What species to mix with Malawi?

Have a collection of 10 small/young Malawis - mostly males according to MusicCityCichlids whom supplied them. I want to create an ecosystem model in the class with them and need common catfish and common barbs I can find at pet stores in order to 'mimic' the Usipa, Matemba, Kambago and Mlamba.

Which do you all recommend? They will be housed in a 55.

- Laura

What Malawis did you get? That would help me figure out what could be tank mates. I would not put anything with African Cichlids besides African Cichlids. If you are looking for Catfish try some of the syndontis catfish.

Let me try to read his handwriting, forgive me if I misspell.

Afra Cobue
Euricka Red Peacock
Red Top Trewavasae
Alvino Gresaki
White Top Afra
Metrielima Msobo Deep
Cherry Red Zebra

Most are males so that they won't get overly aggressive. They are all very small right now.

This tank is for student study/research. Plan to use it for the next decade+ in everything from Chemistry, Biology and Ecology. So I need to try and mimic what's found in the lake for it to be a useful model.

- Laura

2SciCrazed wrote:

Let me try to read his handwriting, forgive me if I misspell.

Afra Cobue
Euricka Red Peacock
Red Top Trewavasae
Alvino Gresaki
White Top Afra
Metrielima Msobo Deep
Cherry Red Zebra

Most are males so that they won't get overly aggressive. They are all very small right now.

This tank is for student study/research. Plan to use it for the next decade+ in everything from Chemistry, Biology and Ecology. So I need to try and mimic what's found in the lake for it to be a useful model.

- Laura

Nice list.

Which ones are female? I would make sure they are all male. Think of 10 guys in one room....... and then put one female in that room. Things change.

In a 55G you can get more for sure and you would want to. With Africans in my experience I always had better luck with the MORE THE BETTER. Over stock that puppy just make sure you over filter it aswell.

With what you have now...Mbunas and Peacocks.. I would add a more of the same.

Is your peacock colored up? Usually mbuna get to aggressive for some peacock species and will have them looking drab all the time. Stress leads to death.

thebanker wrote:

Is your peacock colored up? Usually mbuna get to aggressive for some peacock species and will have them looking drab all the time. Stress leads to death.

I agree strees leads to death but in my experiance I have had great sucess keeping Mbuna and peacocks housed together. I would say the Mbuna worry to much about one another. I dunno just my experiance with keeping them together. But if you were to have problems it would be b/c of the Mbuna.

MCC is the one who selected what he believed would get along the best and give the students something real interesting. I trust in his vast experience - since mine is pretty much nill with these species. He did have some catfish mixed with cichlids in one of his big tanks and said they didn't bother each other, also had Placos mixed.

I can't wait for the one that is yellow as a juvenile to turn blue/purple as he matures. And I have one pair which is smaller than the rest where the female is light colored and the male is dark. Those are the only three I can pick out at a glance.

Did find out that Zebra danios don't mix well with them. Had a normal one refuse to get netted out of the holding tank. So he ended up with new tank mates after I got sick of chasing him. The new ones enjoyed the snack overnight. Can't use those as mimics for Usipas...

- Laura

...

I agree, I have them with my Frontosa's.

I looked at some rainbows today but the salesperson (Petsupermarket) didn't know much. How large do they grow? Are they schoolers? How many should I purchase for this 55G ecosystem model?

I went by the tiny pet store near my school. He gave me a heck of a deal on a collection of five catfish. Mix of Blue Channel Cats and Black Channel Cats. Had a tank full of HUGE Oscars and Demsies with some big Blue Channels mixed in (He'd taken the whole collection in for trade) So he said they'd mix well in a big 55G with small juvenile cichlids and would grow faster than the cichlids so they wouldn't be bothered much. Also donated a bunch of aquatic plant cuttings/divisions for the barb tank.

She got a pair of trewavasae and a trio of eureka reds. All the others were males to the best of my sexing ability of 1-2" fish.

If the channel cats are much bigger than a couple inches they could eat the cichlids and that will be too much for a 55g to handle over the long run.

