Malawi Cichlids

Hi all, im new to this site. So Let me introduce myself, I am from Cape Town and got into this crazy hobby in January this year. I am a cichlid fanatic. I wish that someone could have warned me as to how addictive this hobby casn get. In January this year my wife made the mistake of buying me a Jewel Rio 125, since then I`ve gotten out of control and now not only do i have the 125, but also a 900 breeding tank, a small hospital tank, 2x 1.5mx600x600 tanks and aslo a 1.2x450x450.
I currently have 17 Wild Caught Kigoma Frontosas, 2 females have already spawned, 30 fry in my incubation tank. I have a breeding colony of 9 wild caught giant aulonocara chilumbas 3males 5 females, 1x Wild caught copadichromis azureus male, sadly the female has died.(desperately searching for a wc female) 3 wc copadichromis kawanga 1male 2 females, and 1 pair of wc copadichromis cyclicos( female now carrying) in my hospital tank im housing 71 F1 chilumba fry which are about 3 weekks old. Oh and in my Rio 125 i`ve started up as a marine tank. I started out this hobby because I simply love these little buggers and they brring me a great deal of joy, and peacefullness. The only problem I seem to be having is that all these buggers seem to breed at once, and then I dont know where to put all of them. Anyway I look forward to sharing all my experiences with you guys and in the same breath learn from you guys.

 

mts???????? :laugh:

 

Welcome @jairus - Dude,thats a pretty sick colection to get together in under a year....he,he.... Congrats!! Hope you enjoy the forum as much as I do...

 

@ Newby is that what its called MTS, Is there a cure for that. lol @ Azurekoi, thanks the forum does look good and im sure i`ll enjoy it. the collection i accrued is due to good advice and awsome friends made along the way.

 

lol - MTS(multi tank syndrome) is a dread addiction - years of rehab works to a point,but one tends to slip quite easily....he,he - you must have met Neill to have got all those fish together - known him for years btw - best Malawis in Cape town....

 

Yes, some of themm I did get from Neil, and the others I got from one of Neils close friends Duran.. Dude I have 2 more 1.2m tanks laying in the garage, my wife says if I even think of setting them up then I must move in with the fishes.lol

 

Wow, MTS !!!
Can you give us specs of your Malawi setups, like substrate, rocks filtration, lighting & water conditioners ect.

Im busy doing homework to setup a flippen awesome Malawi tank ( next year )

 

Advice....get her addicted as well ...

Tip (ask her to assist you with something where you need the "woman's touch") It will be much more enjoyable when both of you get hooked :laugh:

 

@ Rickus, very important no plants.. Also I have 2 1.5x600x600 tanks and the filtration is both done with sumps. Rocks is a big yes as, but stack them in a way that females can hide from the males when they are carrying eggs, the lighting that I have is a T5 system with 2 white and 2 blue for each tank. I have also found that doing a water change on this size tank once a month gives the bbacteria a good chance to develop and in turn my fish started breeding faster. I maintain my PH level above 7.5. Choose tankkmates carefully, because if you are like me you dont want cross breeding to take place. If there is anything else that you want to know, don`t hesitate to ask me. Information is there for all of us to share..

 

@ Rickus, very important no plants.. Also I have 2 1.5x600x600 tanks and the filtration is both done with sumps. Rocks is a big yes as, but stack them in a way that females can hide from the males when they are carrying eggs, the lighting that I have is a T5 system with 2 white and 2 blue for each tank. I have also found that doing a water change on this size tank once a month gives the bbacteria a good chance to develop and in turn my fish started breeding faster. I maintain my PH level above 7.5.&nbsp; Choose tankkmates carefully, because if you are like me you dont want cross breeding to take place. If there is anything else that you want to know, don`t hesitate to ask me. Information is there for all of us to share..<br>

 

@ newby, you are a wise man. I did not think of that. I will give it a try and see how far I get

 

Welcome jarius.that is a nice collection of fish.I notice an aulonocara lwanda in tank with your chilumba giants..please be careful as different aulonocara males will crossbreed with different aulonocara females.kigoma frontosa are very nice...you will soon have more babies than you will know what to do with

 

@ sarf, yes you are right. That is a lwanda in the tank, he is only going to be in there for a short period, until I can move all the fry that I have. I am desperately looking for a wc female for him. Do you know of anybody willing to sell?

 

Not lwanda females..neil was the only person I know who had some..he hardly got any females in on the shipment so there are not any available to sell

 

@ sarf, i know and believe me I tried getting him to sell me a female after I bought the male from him.

 

Thanx @jairus will keep that in mind

 

@ Rickus, no problem buddy.

 

Hi Jairus, welcome...

LOL, malawi's vs mts vs fish keeping, once you have it, you cant get rid of it - you may try to control it but much better to accept and start living with your mts as fk-ocd (fish keeping obsessive compulsive disorder) no pills, no frills, just fish keeping...

PM you on another breeder not too far from you...

happy fish keeping...