[Alinho]

Hi,

I'm looking to start a Malawi tank and heard about this forum and the experts on it!

I'm new to Malawis but did keep a successful Tanganyikan tank a couple of years ago. I'm looking to branch into Malawis now. I had to pass my Tanganyikans on due to me working abroad (boo).

I'm looking for some passive species that I can keep. I have about a 65 US gallon tank.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Cheers

 

[Nina_b]

Yellow labs are gorgeous and peaceful if you're looking for mbuna (rock dwellers).
I can also recommend some cobalt blue zebra - metriaclima callainos. I love how they vary their blue depending on the circumstance.

Otherwise a peacock tank can be colourful.

Best bet would be to visit your LFS's and see what they have available, that will al least get you thinking about colours. (Unless you don't mind travelling far or shipping or have a community of breeders close by or some other situation).

Also a good place to look would be the species profiles, with malawi as a search term.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/

Might also be worth deciding what kind of Malawians you'd like to keep - closer to rocks (mbuna), or more open water (peacocks, since haps might get a bit big)

I'm sure there are many other possibilities.

 

[Alinho]

Thankyou!

 

[Kanorin]

First off, what are the dimensions of your aquarium?
Secondly, there are two different directions that people usually stock their tack towards - 1) breeding groups and 2) all male. You should decide which direction you are going.

1) Breeding groups: In your case would include males and females from one to three different species, which will display lots of interesting social interactions.
2) Males-only: Many different species (you could do about 10-12 different species) which will provide a much wider variety of colors, but not as much interesting behavioral interation.

Most peacocks aside from Aulonocara Jacobfreibergi and sp. Lwanda should fit the bill of "passive species." There are some smaller haps like O. lithobates that might also work. Most mbuna will not fit the bill, with the exception of a few like yellow labs, as was mentioned.