Will they be ok in a Malawi tank?

Alberto Villarroya · Post by **Alberto Villarroya** » 25 Aug 2005, 23:20

Hi all,

I currently have the following catfishes

2 Ancistrus sp
1 golden nugget
2 hemiancistrus L-147
1 Hypancistrus inspector
1 L134 peckoltia

They are not in a malawi setup, but my idea is to do so, the tank will have 175 gallons, and besides the catfishes they will be only about 40 Labidochromis caeruleus, which is not a very agresive chiclid, PH will we around 7.5- 7.8

What do you think?

Thanks in advance.

Post by **corybreed** » 26 Aug 2005, 00:34

I know many people who bred some of the common Ancistrus in a pH higher than 7.0, in fact the fish do better at that pH. As far as the other fish you mention I am not sure about the high pH. Some of the Loricarids need wood in their diet which you can add to the tank. The only problem is that the wood brings the pH down which is contrary to what the Labidochromis need. You would be better of with a group of S. multipunctatus. The Labidochromis would be good hosts for breeding the multis.

Mark

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 26 Aug 2005, 09:31

I concur with Mark.

If you want to keep fancy pleco's, don't keep them with Malawi cichlids. It's POSSIBLE to do this, and the water around here in England is quite hard and alcalic, but it's far from the ideal conditions for these fish, and if you spend a lot of time and effort keeping the fish happy, you shouldn't then go "destroy" that by making the water chemistry artificially more different from their natural environment.

If you still want to do this, my advice is to slowly acclimatise the loricariidae to the hard/alcalic water, so that they have time to adjust to the new water quality. You do this by keeping them in a separate tank that you start out with the "normal" water, and gradually add, say 20%, fresh water with the same composition as the Malawi/Tanganyika tank, until the pH and hardness is the same (or very close) to the values you have in the M/T tank.

But I would recommend that you keep them in separate tanks, and keep some Tanganyika Syno's with the Labidochromis. They want the same water conditions, and are very suitable companions.

--
Mats

PC Hasselgreen · Post by **PC Hasselgreen** » 27 Aug 2005, 19:09

I.m not quite as sure as the others that the Hypancistrus catfish disagree that much with a higher pH and hardness.

I have read many reports on Hypancistrus species being bred in Malawitanks by accident, and it has happened to me to with H. zebra.

In fact concidering how many people keep these fish, and how few that manage to breed them, it might be a good thing to keep them at "Malawi-water", but this is of course something that should be investigated in a more serious way than just listening to a few reports like mine.
fact is taht very many of the reported breedings have been in Malawitanks.

There is also a big possibility that the fish like the "extreme waterconditions" for a while - but not at all if its for a prolonged period of time...(for instance many people like to have their parents visiting, but like shrimp in the fridge, the start to smell after a few days.)

I do still agree that the different fish should be kept in different tanks, but i just wanted to tune down the absolute necessety of it.

Catfish are great things. Some of them are as hardy as it is possible to build a fish. That doesnt mean we should try to test them, but like i said there are many reports of catfish breeding in Malawitanks.

PC

rkeiger · Post by **rkeiger** » 28 Aug 2005, 06:10

The fish will survive just fine in the african water parameters. Of course, they'll be blind, but they will survive. They'll be blind because the yellow labs will eat out their eyes. Like the song says, "Don't ask me how I know."

PC Hasselgreen · Post by **PC Hasselgreen** » 28 Aug 2005, 13:51

Rkeiger :
I'm sorry for your bad luck with these fish.
My H.zebra not only kept their eyes in the tank with L. caeruleus, but both species were breeding...

Anyway, There are no absolute truths in fishkeeping.
Fish behave different in different set ups.

PC

Alberto Villarroya · Post by **Alberto Villarroya** » 28 Aug 2005, 14:01

Thanks for the info, it will be great they breed in there though I'm not specilly interested in that, it will be ok if they find themselves confortable though thats a great plus!!!!,

Have to say though I'm a bit worried about the blind comment.
Are yellow labs the prblem? or it will happen with any mbuana... Probably it has to do with what PC Hasselgreen posted regarding the setup and the way they live in that sepup.

for example Where the plecos first in the tank?

Thanks in advance.

PC Hasselgreen · Post by **PC Hasselgreen** » 28 Aug 2005, 14:16

First i would like repeat that i don't own the truth in this. I can only say for sure what happened in my own tank.

I had about 50 grown Malawi of different kinds in a 750 liter tank.

I dont rem if I added 8 or 10 H.zebra(this is a long time ago when they where still cheap

, but at least i rem they came long after the Malawi.

The tank was very full of rocks. Both Icelandic lava and Limestome. The serious amount of rocks big and small, made very many hideouts. I like that, because the Malawi seem to feel more secure and hide less if they know there are possibilitys for retreats.

The Hypancistrus i must admit i saw very rarely. They would probably be more fun in a different setup.

Feeding the fish the different types of food they require can also be a challenge.

Labidochromis and H. zebra both like a good fat meal, but many M'bunas like more green in the food and can be destroyed by too much fat. I guess keeping L. caeruleus on a low fat diet like "prefab Malawi-food" may result in them hunting for diferent means to get protein

but i don't really know.

The tank was 2,5 meters long, 60 cm high and i used 3 or 4 crates of Lava rocks in addition i had quite a few limestones of good size and even a few mangrove roots(small).

Good luck.

PC