A little advice if that is okay please 1st tank Malawi

[mousefue]

Hi there I have 160 L tank
My filter is EFX 300
My water temperature 26-27 Celsius
My high pH level is 8.2
My ammonia is 0 ppm
My nitrate two is 0 ppm
My nitrate three is 0ppm
I have black sand

But I don't have any décor i.e. ocean rock

I am thinking of starting a Malawi tank if that is how you spell it

I have been doing some research and it's a little bit conflicting I was just wondering if anyone could give me any advice as this will be my first Malawi tank like what the water temperature should be how high the pH level should be what sort of food do I need it
do I need egg crate for the bottom to build Ocean rocks on or are they a bad idea and do they need deep sand or shallow sand
at the moment I just had a 90 L tank fresh water tropical just with some flex guppies and some platys so if anyone has got any information on Malawi is please can you share the knowledge that you know thank you
Reese

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Your on the right track getting information first is key. Your water is perfect ph They like it high and hard. I keep mine at 80 and think its right int eh perfect range. 78-82 is fine IMO. Next you do not NEED egg crate but if you put a lot of rock in and the tank is bare it won't hurt. If your getting actual rock from the ocean it needs to be cleaned good you don't want that in your tank. Lots of big rock structures is a you need as decor. As far as fish stick to your mbuna. These guys stay smaller and will work best in your tank size. You can look up species and compare to what you have at your fish store. Lastly food wise feed a good pellet food. Omega one and new life spectrum at the best foods readily available

 

[squirrilah fish]

It also depends on what type of Malawi. There's Mbuna, which are rock dwellers, haps which like open water, peacocks which like open water, and some like rocks. It depends on the fish. It is totally possible to mix them as well. Research different malawi species and that will give you an idea. I have a mix of Mbuna, peacocks, and haps. I've spent years finding the right combination of fish. Some are more aggressive, some are large, some are small, some are carnivores, herbivores, omnivores.
I really really like that you are researching before hand, that's the way to go.

 

[mousefue]

Thanks man that's a get help if u have any tips thow them this way plz
Tep ph deep sand and just caring from them as it would be great to come from someone who actually has some rather than research and some articles that I have look at xx

 

[squirrilah fish]

Deep sand is good. If you do one pound per gallon you'll have plenty. I have an albino socolofi that digs in the sand all day every day. Like the previous guy said 8.2 is perfect. They like hard alkaline water. The only other advice I can give you is stocking carefully, giving lots of hiding places, rocks, and keeping the water in good condition. With that small a tank I would go with Mbuna. Some common ones are a Demasoni species tank (very aggressive, but small, get like 15-20 of them.) labidochromis, or cynotilapia are also good species that generally stay smaller. (4-5 inches)

 

[squirrilah fish]

Of those cynotilapia are my favorite, they have huge group, with lots of variations and good colors.

 

[mousefue]

Tks u soooo much I will look up that type of fish
Is there any fish I could Have in there that would clean the bottom and the size of the tanks
Thank you for your time to reply to my posts

 

[squirrilah fish]

There's lots, you'll want something that doesn't get too big. Chinese algae water, clown Pleco, rubber lips Pleco, (there's quite a few pleco's)

I'll point out though none of these are. "appropriate" Malawi tank mates. Mbuna are really good at keeping a tank clean. They eat algae so you don't need an algae cleaner, they sift through the substrate as well. So it's not really needed to have a cleaner fish. The thread fin catfish is a typical malawi mate, but gets too big for your tank.

Some of the best little cleaners I have found, that mix well with almost every fish, stay really small, and don't add too much to the bio load are African Nerite Snails, they are really good little cleaners.

There is also a cuckoo catfish, that I don't know anything about other than it's a recommended malawi tank mate.

 

[mousefue]

Yerrr just got some rock and black sand today and going to DIY caves will up load when all done tks everyone for the info still looking up some things x