"Collection Point" aquarium

Q&A About Lake Malawi Cichlids

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ridley25
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:50 pm
Location: Toronto

"Collection Point" aquarium

Post by ridley25 »

Hi Pam,

I’m in the (very early) planning stages of a 6 foot 125 gallon Malawi show tank. All I’ve done so far is reinforce the floor!

I would like to stock my tank with a mix of haps and mbuna; four to five species from one collection point.

The one species that is non-negotiable is Labeotropheus. Either fuelleborni or trewavasae.

Among mbuna genii I also quite like Tropheops, Petrotilapia, and some of the Metriaclima zebras.

My favourite hap is probably Copadichromis borleyi, but I am also looking at Nimbochromis livingstonii/venustus, Otopharynx lithobates, Protomelas sp. "steveni taiwan"/taeniolatus and Cyrtocara moorii.

Oh, and I'll be getting five or so Synodontis multipunctatus - njasse if I can find them.

I think I’ve narrowed my collection points down to three:
Thumbi West Island
Zimbawe Rock
Taiwanee reef (I already have Ps. saulosi)

Potential issues:
• Mixing haps and mbuna. I know it has been done successfully with Yellow labs and Acei, but I’m more interested in what turn out to be aggressive mbuna. I like their unique feeding styles!
• Availability of stock from my chosen collection point. There’s not point in trying this if I have to pretend my L. trewavasae “Katale” is a L. trewavasae “Thumbi West Island.”

Is it worth it? Will I be able to find these fish? Will they kill each other?

If the answers to these questions are yes, do you have any specific recommendations on a good mix? I think a venustus could do well with aggressive mbuna in a 125, but a moorii might not fare so well?

Thanks in advance,

kevin
Pam Chin
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Re: "Collection Point" aquarium

Post by Pam Chin »

Hi Kevin,

That sounds like a neat tank! The larger the tank you provide the easier it is to put haps with mbuna. You just have to keep in mind that the haps will eat anything if it will fit in their mouth, so staying away from the predator types is going to be best. There are a lot of what I call mellow haps that will provide you a nice peaceful tank with lots of color. So with that thought venustus would be a better choice the livingstoni.

Here is a really good link that lists some of the fish found at certain sites in Lake Malawi. Its easy to use, the location site is to the left, you just click on that and you get info on that site. I hope that you can access it, some of this info you have to subscribe to Cichlid Room Companion to be able to read it.

http://www.cichlidae.com/habitats/habitat.php?id=50

I would prefer the Tropheops and Cynotilapias over Petro's and zebras, just because they don't get as big. All of your choices are good possibilities on the haps, and the moorii would do okay.

Your collection sites are nice ones, but two are in the national park; Zimbawe Rock and Thumbi West Island where they are not suppose to collect cichlids. There are some in the hobby that are raised in Florida and in Asia like O. lithobates, which are easy to find, but it isn't often you see other fish listed with these localities. Taiwanee Reef, is clear across the lake so collection is more difficult, and they may not go there as often, but again you see C. steveni Taiwan Reef around. It just depends how hard you want to look, and if you are willing to get these fish from different sources, and pay more freight because I think it is going to be difficult to find someone on line or a store, that you are going to be able to walk in and buy more then one or two species from the same site.

I applaud your research and planning this will insure a beautiful tank that you will be able to enjoy for a long time!!!!

Cichlid Power!
Pam
Cichlid Power!
Pam

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