Malawi 55gal tank

[Moltenice]

55gal Malawi tank with white Aragonite bottom about 3" thick. I have a Rena Filstar XP4 canister filter keeping the water clear. THe rock formation is perfect for the Malawis as it offers lot of places for them to hide and call their own.
I had 6 fish, but one passed away two days ago to bloat. I was pretty upset as he was one of my favorites, but he taught me a lesson with feeding when larger fish are present.

The one that passed was a
N. Venustus

The ones still there are

Red Zebra (M. estherae)
Electric yellow Labidochromis
M. lombardoi
Aulonocara
Melanochromis A. (very shy)

Anyways on to the photos.

Tank




E.Yellow sleeping at 5am

[Clerk]

Sooooooomebody shops at Petsmart.

[emc7]

Nice pics. Is the vermivorous a female? Its not much the males to be shy.

[Gourami Swami]

Nice lookin' tank, I think you should ditch the castle and set up more rocks. The castles, etc. always look cheap. Also, Im surprised anything in the melanchromis genus woul be shy!

[JustOneMore20]

More rocks! It looks nice, but since Mbuna live in rocky places, you definitely should have some rockwork in the tank.

[emc7]

If they can go in the castle, its fine. My cichlids all like strawberry pots and that kind of similar in shape. The more hiding places you have, the more you see your fish. If seems contrary, but if they know they can escape easy, they come out more. If there are only a few hiding places, they stay there and guard them.

[Gourami Swami]

Im sure the fish dont mind, i just find them tacky :P

[Moltenice]

I am sort of fond of the castle (probably why I bought it)... plus it offers lots of hiding places for them. Not to mention the whole rock formation is hollow so a few of them hide in there on occasion (mostly the red zebra).

The Castle also offers a hiding spot for my very shy Pleco. He spends the majority of his time with his head in one of the towers. He is rather large at 9" and stays hidden until I turn the lights off at night and throw his waffer in there.

The Melanochromis auratus is a male. He is about 4" right now and is named Bulldozer. Everytime I clean the bottom I remove the rock formation and smooth out the sand, then put it back in. This irritates him I think and he goes to work making little hills and stuff. You can sort of see it in my Avatar.

When people come over they love to see him grab huge mouthfulls of sand and take it to another location and spit it all out. It's quite entertaining and keeps him nice and busy.

[emc7]

Vermivorous means worm-eater, so I'd guess shes just looking for food.

[Moltenice]

Sorry I had HIM mixed up, it's acutally a Melanochromis auratus.. I found a picture that matches exactly. It turns out it's also a male... Dark brawn body with grey stripe.

Oh and he does it to create little burrows... then he hides down in there. I think he is almost OCD with it, the fish always has to create little caverns. I'll try to get a video of it and post up

[Moltenice]

alright guys... SOOO the Melanochromis must have heard about me saying he wasn't very aggressive... He suddnely turned on the tank, out of no where. I guess all day yesterday while I was at work he went round after round with the Red Zebra. They locked jaws and chased each others tails.

The Melanochromis has signs of fighting on his mouth, the Red Zebra not so much. But the Zebra has a couple nicks on his side (not deep)...

What should I do? There are plenty of hiding places and now everyone is hiding while the Melanochromis swims around with his fins all arched.

I only have 5 fish in there so do you guys think that could be the problem? I am stuck between putting more fish in or replacing him.

This is weird how this just came about after 8 months of owning him. The Zebra with it's teeth wasnt backing down though and the Zebra is by far my favorite fish so above all his happiness is my concern.

[Eraserhead]

Originally Posted by Moltenice

alright guys... SOOO the Melanochromis must have heard about me saying he wasn't very aggressive... He suddnely turned on the tank, out of no where. I guess all day yesterday while I was at work he went round after round with the Red Zebra. They locked jaws and chased each others tails.

