smidey

they'll establish a pecking order and any of the sub dominant males will be put in there place by the dominant one. i wouldn't put a female in, like any pub the moment you put a female with all the males trouble starts

i would in a suitable sized tank but you'll need to keep an eye on agression as the peacock males will cause trouble. what size is the tank? creating hybrids isn't an issue, distributing them is IMO

hi and welcome. bottom dwellers don't have to be catfish or algae eaters. in my tang tank, i have shellies which spend all of there time in the bottom 10cm of the tank. I also have leleupi which seem to stay near the bottom as well, certainly hang around the rock piles bit i don't know if that is typical or just because of the bigger tropheus hooning around at a higher level. You could also consider lump heads or even altolamprologus species which also spend a lot of time on or near the bottom.

i use a fork when i do it

dusky sound is a bit closer isn't it?

i wouldn't do a waterchange, doesn't make sense to me to have them oxygen deprived and battling with a dropping water temp. just crank up the air and splash the surface water around with your hand for a minute or two. what size is the tank?

most likely you don't have enough oxygen in your water. running and air stone or have any surface agitation?

i didn't say that

i don't know what the calcs or the reasoning behind it being 12mm are, it was made professionally so perhaps the glazier has made them this way before and there have been no issues. when creating a calculator like that with so many different potential entries and outcomes perhaps it is over/under calculated for the "ass covering" factor of the creator, not sure but what i do know is in real life that tank is made, full and hasn't blown to bits so perhaps it is safer than the calc program tells us. thinking about how i would make that calculator, I do wonder how they have factored in the top bracing. maybe the calc formula doesn't allow for that. there are few experiences i have had in the building industry and also experiences my old man has had in civil construction with engineers that are totally unbelievable either "under engineered" or so far "over engineered" it makes you think they are not up to the job so it will be interesting to see if anything bad happens to that tank. I don't think there will be but time will tell.

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this tank is made of 12mm glass

that's a general rule and ideally the bigger the group the better but from my experience they vary from species to what can be achieved. I would go with at least 9 fish for ikola and duboisi, they seem to be the nastiest of all the trophs from my experience. the moliro i had and the pemba seem to achieve a lot less damage to the fish getting a hard time. They still do a lot of chasing etc but i think because of their more down facing mouth actual damage is usually limited to fin damage. The duboisi with their forward face mouth easily removes scales. I have also seen a few times people having success with only two or three trophs so i think a lot comes down to the specific fish's temperament and their enviroment (caves/hiding places). I have never had any issues with small groups, 4 to 6 fish when they have been together since fry. I have had issues introducing "strangers" to groups so i think that has a lot to do with it, and not just in the fish world

gives them fresh breath! haha i don't know if it's bad for them, i did feed it a few times.

i agree with a good variety for malawians and used to feed all those things when i kept them. shelled peas are great i think, also when the fish are juvies and tehy can't swallow a whole one it turns into a game of rugby, one fish will pick it up and the others will chase him and try to take it. brilliant to watch haha I don't think protein is to blame for bloat as all the foods i feed seem to be high protein, i think poor quality food and/or bad water conditions are more likely to create it but it is interesting who has had what issues in their experience. I have never had any major health issues with my fish, i think that is down to lots of filtration and good food.

i have the crushed marble substrate which is very sharp and small and have never had an issue. I was worried when i first got trophs years ago about that but it hasn't been an issue. the bigger the tank they are in the more you will enjoy them so bigger is definitely better for these guys and that will give you more options. You have time on your side as they are small, i went for a long tank but narrow and short (2.0x0.45x0.45m) and it has worked out very well, foot print is most important over litres for these guys. As for feeding, I feed NLS cichlid formula with JBL novo rift and mine do very well.

here's the thread of my 2.0m stand, if you do it this way you can also cover it with panels and make it look tidy for relatively cheap. viewtopic.php?f=28&t=48784&hilit=+2.0m+stand

as above it will be the starter. I had a sunsun tank with t5 bulbs which run off an electronic starter do the same thing, a sparkie mate put a new ballast in it and all good.

the females get darker under their chin (bucal cavity) when the fry inside grow from just a orange egg to having a body with some colour.

that's a great idea.

thinking about that, i wouldn't use anything that could potentially leave anything in their mouth to be swallowed

here's a video from cichlid-forum that i learnt to do it from, shows how to pump the gills http://www.cichlid-forum.com/videos/stripping.php

with the malawians i recommend stripping at around day 17/18 so they don't loose too much condition. then they will take less time to put weight back on and there's less risk of getting sick. they don't eat while holding so can get to the point of starvation but i have not seen any actually die, they have spit the fry before then. if your unsure how long she has been holding, if the bucal cavity is dark then the fry will be a good size as the eggs are orange so won't show any darkness before the fry grow. I use a galv roofing nail to hold their mouth open then gently pump the gill plates and the fry should come out. with the trophs they eat while holding so it's not really critical for the fish's health when you strip.

some of those fish get pretty big, what size is your tank?

or plastic welding rod. "the sticks" are wood? they should lower the ph if anything.

for my 2.0m tank i use two 3 foot light hoods