've spent enough money at the LFS! All of the rocks that I have, I got at a local dam. Another great place to get rocks is at a landscaping place. You can get rocks there for pennies on the dollar.

I'm probably going to get some lava rocks, though that wasn't what I originally wanted....but I'm seeing a lot of tanks with lava rock, so I may go that way.

Slate would be great because of the stackability and the ease of making hiding places.

[Lady Hobbs]

You're gonna love this but if you have tons of rocks in your tank, you should have had egg crate under your substrate to protect your glass better. It's nice to know, when you lay 200 pounds of rock in your tank, you have given your glass better protection from that weight.

The rock with the holes is called Holy Rock. It's neat looking but like everything in this business, rather expensive. You can also go with thinner slate and make interesting caves mixing stone and slate. Stone quarries or landscape companies may have the slate cheaper than the fish store.

If you are thinking of Mbuna's, you will have a very lively tank with lots of fish. The yellow fish you are referring to are called electric yellow Labs. Or the fancy word Labidochromis caeruleus. Several other mbunas with them would look nice.

[kaybee]

How many would be a good number to start out with for a 125 gallon tank if I got the Lake Malawi Cichlids?

If you're going with mbuna's then you could start out with a minimum of perhaps 20, but could house as much as twice that many.

Peacocks, also from the same lake, could be kept in similar or slightly less number.

Haps, also from Lake Malawi, due to their larger size would be maintained in even less numbers.

When my 125gal (mbunas) was established I added most of the fish in weekly intervals starting with the least aggressive species.

[Lady Hobbs]

If you're going with mbuna's then you could start out with a minimum of perhaps 20, but could house as much as twice that many.

Peacocks, also from the same lake, could be kept in similar or slightly less number.

Haps, also from Lake Malawi, due to their larger size would be maintained in even less numbers.

When my 125gal (mbunas) was established I added most of the fish in weekly intervals starting with the least aggressive species.

Just reading your signature. LOL No wonder you are such a smartie!

[Mith]

Unfortunately Miss Hobbs, as great of an idea as the eggcrate is, that's really no longer an option. I've already wasted 3 weeks screwing around with my tank, and although I DO have a lot of patience, (had actually) my patience is weakening! I'll just have to be very carefull when I add more rocks and I'll have to limit how high I stack them.

I'm really getting excited since I'm getting closer to actually getting fish!

Miss Hobbs... before my tank was cloudy because of dirty gravel. I fixed that by thoroughly siphening the gravel. Since then, it seems that the tanks just a wee clouded. Is this part of the cycling process?

Also, what will I see first, nitrates or nitrites? Also, I'm a week into the cycling, how long will it be before I start seeing niytrates or nitrites?

Also (LOL) I initially put the amonia at 5 ppm....what should I maintain it at after initially putting it at 5?

[Sharon]

Mith, have patience.:hmm3grin2orange: You're going to see some cloudiness during the cycle. You may be seeing a "bacterial bloom" which is a good thing. You should be maintaing the Ammonia at 5ppm. Then, after you start seeing NITRITES, maintain the Ammonia at 3ppm. When you see NITRATES... celebrate! When nitrates peak, do a large water change and add fish!:hmm3grin2orange: It could take a month, before you are ready...so stop worrying! Start arranging the rockwork...that should keep you busy for awhile!:hmm3grin2orange:

[Brookfish]

Mith, a lot of mbuna keepers are using river rock in their tanks
these days, it looks awesome and provides all the cover your fish need.
to see some examples and get a few ideas on how to stack your rock,
go to google images and type in ... river rock malawi tanks or ...
river rock mbuna tanks.

[Fishguy2727]

Have you read the articles on here on peacocks and mbunas? They are in my blog and could be very helpful.

[Lady Hobbs]

Ammonia stays in your tank at 5 until you began to see the nitrites and then you reduce the ammonia to around 2-3. If you do your check in the morning and see the ammonia is 4, that's fine. But if it's 2, bring it back up to 5 again but only add ammonia one time per day.

Soon, you will see ammonia has dropped daily and nitrites are going up. Keep adding that ammonia daily to 2-3 until nitrites have dropped to 0.

ammonia > nitrites > nitrates

[Mith]

Ammonia stays in your tank at 5 until you began to see the nitrites and then you reduce the ammonia to around 2-3. If you do your check in the morning and see the ammonia is 4, that's fine. But if it's 2, bring it back up to 5 again but only add ammonia one time per day.

Soon, you will see ammonia has dropped daily and nitrites are going up. Keep adding that ammonia daily to 2-3 until nitrites have dropped to 0.

ammonia > nitrites > nitrates


Thanks!thumbs2: