200litre Malawi

[emmamc91]

Hello all, not been on for a while...

Changed my whole set-up, moved on to a Malawi tank..

Put loads of Lava Rock in, covered the whole back and central column of the tank in lava rocks, drilled holes for swimming routes through them..

Have a fine black sand substrate, which I understand crushed coral would have been preferable...
Running a fluval 205 external, and also a fluval U4 internal..

Water parameters:-

PH - 8.2
Temp - 26'
GH - 175
KH - 230
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 40

Stocking -

3 Yellow Labs ( 1 male and 2 female)
4 Julidochromis
3 Pseudotropheus Demasoni
1 Green Phantom Pleco
4 Silver Dollars
and a few others I'm yet to identify (pictured)

All barring the Silver Dollars, which make effective dither fish, are African Malawi Cichlids, all are healthy, feeding well...
Doubt I'll be able to get anymore, aggression is under control..

Anyone got any suggestions or advice, or is everything in check? Also, can anyone identify from the pictures, the fish I haven't mentioned...

Thanks Emma x

 

[emmamc91]

Failed to mention 3 GBRs, however these were acclimated to the current water conditions over a period of months, increasing ph by 0.1 per week, until fit for malawis, then the malawis added..

 

[spoonman]

black and white striped fish looks like a buttikoferi. Way too big of a fish for that tank. Tank is about 25 us gallons right? Silver dollars will also get very large.

 

[emmamc91]

No, a quick google conversion tells me 25 us gallon, is 94.6 litres... This tank is 200litres, so 53 US Gallons, take away displacement etc, call it 50 US Gallons...x

 

[emmamc91]

Also, they're not buttikoferi ...

 

[Freakgecko91]

That looks like a convict? And those GBRs will probably get destroyed sooner or later...especially once everyone figures out territories

Just noticed that there are two striped fish lol but the first one looks like a convict

 

[Xand3r]

Hello Emmamc91,
The tank looks pretty cool, but I would definitely keep an eye on the GBR and the P. demasoni. Demasoni can be very aggressive and in my experience GBRs are very delicate and not as aggressive.

@Freakgecko91 I don't see any fish that looks like convicts in those pictures

 

[emmamc91]

I figured that, but with the GBR's managing to survive the ph change, and there seems to be no aggression directed at them, the Mbuna seem to have the odd chase, but not seen any real aggression. Thought maybe they'd be okay. Must apologise, they are Zebra Tilapia (Buttikoferi) as the previous poster said, I knew them as the Zebra Tilapia, however the tank size, is 50 US Gallons, and although maybe slightly small for them, i am confident there will be no issue, if there is, I will be setting up a 600 litre later in the year... so they can be transferred to that, should they need to be...

 

[Xand3r]

Question, is that tank drilled? every time I look at one tank from the UK or canada with a fluval filter, the inlet seems to come from the bottom of the tank.

 

[emmamc91]

yeah, over here most Fluval tanks are pre-drilled, as are the cabinets that are supplied with... can you identify the fish in picture 5? like a greeny yellowy colour? not sure exactly what they are, relatively peaceful for a Malawi, but it definitely is, because thats all i bought...

 

[Xand3r]

might be wrong, but it looks like an Aulonocara

 

[emmamc91]

i does look like it, thats an Lwanda Peacock right?, and with it being really timid, seemed to fit the peacock description.. thanks for that, theres a few others, im yet to identify, like a very very slight blue tinged fish, look similar to the demasoni, but like asif it doesnt have its colour, however from what ive seen, they have theyre colours from being fry...

 

[Freakgecko91]

The fish i was referring to was the striped gray and black one in the upper left hand corner of the first picture. Looks like a convict...

 

[emmamc91]

oh, thats a green severum, probably shouldnt be in with Malawi's but its been a while now, and he can hold his own... if anything putting him in there has helped him out...

 

[Andrew McFadden]

yeah, over here most Fluval tanks are pre-drilled, as are the cabinets that are supplied with... can you identify the fish in picture 5? like a greeny yellowy colour? not sure exactly what they are, relatively peaceful for a Malawi, but it definitely is, because thats all i bought...

I have that its a Lemon Jake

 

[Borderlesscott]

Lovely tank, I will be doing African Cichlids at some point.

 

[garfy]

Looks like you have a few Auratus in there.Highly aggressive cichlids so keep an eye on them and +1 on the gbr's sooner or later they will be toast.They are far too sensitive to be in with your Africans.With your current stocking list I think you are looking at a world of trouble with aggressive fish bullying and even killing the gbr's and possibly the sunshine peacock as well.
Tank looks great on the plus side but you really should research your fish before you buy them as the wrong choices can be cruel to some fish.

 

[garfy]

Your last fish does look like a buttikoferi to me also.

 

[emmamc91]

It is a buttikoferi, there's 2, they're very small atm, and the GBRs were in there to begin with, I didn't buy them intending to put them in with Malawi's, just figured they'd be okay if i changed ph very slowly, and while the rest are still small, as soon as I see any aggression directed towards them, they will be moved, but at the moment they're great, even the green phantom pleco came out tonight, had a snoop round and a good chew on some cucumber..

Would I be okay putting a few more yellow labs in? Or a few more demasoni?

Also, I should add, male auratus will only defend a territory if there is a female in the tank, however, all my auratus are female thus eliminating the serious bouts of aggression...

 

[garfy]

Your buttikoferi are renowned for not accepting other tankmates and will not tolerate even each other in that size of tank.As for the gbr's once you realise that aggression towards them has begun it will be too late believe me I have seen it for myself.They will be slaughtered and you may not even find bodies.
Auratus makes and females both start out with the female colouring and makes change to black with white stripes when they mature.I bought 4 auratus what I thought was one male and 3 females.Obe became a make and the other make killed it overnight.a second changed and I had to remove it before it was killed.The lone female was hounded to death.Now I have a 143 gallon tank and it still wasn't big enough.
I'm not trying to be negative but I have first hand experience with these fish and I'm trying to save you dissapointment.