# New Malawi on saturday?



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

Good day all.

Im going shopping with the missis of saturday, so im going to pop in the best aquatic shop around t get a new fish.

Any ideas what,rare / colourful / good looking fish i could get?


----------



## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

What kind of fish you looking for. You want stipes and bars? Do you want milder fish? I would do yellow labs and demosoni. That combination looks awesome and it works very well. You should get like 6 labs and 12 demosoni. You have to get alotof demosoni because they are highly aggressive toward eachother so you have to get alot of them. You could do yellow labs and cobalt blue zebras. Or yellow labs and acei. You could do three species of afra. I would go to http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/species_profiles.php and check out the profile page and just look and read through all the fish in the mbuna malawi section. There are so many options...


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

just colourful nice lookin fish. ive got some labs and acei already/ they look nice


----------



## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

well that gives me something to work with. Im guessing it's a 55? How many of each species do you have? I would get3-4 of the fish you already have If you don't already. Any of the afras would work. Females are dull though. hongi would be great. Socolofi might work. With any of these fish buy 3-4.


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

its a 65. i have 2 yellow labs 2 acei 2 red zebras 2 maingano and a pleco, ill look them up in google, any other suggestions

btw i really like the look of the mbamba


----------



## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

Increase the number of fish you already have to 3-4 to prevent aggression issues. You could get mbamba but again the females are dull. Get 3-4 of them. Your tank is pretty stocked as it is with species variety. If your going to add more your filteration and maintenence schedule must be flawless. How much gph are your filters combined and what's your water change schedule?


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

rrcoolj said:


> Increase the number of fish you already have to 3-4 to prevent aggression issues. You could get mbamba but again the females are dull. Get 3-4 of them. Your tank is pretty stocked as it is with species variety. If your going to add more your filteration and maintenence schedule must be flawless. How much gph are your filters combined and what's your water change schedule?


"How much gph are your filters combined and what's your water change schedule"

i dont understand sorry? what is gph?


----------



## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Gallon per Hrs....How much is you filter (s) pumping per hour.


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

i dont know. how do i find out?


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

just found out. it bget thru 600 liters per hour. and i change 20% water every week


----------



## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

thanks for the info,

600 liters translates too around 200gph whcih aint much considering the stock you want and your tank size. You might have to get a higher rated filter and you will need to step the water changes up to 40-50%. 

For my mbuna 55gallon tank, I have an aquaclear 110 and an xp2 canister with a combined gph of 800 or around 3000liters per hour and i do 50% water changes weekly. My stock includes...

3 red zebra
3 socolofi
4 yellow labs

all are between 1.5 and 3in in length. Keep this in mind when doing your tank. Yes it's good to overstock an african cichlid tank but you MUST over fliter also to compinsate for the bioload or life is going to be hell keeping that tank clean.


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

seems like a lot of work for 10 fish


----------



## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

Those ten fish can grow to 5-6in in length and have a huge biload considering the way they eat. If you want to overstock you must over filter. A pair of jack dempsey's would need around the same amount of filteration and that's only 2 fish. It's not number or size it's bioload and cichlid usually have a very large bioload.


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

ok so say i went and got a 1000 LPH filter to got with my 600, how would i install it in the tank?


----------



## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

Depends on the filter. What kind are you looking at? If the fish are small the bioload won't be as high so you could wait a little while until the fish get bigger to get more filteration. But make sure you keep up on the water changes.


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

ok but surly the slower the pump pumps the water trough the filter is better, if its faster it woulnt filter aswell would it?:-?


----------



## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

I don't want to complicate things but each filter works different. Like i have a canister filter rated for 300gph although it probably dosen't move that muc. water. But because of the media in there it filters and cleans the water very well. I also have a HOB power filter rated at 500gph. Although it dosen't "polish" the water quite as well, it moves much more water and helps keep the water in my tank circulating. Power is just as important as cleanliness. Both filters filter the water well. By no means is a filter bad because it has a high gph rating. You want a ton of turnover in your tank meaning the water is constantly moving through the filter.


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

Hey guys, so i just got back from the fish shop and ended up commin back with 3 new clients lol

2 Parrot's
1 Convict

Tank looks awsome with the new guys in there and they seem to be fine with the others.

So now i have...

2 Parrot
2 Yellow Labs
2 Acei
2 Red Zebras
1 Maingano
1 Livingstonii
1 Pleco
1 Convict

so advice is to get a higher power filter? i might get the 1500 LPH to replace my 600 LPH. 

Sound good?

Thanks Dan


----------



## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

Your stock list looks descent but be careful with those livingstonii. They are open water malawi haps and might eat you other fish. Also they need plenty of room to swim. They get around a foot long. I thaught you were going to buy mbunas so this changes things a bit. I personally don't like mixing CA and african cichlids but each to his own opinion. The fish you added will like a little more protien than your mbunas prefer so be careful with that. Good for you only getting one convicts. You don't have to replace the filter just add another to the tank.


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

thanks for advice pal. if instead of getting another filter, what if i was to get a higher powerd pump?


----------



## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

What do you mean by pump? Like just a pump? That won't filter the water they are usully used for sumps.

Good for you going through all this for your fish. Some people just don't care.


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

the way i look at it is the healthier the fish, the better they look. i dont want my fish looking bad or unwell. let alone them actually being ill. as much as there very decrotive in my living room, there still my lil dudes in a fish tank, and deserve good well being aswell.


----------



## rrcoolj (Dec 5, 2009)

Your tank is a 75 gallon right? What filter do you have on it now? I suggest the aquacear 110. It filters 500gph and keeps your water looking perfect.


----------



## MrBishop (Dec 6, 2009)

i shal check it out. thankyou


----------



## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

My other issues with blood parrots aside, I'm not sure how well they'd fare in a tank full of mbuna. They're generally pretty shy fish, so they could very well get pushed around quite a bit. Convicts are pretty nasty for the most part, so he should be able to hold his own. 

As was already pointed out, you need to be very careful how you feed them as your American cichlids need a protein-heavy diet while the mbuna need mostly vegetable matter but both groups of fish will be really enthusiastic about eating...well, everything.


----------

