platy ben

Hi every-one, im soon setting up a 38 US Gallon tank and would like to stock it with lake malawi cichlids.
i would like to have 6 cichlids, 2 species,
1 male of its species
and 2 females of each species

i just dont know what 2 species to choose!
any suggestions?

hockeyref88

Well I like electric yellows and bumble bee's...............I love Johani's and Demasoni's as well...............My concern for you is 38 gallons is pretty small for Malawi's....Usually you would want to go with something closer to 80 gal or more if you can. They are very aggressive by nature and there's not a lot of room in a 38 especially for breeding pairs. They require lots of hiding places and they also get pretty big........Just my 2 cents

MissMTS

A tank of yellow labs would be nice. You could put about 6-8 of them in your tank as long as you keep up on the water changes. I have always wanted to do a colony of demasoni. You could keep 11 demasoni in your tank if you didn't want to go with yellow labs. You would need a bigger tank to mix the two because demasonis need to be in a group of 11 or more or the male will kill all of the other fish in the tank. They do well in large schools though. I have to say, I am partial to the yellow labs though

platy ben

i might just have 6 yellow labs then , if they get to big i can move them to my 65Gal

MissMTS

Sounds good to me The yellow labs will get between 5 and 6 inches.

MissMTS

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this....

Give them a sandy substrate with lots of rock crevices and caves to hide in and they will really be happy campers

platy ben

I have got sand , just gotta get some rocks, and maybe one bit of weed to add some colour, the tanks here now just gotta put it in a suitable place and away i go .

MissMTS

Good luck and be sure to post pics

platy ben

Well the tank is setup now, just got to get some fake weed to add a bit of colour and then the fish sould be going in tomorrow .
Heres some pics of the tank now

The tank does have a proper lid, i just took both the sides off so i could take a picture from above .

The fish im going to keep:

3-5 Yellow Labidos (1 male, 2-4 females)
and
1 cat fish, not sure which species, so suggestions would be a great help .

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MissMTS

Most of the synodontis species will work well with Lake Malawi cichlids I like the cuckoo catfish (they like to be in small groups though) or Feather Fin Catfish.

Look at these links:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...species_id=103
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...species_id=121

platy ben

i used to have one of the top ones , he was a lovely fish, i think i might get another one for the new tank .

Cant wait until tomorrow now .

I looked at some pictures of malawi tanks on the internet and they all seem to have more rocks than mine, i personally think i havent got enough, am i write in saying this?

MissMTS

I forgot to tell you in my last post that your tank is off to a really good start. Yes, your tank does need a lot more rocks. I got all of my rocks for my Lake Malawai tank for free. Here is what I did:

Collected rocks from local fields
Brought them home and soaked them in bleach
Scrubbed them clean in the bath tub
Boiled them on the stove

This got rid of any possible bacteria or parasites that were lingering on the rocks and I put them in my tank You want to kind of stack your rocks so that they form kind of a wall with crevices in between.

platy ben

Thats Exactly what i done i'll go and have a look for some more around the garden and in the stream behind my house , then i'll put on some pictures later .

MissMTS

Sounds good Can't wait to see some pics!

platy ben

3 More rocks added

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MissMTS

Looking better