Hi All,
Great forum, and I spent all last night reading
Anyway, I`m about to get going with my first Malawi tank.
If I list my setup, I would be grateful for any pointers for changes / additions.
First, I have a 60x18x18 tank, 318L. (Long tanks seem to be the advisable for this)
I have Fluval 403 attached, which apparently does 1200L / Hour, so should be sufficient.
A good amount (50Kg) of coral sand for substrate and will have 50Kg of "ocean rock" to aquascape with in the next 2 days.
The tank is cycled and PH 7.6 (I am lucky with my tap water, but I used PH-UP in the tank prep)
So - to my specific questions.
I`ve been compiling a list of inhabitants, for colour, compatability and interest and so far have:
Electric Yellow Lab - 1 x male, 3 or 4 females
Red Zebra or derivative - 1x male and 3 or 4 females
Blue Johanni 1x male and 3 or 4 females
Still think there's room for another colour / mix, also will select a nice synodontis and perhaps a school of danios / other dithers.
I`m up to speed on the haps/mbuna/peacock not mixing well (pity) so, considering that I wanted a nice 'scaped tank, then the mbunas will be the choice. I also expect to have to cull / remove a few so am prepared to put a few extra in so as to get a good mix and see what works out. My LFS will take fish back (although at a very reduced price), however, I will have to travel some distance to get the fish I want, so I should choose carefully.
I also deduce that I should get them all at once...?
With my current selection, what else would be a good compatible (and visual) addition? I am open to completely new combination suggestions for my setup of course.
I plan to purchase juves, so I may get a bigger amount due to sexing issues and also being able to select the most compatible ones to keep.
I have kept almost every bio in this tank over the years, except marine, and this is the most exciting potential setup I think so far :dance2:
forgot to add: Put some serious lighting in too....
Great forum, and I spent all last night reading
Anyway, I`m about to get going with my first Malawi tank.
If I list my setup, I would be grateful for any pointers for changes / additions.
First, I have a 60x18x18 tank, 318L. (Long tanks seem to be the advisable for this)
I have Fluval 403 attached, which apparently does 1200L / Hour, so should be sufficient.
A good amount (50Kg) of coral sand for substrate and will have 50Kg of "ocean rock" to aquascape with in the next 2 days.
The tank is cycled and PH 7.6 (I am lucky with my tap water, but I used PH-UP in the tank prep)
So - to my specific questions.
I`ve been compiling a list of inhabitants, for colour, compatability and interest and so far have:
Electric Yellow Lab - 1 x male, 3 or 4 females
Red Zebra or derivative - 1x male and 3 or 4 females
Blue Johanni 1x male and 3 or 4 females
Still think there's room for another colour / mix, also will select a nice synodontis and perhaps a school of danios / other dithers.
I`m up to speed on the haps/mbuna/peacock not mixing well (pity) so, considering that I wanted a nice 'scaped tank, then the mbunas will be the choice. I also expect to have to cull / remove a few so am prepared to put a few extra in so as to get a good mix and see what works out. My LFS will take fish back (although at a very reduced price), however, I will have to travel some distance to get the fish I want, so I should choose carefully.
I also deduce that I should get them all at once...?
With my current selection, what else would be a good compatible (and visual) addition? I am open to completely new combination suggestions for my setup of course.
I plan to purchase juves, so I may get a bigger amount due to sexing issues and also being able to select the most compatible ones to keep.
I have kept almost every bio in this tank over the years, except marine, and this is the most exciting potential setup I think so far :dance2:
forgot to add: Put some serious lighting in too....