New tank, new build, new fish!

[mrwizard]

Hey one and all, I'm hopefully gonna be ordering my new tank next week so will be needing some help pretty soon as this is my first malawi cichlid tank.

So down to the questions,

The tank I'm getting is 405litres (150cm length x 50cm width x 66cm height) and it comes with two aquis advance 1050 external filters, has anybody had any experience with these filters? I'm currently using a fluval 205 external filter on my community tank and it does a brilliant job, would a bigger fluval filter be better than the two I'm getting?

The lighting the tank comes with is 4x54w fluorescent lighting tubes, will these be ok? Should I change the tubes to a certain colour?

And also comes with 2x200w heaters will these do the job? Or would 1 higher wattage heater be better? Don't think I'd like seeing two heaters lol.

Will also need some help with stock when it gets to that stage, I'm doing my own research but still not certain on what species can live happily together.

My tap water ph is 7.4 and I've read cichlids like the ph at about 8, what will be the best way of raising this? Rocks or sand? Or both? I hear holey rock is good for cichlids?

Sorry for all the questions, getting excited about this tank lol. Thanks for any replies ill attach a pic of the tank 2.

 

[joel618]

Hey one and all, I'm hopefully gonna be ordering my new tank next week so will be needing some help pretty soon as this is my first malawi cichlid tank.

So down to the questions,

The tank I'm getting is 405litres (150cm length x 50cm width x 66cm height) and it comes with two aquis advance 1050 external filters, has anybody had any experience with these filters? I'm currently using a fluval 205 external filter on my community tank and it does a brilliant job, would a bigger fluval filter be better than the two I'm getting?

The lighting the tank comes with is 4x54w fluorescent lighting tubes, will these be ok? Should I change the tubes to a certain colour?

And also comes with 2x200w heaters will these do the job? Or would 1 higher wattage heater be better? Don't think I'd like seeing two heaters lol.

Will also need some help with stock when it gets to that stage, I'm doing my own research but still not certain on what species can live happily together.

My tap water ph is 7.4 and I've read cichlids like the ph at about 8, what will be the best way of raising this? Rocks or sand? Or both? I hear holey rock is good for cichlids?

Sorry for all the questions, getting excited about this tank lol. Thanks for any replies ill attach a pic of the tank 2.

You start by waiting more than a couple hours for replies. Lol. Your lighting and heaters should be sufficient. As far as filters go, i have an aquatop cfs500 and cant see myself buying anything else. They are great filters for the money. Holy rock is great for cichlids. Some people use a bag of crushed coral in their canister to help buffer water as well. Personally i have caribsea cichlid sand and plan to add holy rock when i can find a deal on it.

Stocking can be more difficult. Imo pick one of each type. For example i have labedochromis, cynotalapia, metriclima and pseudotropheus. You want fish close to the same size and aggression level. You will want to overtock your tank to reduce aggression. It is also important to establish the proper 1m/3f sex ratio. Also read up on malawi bloat, as nearly every new mbuna person will encounter it. Im sure im leaving things out. If have have more questions ask away.

 

[joel618]

Oh yeah, plants. The only plants my mbuna havent destroyed/ torn out pf the sand is anubius.

 

[Jess1ca]

Oh yeah, plants. The only plants my mbuna havent destroyed/ torn out pf the sand is anubius.

+1 mine have devoured subwassertang and Taiwan moss, even a newly sprouted onion bulb. The will dig up all bulbs I plant too :/

 

[joel618]

For some reason my phone double posted.

 

[mrwizard]

You start by waiting more than a couple hours for replies. Lol. Your lighting and heaters should be sufficient. As far as filters go, i have an aquatop cfs500 and cant see myself buying anything else. They are great filters for the money. Holy rock is great for cichlids. Some people use a bag of crushed coral in their canister to help buffer water as well. Personally i have caribsea cichlid sand and plan to add holy rock when i can find a deal on it.

Stocking can be more difficult. Imo pick one of each type. For example i have labedochromis, cynotalapia, metriclima and pseudotropheus. You want fish close to the same size and aggression level. You will want to overtock your tank to reduce aggression. It is also important to establish the proper 1m/3f sex ratio. Also read up on malawi bloat, as nearly every new mbuna person will encounter it. Im sure im leaving things out. If have have more questions ask away.

Hahaha sorry I'm a little impatient and excited about this tank.

So the lighting and heaters are good to go, that's
good to know saves me a lot of time waiting for a new filter to be delivered. I'm gonna see if I can hide the heaters somewhere at the back of the tank so there not in view.

