# 75 Gallon Malawi Setup



## twestacott (Mar 9, 2012)

I am currently setting up a Malawi tank and want to make it as realistic as possible. Any suggestions or can anyone spot any potential problems? I am debating if I have too much rock for the fish to find caves.


----------



## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

looks good. Might even want more rocks. Add some flatter ones on top to create more caves.


----------



## twestacott (Mar 9, 2012)

Thanks for the tip. I will see what I can find. I am just hoping the rocks are all ok. I have done the vinegar test and game them all a really good wash in real hot water and then let them soak.


----------



## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

What type of Malawi Cichlids do you plan to keep? I ask because you'll only want a lot of rocks and caves if you plan on keeping Mbuna. Peacocks and Haps need more floor and swimming space.

Your tank looks very nice either way.
--
Paul


----------



## twestacott (Mar 9, 2012)

Yes I am planning on mbuna. Most likely some mix of yellow labs, socolifi, salousi and possibly acei. Thanks for the compliment.


----------



## robert77k (May 27, 2012)

Might be a little hard to do maintenance. You will probably have quite a bit of fish stocked in the tank and the waste will need to be siphoned fairly regularly. Might end up inbetween the rocks and will be hard to get to it.

I tried to set up the rocks so that waste will flow towards the front 1/2 of the tank or to certian areas so that it can be siphond easily. Also allowed myself space to get the sphion inbetween some of the crevaces.

I found this website and it also offered some good advice:

http://fish-etc.com/aquascaping-main/set-up-and-aquascape-a-cichlid-habitat


----------



## twestacott (Mar 9, 2012)

robert77k said:


> Might be a little hard to do maintenance. You will probably have quite a bit of fish stocked in the tank and the waste will need to be siphoned fairly regularly. Might end up inbetween the rocks and will be hard to get to it.
> 
> I tried to set up the rocks so that waste will flow towards the front 1/2 of the tank or to certian areas so that it can be siphond easily. Also allowed myself space to get the sphion inbetween some of the crevaces.
> 
> ...


This is a point that I have considered but I also want to ensure that the rocks are not too far apart that they become swim throughs oppossed to caves. Do you have any pcis of your setup so I can compare with what you have done?


----------



## aznphil (Jul 20, 2011)

thanks an excellent read, for people planning on extreme biotopes. Good advice nonetheless.

Rockwork looks good from here, maybe stack them up a little more


----------



## FISHBUM (Dec 27, 2012)

If you're looking to breed and raise any of the fry, do not keep saulosi with yellow labs. They readily interbreed and the hybrid fry are hideous looking. 

The ultimate would be:
3m 12f Pseudo. saulosi
2m 8f Metria. estherae "Minos Reef" (blue males, red females)

I had this mix before and it was awesome! No interbreeding and the sharp contrast of colours was stunning! 

Nick


----------



## FISHBUM (Dec 27, 2012)

Also, if you plan on raising any fry, having rocks like that would be a nightmare to catch out holding females. Just a FYI. If you plan on having it as a show tank only then it's fine. But for breeding, it'd be a nightmare!

Nick


----------



## twestacott (Mar 9, 2012)

FISHBUM said:


> Also, if you plan on raising any fry, having rocks like that would be a nightmare to catch out holding females. Just a FYI. If you plan on having it as a show tank only then it's fine. But for breeding, it'd be a nightmare!
> 
> Nick


Thanks for the tip. Not to worry about breeding for now as most of the fish are small. I decided to stock with a mix of yellow lab and a group of demasoni. The yellow labs range from about 3" to about 1" and there are about 30. Demasoni are about 1" and they are a group of 16. I will probably cut down the yellow lab group drastically and add some acei (either yellow tail or white tail).


----------

