Best bottom cleaners for a L. Malawi tank?

**ptabar** · 03-14-2013, 04:09 AM

Starting my first Malawi tank: Dwarf plecos, loaches or catfish? Who's the best at cleaning up debris? I'm very fortunate to have an excellent African Cichlid specialist dealer in my area, so I have a good selection. Thanks in advance for helping this (long-time tropical but 1st-time cichlid) new member to this forum!

**madagascariensis** · 03-14-2013, 11:59 AM

No fish will live off the waste of other fish. That is a myth.
Now if you want a fish to eat algae, many African cichlids are pretty good at it already but other than that you probably could get a bristlenose pleco. They sit around inconspicuously unlike loaches which might draw the ire of the cichlids when they move around.

**Hardy85** · 03-14-2013, 12:15 PM

I'm hoping he meant uneaten food when he said debris... but... ptabar, you would have to make sure the bottom feeders were being fed on there own also unless you plan to overfeed a lot. But I second a BN pleco

**talldutchie** · 03-14-2013, 01:11 PM

I dont. We don't know how big the other fish will be.

**madagascariensis** · 03-14-2013, 01:22 PM

In the assumption that most african cichlids don't get to be much more than 4 inches or 10 cm. although if you go for a large species, which would not be advisable for a first timer to cichlids, a bristlenose pleco would not be suitable as pointed out.

**imma24** · 03-14-2013, 01:22 PM

The best thing for cleaning up debris? Your siphon : )

Agree with above posts - even if a fish "specializes" in eating leftovers, all fish need to be provided with an appropriate diet because if feeding correctly, there shouldn't be much extra food left.

**talldutchie** · 03-14-2013, 04:21 PM

There's quite a few malawis that get at least the same size as a BN and not all of them are gentle natured. What I've seen succesfully coexist in rift valley tanks is the bigger "common plecos" in the 8ft or more tanks. Those guys take harder water reasonably well and are big enough and have the "don't mess with me, don't even look at me in the wrong way" attitude to enable them to successfully coexist.

**ptabar** · 03-16-2013, 06:51 AM

THX all, for the good info on this thread!

**Lady10Godiva** · 03-20-2013, 07:02 PM

I didnt put any bottom fish in my mbuna setup. I just scrape the algae off the front panel of the tank. I have red zebras and they definately like to pick algae off of things. I have other cichlids toi but the zebras are best with the algae.

**andrew45** · 03-28-2013, 09:39 AM

The bottom of Malawi tank can be decorated with plants. As these plants in the Malawi tank are mostly tasted by Malawi cichlids which relates to mbuna group.