Thinking of starting a malawi tank

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dmm28

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Nov 1, 2008
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I may be getting a used 50 gallon on the weekend and am entertaining the idea of using it as a Malawi cichlid tank. I know it;s not the biggest tank for cichlids but I wanna go with smaller more docile fish anyway. I'm really into the rusty's right now they're soooooo cool! I'd also like to go with electric yellow and maybe a few red zebras.

Would this work out alright or should I just wait? The way I'm thinking is, I'll have room for 10 fish max. So if I put in 5 rusty,2 yellows and 3 red zebras I should be just slightly under my inch per gallon.

Any suggestions?
 
I would go with either the yellow labs or the red zebras to avoid interbreeding. Make sure and get a 4/1 f/m ratio. What filtration are you gonna use. You could probably get away with adding 1-2 auratus, acei or kenyi also.
 
I have a aqua clear 100 that's coming with it but I may add another filter.

So I should go with like 5 rusty,3 yellow labs and 2 yellow tail acei
 
I would have more filtration than a/c 100 even if your'e only getting 10 mbunas. Maybe run the 100 with a rena xp2 or something similar. The "1" per gallon thing is not really a good rule of thumb to follow when stocking. It's more of a bioload/swimming area thing. I other words 14 little "1" neon tetra does not have neaar the bioload of 1 "14" oscar. Hope that explains it I tend to run on sometimes. :)
 
But at most of those fish in my above list reaching a max of 5" would that not be too over crowded. I know your supposed to over crowd a little in a cichlid tank but then how much is too much?

Sorry this will be my first shot at cichlids.
 
dmm28 said:
Sorry this will be my first shot at cichlids.
Click to expand...

No problems, you are correct about over crowding, but most 50 gallons are 48x18x13, so if that is what the dimenions are you definetly will not have a crowding problem...length of tank is most important. I've got a 60 gallon with 5 acei, 3 kenyi, 2 bumblebee, 5 yellow labs, 2 auratus, 1 rubberlip pleco, and 1 synodontis multipunctatus. With a tetra ex70, and a Rena xp3. With no Crowding or bioload problems. Matter of opinion for most. Heres a link to my tank good luck!!!

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174036
 
Or you could go 5 Acei's, 5 Saulosi and 3 rusty's..

The Acei's would really stay near middle to top water, the saulosi's will be middle to bottom and the rusty's will be all over and i would add 3 Synodontis multipunctatus make for a sweet setup..

Add plenty of rock for cover and aggression getaways and sand as a substrate your call, what is your water perimeters like via PH and Hardness with your tap water..

As for filtration i use the Rena XP3 series and is what i like but you will have plenty of options for a canister filter..

Good luck buddy post photos when your done..
 
^ great stock list as always pitbull.

dmm - a mbuna tank will always look overstocked to someone who is new to them. The overstocking is necessary to manage/reduce territorial aggression. I would add to pitbulls stock list another couple of rusties myself - wouldn't like to have them as the smallest group in the tank - and I think you're still absolutely fine at 15 fish (presuming the 50 is something close to 4 feet in length) with the filtration already advised by Chris. Expect to do a 50% water change once a week. Live plants (you can do java fern, anubias, crinium very easily) will help to reduce nitrates.

edit : gonna kick my lazymod backside for not spotting your thread sooner and moving into rift lake for some more comment etc. :D
 
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