What plants are found in Lake Malawi? are they in NZ?

[dwalk]

I'm setting up my first Lake Malawi cichlid tank, and need some advice on what plants i should use. My fish at this point are Elec yellow's, but I plan to add some Demasoni and some Peacocks in the future.

[jewelz]

Java fern seems to do well in my grow out tanks but only fake plants survive the punishment that my adult africans dish out. Mine drag em, play tug'o'war with em, push em, pull em, dig em up and of late my jacob seems to have fallen in love with one of them :oops:

[smidey]

i have not seen the bottom of Malawi but have seen the bottom of Tanginyika in a doco, there were no plants at all that i saw.

[Chazza404]

You won't have much luck with finding these, best idea is to use something hardy which can be acclimitised to the pH e.g. val, anubis, java fern etc and go from there.

[smidey]

i have tried a couple of times to put plants in my african tank, the plants only lasted a few days beofre they were dug up & destroyed by the fish.

[nemines]

i saw a picture of the lake bed of Malawi and there was Val. but this was in a sandy coastal area where mbuna rarely frequent and you encounter the more predatory cichlids and fish.

[dwalk]

So as I understand it, elec yellows prefer rocky areas, with a sandy bottom? What colour sand is Natural in the lake, and are the rocks jagged, or smooth?

[andrew129]

Have a look at this

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aq ... wi_04.html

[evilknieval69]

I have java fern, java moss, amazon sword, marbled sword, another red sword of some sort and even a tiger lotus all growing well in my African tank (with demasoni and brichardi)

[tinytawnykitten]

The guy who seems to know about cichlids at Hutt Pets (Tim? Ben? Bob? Biff? I can't remember his name) told me he has straight val in his tank and it works well as long as you give it a good start by preventing the fish from digging it up while its roots are establishing (I have mine surrounded by small rocks) in the sand. I have a few straight and twisted val in my tank and they are growing well in the tank and the fish aren't interested in eating it.

[alanmin4304]

Never tried it but Lobelia cardinalis might be OK, or some of the Cryptocoryne that come from Sri Lanka or Tailand where the water is hard (wendtii red or green, beckettii, lutea,nevillii and balansai.

[Afrikan]

Never had a problem with Tangys and plants... but most mbuna from Malawi will have a field day... have grown Anubias without a problem.. Large mbuna tho will have a good tug at it tho if they feed the need. Never had a problem with Peacocks and the like with plants.

[firenzenz]

Any plant i've seen in the odd doco looked Val'ish' in the shallows. But it is mostly plantless. Bottom silty ans sandy

Java fern and anubias for me too. I've tied them to coral and eventually lock themselves into it, and becomes quite fish proof

I call this the "thunberbird tank"- probably not too realistic though.

[Dixon1990]

You got a brackish fish in there?

[firenzenz]

Yeah -4 monos, they helps with the whole kitch pseudo marine look I wanted.

I always chuck a little salt in the tank.