FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Hello I'm new to this site. I have a 46 gallon tank and I was thinking about putting together an African community tank. Questions is African and Malawi tanks the same? What is the maintenance on these tank? Are these fish very very agressive? or is there degrees of aggressiveness? Do you have ideas on less agressive fish? When cleaning the tank will the fish bite my hands? How do you control algae? What is the ratio of female to male if I am not interested in breeding? I already have gravel do I need a special gravel for these fish? Also do I need special rocks for this tank? Thanks

Many of your questions can be answered through the following reading:

[link=How To Setup A Rift Lake Aquarium]http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/rift_lake_setup.php" style="COLOR: #4040FF[/link]

[link=Setting Up A Lake Malawi Cichlid Tank]http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/lake_malawi_setup.php" style="COLOR: #4040FF[/link]

[link=Species Recommendations For Beginners]http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/species_for_beginners.php" style="COLOR: #4040FF[/link]

[link=African Cichlid Compatibility Issues]http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/compatability.php" style="COLOR: #4040FF[/link]

[link=Why African Cichlids]http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/why_african_cichlids.php" style="COLOR: #4040FF[/link]

More quick reference information here: [link=http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/quick_reference_list.php]http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/quick_reference_list.php" style="COLOR: #4040FF[/link]

More setup information here:
[link=http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/aquarium_setup_list.php]http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/aquarium_setup_list.php" style="COLOR: #4040FF[/link]

More information on African cichlids:
[link=http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/introduction_list.php]http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/introduction_list.php" style="COLOR: #4040FF[/link]

And the main index to a whole lot of information:
[link=http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/]http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/" style="COLOR: #4040FF[/link]

Thank you so much for the quick response and the information. I will start researching ASAP, again thanks

Good idea to do lots of research. But a few quick answers:

1. Malawi is a lake in Africa, one of the three 'Rift Lakes'. Malawi cichlids are African cichlids, but not all African cichlids are Malawian! There are also Tanganyikans, Victorians and West Africans. Fish from different areas should not really be mixed, particularly West Africans as they are not from the Rift Lakes at all and need very different water conditions.

2. Maintenance is the same for any tropical tank, although if you plan to overstock (a common method of controlling aggression in some african tanks) you will need excellent filtration and possibly more maintenance.

3. Some of these fish are very aggressive, some not so much. Generally they are more aggressive than your average tropical!

4. There are quite a lot of choices in the not-so-aggressive range. Peacocks are more peaceful than mbuna, but mbuna are probably more suited to the size tank you are speaking of. Some more peaceful mbuna include labidochromis caerueleus (electric yellows), pseudotropheus acei, pseudotropheus socolofi, pseudotropheus saulosi, iodetropheus sprengerae (rusty cichlids) and, I think, cynotilapia afra. Of course, this is just a generalisation, and you will always get the odd one in these species that is really aggressive.

5. They may very well do so! My mbuna do nip at me when I clean the tank. But it doesn't hurt, just a surprise. Certainly they will never actually break skin or anything!

6. Algae control is the same as in every other tank - low nitrates, no direct sunlight etc. You can always keep algae eaters like bristlenose (large ones will be able to withstand any aggression from the cichlids and they don't seem to mind higher ph), plus many mbuna also eat algae (but will not actually clean the glass like algae-eaters).

7. The male-to-female ratio for breeding and general aggression control is 1 male to at least 3 females, the more females the better.

8. No special gravel is needed, but they do seem to prefer smaller sized gravel or even sand, as they like to dig. You could also use crushed coral or something to help keep the ph and hardness up.

9. Lots of rocks are needed in a malawi tank, particularly an mbuna tank. The type of rock isn't so important, although porous rocks like lava rock, sandstone and limestone wills stack better and be less heavy. Limestone, tuffa rock, Texas Holey rock etc. is excellent to use because of their ph buffering qualities.

Hope that helps. For a 46 gallon tank I would recommend not keeping more than 2 species, especially if you are hoping to breed. An excellent beginner's combination is electric yellows and acei. I would go with around 8-10 fish maximum, 5 of each in the male-female ratio described above.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

I had great success with getting wonderful recommendations from this site. It took me three or so months to do the changeover. One flipped itself out of the tank but other than that very successful changeover with no stress losses. I am thrilled with my new setup.

thread: http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Malawi%20Cichlids/53680.html

A's links to chichlidforum.com are REALLY worth checking out. I did a lot of looking there to check the profiles of the fish that were recommended to me.

I copied the setup of just beginning... still want to get some of those crabros for my setup....http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Malawi%20Cichlids/53602.html

Last edited by wish-ga at 17-Mar-2005 21:27[/small

Last edited by wish-ga at 17-Mar-2005 21:30

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Thanks for all of the information. You know I went to the LSF last night and the guy tried to sell me all males and he told me they will be find. Well I'm listening to my buddies at fishprofiles.com and I left the store fishless. There are always other stores in town that I can go to for fish.

Last edited by kidsmom at 18-Mar-2005 18:13

KIDSMOM just came here to give you kudos, I very pleased to see a new member(not to new) taking as much care and precausions as you!!


Congrats

Don't be afraid to ask more, ask for you will always get help.

Angel Eel

Good Luck

Last edited by angeleel at 18-Mar-2005 11:24

Thanks I'm trying to do everything right to have happy fish and a beautiful tank. Question how can I tell male from female in an Acei?

Males are often bigger(fuller in body) and they also tend to be a bit more vibrant in their colors....Only 100% way is same as for the Yellow's, venting
And unless your a expert this is tricky, Any good LFS should have at least one employee that can do this with relative sucess.