Is the aquatop an external filter? I'll have to have a look at them.

Im still undecided on the rock, holey rock is nice but it's finding the right pieces. Can I use slate in the tank? I could make my own caves with that.

What colour is the sand you have? I want to use sand but I want some dark coloured sand, especially if the lighting is bright.
I was gonna go for a black or maybe dark blue background 2, i want to try make the cichlid colours stand out as much as I can.

I'm a big fan of the labidochromis, the reason I'm getting a cichlid tank is for the yellow labs lol, and I like your stock, what species are they?
I've already started reading through 1 article on Malawi bloat, I have a list of whats good and what's bad so far haha will get round to reading the rest before I get any fish, thanks for the heads up though.

 

[mrwizard]

Oh yeah, plants. The only plants my mbuna havent destroyed/ torn out pf the sand is anubius.

Ok cool will look out for some of them as I do want some plants in the tank, if I can lol

 

[mrwizard]

+1 mine have devoured subwassertang and Taiwan moss, even a newly sprouted onion bulb. The will dig up all bulbs I plant too :/

Lol that don't sound like fun, I hardly do any gardening round the house I don't wanna have to do it In my fish tank 2 haha, have you had any luck with any other plants or just the anubias?

 

[Jess1ca]

Lol that don't sound like fun, I hardly do any gardening round the house I don't wanna have to do it In my fish tank 2 haha, have you had any luck with any other plants or just the anubias?

Just anubius, I do however have ONE surviving onion plant they dig the bulb up every now and then tho!

 

[Ukdans1k]

Slate is fine in a tank. I've used it to make serval caves in the past. Depending on the ph of the water in which you will be purchasing you cichlids, you may not need to up you ph in your tank.

Most lfs use regular tap water . And don't do anything About the ph. If you want to up the ph I suggest crushed coral in the filter or as part of your substrate. But it takes a while to rise and become stable.


Look forward to seeing your stocking list?

 

[mrwizard]

Just anubius, I do however have ONE surviving onion plant they dig the bulb up every now and then tho!

Looks like im gonna have to get some anubius plants then lol, thank you

 

[mrwizard]

Slate is fine in a tank. I've used it to make serval caves in the past. Depending on the ph of the water in which you will be purchasing you cichlids, you may not need to up you ph in your tank.

Most lfs use regular tap water . And don't do anything About the ph. If you want to up the ph I suggest crushed coral in the filter or as part of your substrate. But it takes a while to rise and become stable.

Look forward to seeing your stocking list?

Gdgd, got a few ideas for some slate caves, I'm gonna try and recreate their natural environment in the wild best I can so I probably will try up the ph, is a ph of 7 or under bad for cichlids? I'm sure I read that somewhere on the Internet.

Gonna have to look into putting crushed coral in the filter, I'll have two external filters so should be room for it.

As for stock list, the only cichlids I'm certain of at the moment are the yellow labs, other than that I'm really unsure of what can go with it, need to do more research on the fish rather than their requirements haha

 

[daniel1987]

If you want another plant java fern is pretty hardy and survives in my Malawi tank

 

[mrwizard]

If you want another plant java fern is pretty hardy and survives in my Malawi tank

If possible I'd like a few plants i the tank so I'll definitely try out some java fern 2, I think my mate has a different kind of plant in his malawi tank 2 I'm trying to find out the name of it lol

 

[Malawi Freak]

+1 mine have devoured subwassertang and Taiwan moss, even a newly sprouted onion bulb. The will dig up all bulbs I plant too :/

::::whistling in the corner:::: told ya so. Lol

 

[Jess1ca]

::::whistling in the corner:::: told ya so. Lol

Lol! It was worth a shot! Little vegetarian piranhas!

 

[Steo the great]

I have an onion plant in my tank and it's the only plant never touched.

 

[mrwizard]

I have an onion plant in my tank and it's the only plant never touched.

I might have to try it if you've had some luck, I'll have to hope my fish ain't keen gardeners haha

 

[Steo the great]

I might have to try it if you've had some luck, I'll have to hope my fish ain't keen gardeners haha

Good cause it's true. I know all.

 

[mrwizard]

Right so I've been working on my stocking this weekend don't think I've looked at so many fish haha, this ain't the final stock, I'm just looking at a few ideas and not sure on how many or what ratios(m to f), but how does this sound so far?
yellow labs,
Mbamba yellow top
Cynotilapia Afra red top
Metriaclima pulpican
Pseudotropheus soclofi,
Would these all be ok?