The Melanochromis has signs of fighting on his mouth, the Red Zebra not so much. But the Zebra has a couple nicks on his side (not deep)...

What should I do? There are plenty of hiding places and now everyone is hiding while the Melanochromis swims around with his fins all arched.

I only have 5 fish in there so do you guys think that could be the problem? I am stuck between putting more fish in or replacing him.

This is weird how this just came about after 8 months of owning him. The Zebra with it's teeth wasnt backing down though and the Zebra is by far my favorite fish so above all his happiness is my concern.

That's an M. Auratus for you. I had one while back, and he was always pretty docile, then one day just snapped. I think that this is pretty typical, and have heard that of all Mbuna, the M. Auratus is among the most aggressive. I had to give mine away to a friend after he killed a couple of my other buddies. Hated to do it, but he didn't fit in very well. The problem is that pet stores will display juvenile Auratuses with more peaceful Mbuna in their stores, which tricks people into thinking that they can get along with other fish, when they are really evil incarnate.

[emc7]

He finally got old enough and felt strong enough to take on the zebra. I suggest you look for a new home for him since he is much more aggressive than the other fish in your tank. You could keep 8-10 Auratus in that tank and they could chase each other about, but all of your other fish would never come out of hiding. I do think you need more fish, and more rock. But I would still get rid of the Auratus. He will keep on chasing any fish he can see and bashing any fish that stands up to him.

[BV77]

don't be surprised when the auratus kills some or all of the fish

[Moltenice]

thanks for the replys guys.. SHortly after writing that post I went and paid more attention to the tank I decided it was best to let him go. I went down to talk to the best local fish store and they said they would take him... SO I came back and grabbed him to take him down there. Only problem is he is now the biggest Malawi they have but they have a fairly large tank and when they threw him in, he was met with some unhappy "previous" bullies. He is the only Auratus or melanos. period, in that tank now...... He will about 20 fish to be the boss of now and it part of their display only tank so I can come back and see him often.

With being down to 4 fish in 55gals I decided to pick up a couple more. I picked up anoter zebra, but an albino about 1" long so he is tiny. I also picked up another Venustus female, she is awesome and again about 1", and finally a Bumble bee which is less then an inch long and the runt of the tank by far.

Just did a little research on the bumblebee (if that is what it is) and seems I have a little terror in the making. I will get photos and post them when I can, it's being elusive right now as everything else comes to tell it they're bigger.

[Gourami Swami]

BB's are pretty aggro... Might want to do without that one. In my experience, colonies of the same species work better than a mix-match in a tank this size.

[emc7]

Venustus are awesome fish but will outgrow that tank. The bumblebee aren't quite as aggressive as auratus, but they are not too far behind. Watch for this one to "snap" when it decides its an adult. Any possibility of a 90 gallon in your future?

[Moltenice]

I think I am going to keep the bee for a little while. He is a long way away from being in any position to threaten anyone. He would easily fit in the mount of just about every other fish in the tank... :O

If he does turn out troublesome I will just donate him. They said it's no problem and really liked the Auratus and were happy to see how big and healthy he was.

So this is the little guy in question. Looks like a bumblebee to me(but wasnt in the tank the rest of them were in)...


This guy is awesome. I am not sure if it is female or male. I hope it is the opposite of my other zebra just for maybe spawning. He has an awesome personality and was the only one out in the open at the top of the tank swimming around. When I fed them he was up taking nips off the top. I really enjoy the Zebras, they are great fish.


Another shot of the bee and the baby female venustus (which is a bit blurry but you get the idea)... she is bigger then the bee by a decent amount and will take some time to get near the size of the last one.



emc7- I do see the posibility of a larger tank in the future.. The stand that my 55gal is on is acutally for a 75 gal and the pump is rated for up to 260gals with 450gph rate (it sucks the hell out of my 55gal)
so I planned a bit ahead for a larger tank. Maybe not a 90gal though and if I did I might go salt instead of malawi.