[Teddy]

Hi all, I am in the process of setting up a new 300ltr tank. I have used black and white sand substrate, blue sodolite rock and what I believe to be a piece of mangrove root. The tank has been running for 8 days, everything seems to be okay so far but does anyone have any tips on set up and fish numbers for this size tank? Any advice would be welcome, thanks in advance. Cheers Teddy

 

[Rick_Lindsey]

Hi Teddy. Are there any particular fish or areas that you like? Stocking suggestions for an Amazon River Basin tank would be radically different than an African Rift Lake tank. Also, do you have the dimensions for your tank? It sounds about like a 75 gallon, and a "standard" 75 gallon makes a lovely Tanganyikan Community tank (but then again, I'm biased). Do you know anything about your local water conditions? It's alot easier if you pick fish that will do well with the water you have rather than trying to modify your water to match the fish.

-Rick (The armchair aquarist, who isn't practicing what he preaches since he fell in love with tanganyikan cichlids while he lived in a hard-water area, and now he lives in a soft-water area but is planning a tanganyikan shell-dweller tank anyways)

 

[Teddy]

Hi Rick, the tank is an Aqua One set up, 48 inches wide, 18 inches bow front and 24 inches deep, approximately 66 UK gallons. Looking to put in Malawi Cichlids, have seen quite a few I like perhaps you can suggest how many for this size of tank? I have had various suggestions on numbers from 18 to 32 fish, help! PH is currently 7.8, KH 14 and GH 10, got PH up by adding bicarbonate of soda, normal PH of water is 7. Thanks Teddy.

 

[Rick_Lindsey]

Sounds like a nice first tank, Teddy! I'm afraid that I'm no expert on Malawi numbers. I've heard that one should generally choose between mbuna, or haps and peacocks though. Are you hoping to get any breeding going on, or are you looking for an all-male show tank?

I tend to be a fan of more lightly stocked tanks, as imho it brings out more interesting behaviors in your fish, though with some mbuna those "interesting" behaviours might be violent (thus the common suggestion to overstock mbuna to control aggression).

May I suggest you post in the malawi section of the board, describe your tank and your planned filtration? It may get more responses of the flavor you're looking for than Tank Setups.

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)

 

[Teddy]

Thanks Rick, that seems a good idea and I will do, I just hope I dont ruin it!, I appreciate your reply this is all new to me and very exciting, this is also my first time on a forum of any kind so I suppose I'm an all round novice! Teddy