Ideal water temperature for Malawi's

Hi all.

I have a question regarding the ideal water temperature for Malawi cichlids.

I always have my water temperature at 28 Deg/C.

I have yesterday replaced my heater with a new one. When I took the new heater out of its packaging, I saw that its "thermo-knob" was already set to 28 and I inserted it into my tank. SWAMBO phoned me this morning, telling me that the thermometer indicated a water temperature of 32 Deg/C. I quickly rushed over there and checked the heater. After fiddling around with it, it started "working", switching itself off as the temp is now higher than 28. I'll have a check during lunch to see if its working properly now whilst SWAMBO will be monitoring the water temperature occasionally.

I have no live plants in the tank at the moment. Could this 32 Deg/C "hurt" the fish after a while? What about the Good Bacteria? Apparently for Koi fish, in higher water temperatures, they are more active, more eager to breed and grow faster... Will higher (not fatal) water temperatures have the above mentioned effects on cichlids?? What about lower temperatures??

 

Anyone?

 

Missed this one... 27 degrees is a good temp for Malawis - sort of the average seasonaly for the lake... 32Degrees Eish - short term they will be fine,but the amount of available oxygen at that temp is VERY little (the warmer water is,the less oxyen it holds).. As far as I know your tank is lightly stocked - you should be fine....

 

@azurekoi

Thank you for your reply, I'll set the temperature a bit lower.

The oxygen levels / temperature relationship is quite interesting. I did not know that...

Thanks man!!

 

Any where between 24-26 degrees should be fine. You will find if too warm the fish do not breed. Remember that some of these fish come from depths up to 40m. Copadichromis geertsi lives at around 70m.They breed at around 20-25m and I am sure the water is a liitle cooler down at that depth.