HOW TO CATCH A PREGNANT MBUNA
<Read/hum to the tune of "What do you do with a drunken sailor">  12/11/08
Hi Crew!
I have a 550 litre Malawi tank with holey rock décor. The tank is quite deep (30 inches) so reaching the bottom with a net requires my whole arm going into the tank. I have several females that are carrying eggs/fry and I would like to separate them into my nursery tank to release them when the time is right. This is not an easy task!! As soon as I put my arm or the net in they dash under a hole in the rock and I can't get at them. The big rocks have been siliconed to the bottom of the tank to prevent them falling onto the sides of the glass so I can't take them out. There are a couple of fry that have survived and are hiding in tiny holes where the rock meets the sand.
Can you recommend a method of either catching the pregnant fish or the fry?? The pregnant females don't come up for food of course which is when it would be easier to catch them.
Many thanks
Brian
<There isn't any easy way to do this! The usual approach is a two-man operation, one with a net to catch the fish, and the other moving rocks and trying to drive the fish into the net. Choose a big net, the bigger the better, though obviously a big net easily gets tangled up in the rocks, which is why the other person pushes the fish into the net rather than you trying to net the fish directly. Ultimately, this is why I recommend people only combine specimens that either [a] won't breed or [b] won't hybridise. That way, you'll either have no baby fish to worry about or else whatever juveniles survive will be pure-bred species not hybrids, so you can take your time removing them as/when they get big enough to catch. You could of course try a baited trap (e.g., and empty clear soda bottle) with some food in its that the fry could get to but the adults can't. Do take care that traps aren't "borderline" in size, such that adults can get wedged into them. Turkey basters are also very good for sucking up baby fish. Cheers, Neale.>

SYNODONTIS/PLECO FOR MALAWI TANK  10/14/08
Hi Crew,
I was hoping you could advise on some bottom feeders for my 125 gallon Malawi tank set up. The fish I intend to stock are Iodotropheus Sprengerae, Labidochromis Caeruleus, Pseudotropheus Saulosi and
Copadichromis 'Midnight Mloto' which I will be adding in that order.
<All great fish and well chosen.>
I would like a few bottom feeders for this tank. Synodontis are nice fish but I would like a species that doesn't grow too big, say under 9 inches maximum and isn't a cuckoo fish that will lay eggs in the cichlids batch where the cichlid eggs are likely to get eaten.
<I wouldn't bother. Cichlids "sift" the sand great themselves, and if they can't keep the substrate clean, then you're overfeeding/under-cleaning. About the only thing you might add are some Malayan livebearing snails to keep the sand turned over.>
They will need to enjoy a majority herbivore diet with the occasional treat of brine shrimp or
daphnia to fit in with the Cichlids. Can you please recommend a few options??
<The only _bona fide_ benthic fish traded that would fit a Malawi system would be Synodontis catfish and a few Mastacembelus spiny eels. Mastacembelus can be great, but they're predatory, with at least species being major predators on juvenile cichlids. Mastacembelus spp. also suffer from being a bit delicate in some ways, and certainly very prone to escaping. Synodontis are egg-eaters even if they aren't brood parasites, and because they forage at night, when cichlids are at their weakest (in terms of brood care) they just aren't an option in tanks where you'd like fish to breed.>
I understand that common and bristlenose Plecos are often used in these tanks. My PH is 8.3. Will this be within their tolerance range??
<Yes, they can survive, just, but they do tend to get hammered by territorial cichlids. Consequently they hide a lot, and you may as well not keep them because you won't see them much. That said, at around pH 8, I have kept both Ancistrus and Panaque species in Malawi tanks. If the pH wasn't higher than 8.0, the Horseface Loach (Acantopsis choirorhynchos) might have been an option in a tank with a sandy substrate. These fish are so fast moving they tend to avoid problems with cichlids by burrowing into smooth (silica, not coral) sand. They aren't especially predatory, despite their large size. The same might be said for Garra spp., which also seem to thrive in moderately hard (to 20 degrees dH) water.>
I would rather add fish that will thrive in this PH as opposed to just survive. When should I add these fish relative to the Cichlids? I have plenty of ocean rock for all residents to establish territory in so this may not matter hugely.
<Honestly, I wouldn't bother. Apart from maybe Nerite snails, nothing much will thrive under these conditions AND be harmless towards eggs/fry.>
Any guidance you can give will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Brian
<Sorry can't make any better suggestions. Cheers, Neale.>

NEW MALAWI CICHLID TANK SET UP   9/19/08
Hi Crew,
I am about to set up my first Malawi cichlid tank and I was hoping you could advise on a couple of issues with regards to PH and one related to adding rocks.
<OK.>
The first one involves bacteria and PH. I have 2 existing tropical tanks that I was intending to pinch some filter media from to kick of the cycling of the tank. These tropical tanks contain hard water at a PH of 7.2 (London tap). As the Malawi tank will need a PH over 8 and will contain sand and rock to raise/buffer the PH, will the bacteria adapt OK to the new PH conditions? I suppose my concern is that the bacteria would suffer an equivalent of PH shock and die off as fish would in this situation.
<This should be fine.>
The second query involves establishing the right PH in the first place. If I had e.g. 40lbs of sand/rock in the tank and the PH was buffered to e.g. 8.0, would adding more sand raise the pH more and more or does it max out at some point?? I have seen a product called PH Up made by API
which is a liquid that can be added to set PH at 8.3 (I am intending to add this to new water during water changes to raise from the PH7.2 tap water to PH8.3) but I would like to have the right amount of sand/rock to buffer the PH to the same level to ensure it didn't alter up or down between water changes as the sand rock leaches into the water. I am assuming that just adding 7.2 water to 8.3 water will lower the overall PH until the sand/rock buffers it up which is not desirable. Are there any other ways to raise the PH of tap water before adding it to the
tank??
<Don't rely on rocks or coral sand to buffer the pH; once these are covered with algae and bacteria they're effectively isolated from the water, so can't dissolve. Instead concentrate on adding stuff to the water. There are commercial Malawi salts available, or you can mix your own very cheaply. Once common recipe is this, per 5 gallons/20 litres:
* 1 teaspoon baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
* 1 tablespoon Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate)
* 1 teaspoon marine salt mix (sodium chloride + trace elements)>
I also have some large pieces of holey rock for this tank, all about 18 inches by 9 inches. These are pretty heavy. I am concerned about the rocks slowly sinking through the sand and hitting glass at the bottom of the tank and cracking it. I have looked this up on the web and seen that some people recommend egg crate. I was wondering if there was some sort of plastic mat that I could place on the bottom of the tank before adding the sand to protect the bottom. The plastic would need to contain no chemicals that might poison the fish. Are there any other ways to protect the tank floor??
<Here's the best approach. Cover the bottom of the tank with a layer of gravel or coral sand to around 2-3 cm depth. Place a plastic gravel tidy on top. You can buy these ready made to various sizes from your aquarium shop. You can also use plastic mesh from the garden centre, though you'll need to pick a plastic that's sold as pond safe and is fine enough to not let gravel fall through it. Put the gravel tidy on the first layer of sand/gravel. Now put your rocks onto the gravel tidy. Silicone the rocks together if you're building a significant height. Once you're done, use the remaining coral sand or gravel to fill in the gaps on top of the gravel tidy. You'll now have the mesh preventing the cichlids from undermining the rockwork and also preventing the rocks from falling onto the glass at the bottom of the tank as well.>
Any advise you may have is greatly appreciated
Thanks
Brian
<Cheers, Neale.>