I would advise to get them out of the tank with the cichlids fairly soon. I am not an expert on mixing channel cats with africans, but I don't think it is a good idea. Others can chime in because I haven't had any experience with this mix.

Glad you are enjoying them

And also, not all, but most sales people at chain petstores know very little about what they sell. I would ask their opinion, but I wouldn't take it without prior research. I have found very few to even keep fish at home.

No disrespect to anyone if they work there, just what I think from my experience.

Most Pet stores don't know much about what they sell.
(I did say most not all.)
Unfortunately most of the chains offer little to no training.
The people they hire are just people that need a job.
Some of the mom and pop places are from the love of fish.

Most Rainbows will stay in the 4 to 4.5 inch range I think.

They are schoolers and are fun to watch. Mine spawn but the frontosa's eat the babies before they hatch good.

...

musiccitycichlids wrote:

And also, not all, but most sales people at chain petstores know very little about what they sell. I would ask their opinion, but I wouldn't take it without prior research. I have found very few to even keep fish at home.

No disrespect to anyone if they work there, just what I think from my experience.

The owner of the LFS here asked me to come by and ID some cichlids he got in.

They were Jack Dempsey's I thought everyone knew what a JD was..

He said I have that fish with pink eyes to.
I said yes and it is a Flowerhorn.

Just to give you a idea.

The guy who sold them to me is the owner of the little pet store near my school - not the chain store in the next town.

So what do I do with these guys? Can't really take them back. They are very small ones. Would they go with the barbs in the planted tank? Should I stick them in my ten gallon home tank to retard growth until cichlids are bigger and then bring them back to class?

I did find this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4OY_fXI59U

What do you guys think? Retard their growth for a few months?

I am not sure, but never a good idea to stunt a fish..

2SciCrazed wrote:

The guy who sold them to me is the owner of the little pet store near my school - not the chain store in the next town.

It's still a PET STORE rather than a FISH STORE. PET STORES in general are hit or miss - normally with the non-chain ones likely seeming more knowledgible but there's no telling until you begin delving in to their knowledge base. If you really want knowledge you typically need to find a dedicated FISH STORE.

I really don't get this. You want to create an accurate, miniturized Lake Mawalian biotope, but you want to use non-African fish to simulate species you can not find/fit into a small school tank? Is that an accurate assessment of your goal? If so, I don't believe you are going to wind up with the results you are looking for...

"What do you guys think? Retard their growth for a few months?"
Laura, sorry, but that concept/statement IS simply retarded! You should have a better understanding than most of what the biological mechanisms are which would stunt and deform an organism........why do it? Get rid of the cats.....or start another, larger, tank for them

Back to the original premise of creating ; "an ecosystem model .....in order to 'mimic' the Usipa, Matemba, Kambago and Mlamba.......They will be housed in a 55"

One word.....impossible. You simply can NOT create a micro-biotope of that macro-biotope in a 55 gal tank. Your scale is entirely out of whack. You would need to start with a volume much much larger than a 55 to even begin to have the tiniest chance for success.

IMHO, a scaled down version of ONE micro-biotope is going to offer the best shot at being successful--both as something useful as a teaching tool and as a potential long-lasting healthy tank. For example, many of the fish on your list are rock-dwelling Mbuna; 'mimic' their natural habitat. Perhaps get two or three species with males and females and allow the students to see the maternal moothbrooding behavior etc........

HTHs

I would take the catfish back, even if you just have to give them back. If he has any business ethics he would take them back for giving you very bad info. The only place I would somewhat trust in the Nashville area with putting together a tank would be the Critter, and even there I only trust a couple guys.

As for what you are trying to do with school, I would just do the best you could biotype wise and just give them the basic malawi tank. As Nick said, I would put a bunch of rock in it, and do plenty of water changes, but there is no need to add any more fish. What you have is plenty for a 55g and you have a couple that will breed given time.

If the goal is for the kids to see the breeding/fry process catfish are bad anyway but if it is a must choose synodontis, but do your research and make sure you get some that stay small. A small pleco would not be in sync with Malawi, but they make good additions.