Lake Malawi African Cichlids...help...
- Thread starter jaynyfl
- Start date
You also said that you could keep them in there for up to a year... which doesnt make sense because some species can reach adulthood in 6 months.
Right, some some some. I have a m.auratus that's tripled in size under the same conditions as my snowflake cichlid, which is the same age and was originally the same size....which has probably grown a half a centimeter. The same "never do this!" rules do not always apply.
How about we recommend a specie that is appropriate long term and leave it at that? If you don't currently have a tank large enough to house the fish, you should not put a fish in a tank too small for its adult size/behavior. This is plain and simple responsible fishkeeping.
Jaynyfl, do you have a 30g currently? If not, I would not put any malawis in your 10g because too many things happen, people get distracted, or money gets tight and people don't get the tank. Only the fish suffer. That sounds harsher than I mean it, but I understand things happen and you can't always get what you want. In the mean while, you can still save up for a 30g+ tank, buy it, and keep the fish you originally wanted to and you will have two healthy tanks instead of one iffy tank to poor tank.
Jaynyfl, do you have a 30g currently? If not, I would not put any malawis in your 10g because too many things happen, people get distracted, or money gets tight and people don't get the tank. Only the fish suffer. That sounds harsher than I mean it, but I understand things happen and you can't always get what you want. In the mean while, you can still save up for a 30g+ tank, buy it, and keep the fish you originally wanted to and you will have two healthy tanks instead of one iffy tank to poor tank.
i do think there is a lot of personal ethics in this matter. the only fish i have ever kept in a 10 gal was a sick fish. thtas my quarantine tank. however my friend has been keeping cichlids for years. he has a little 15 gal and will go to the store and buy 3-5 small africans and put them in there. i argue with him constantly over weather this is right or wrong. within a month all but one of his africans is dead (from territory battles i'm sure, possibly too much bio-load) and he goes off to the store again to buy more! While this makes me so upset my friend thinks its perfectly fine! no matter how much u talk to him he doesn't care! i think its barbaric! i even printed some articles on the cichlids he had and their needs to no avail! research is the key to a happy stable aquatic environment! that is why i am a member of this site! i wish he was!
MattyJFly said:
You will also find that growing your fish in small tanks will slow and even stun their growth...so you end up with adult fish at juvenile sizes.....but hey, if that is acceptable to you, go for it!
