Please note that the following articles were written by Nick James and are not necessary the views of Fish Fantasy World.


Keeping Lake Malawi Cichlids
By Nick James

An introductory article for beginners to Rift Valley cichlids from Lake Malawi.

Lake Malawi is situated well within the tropics and shared between the countries of Malawi, Mocambique and Tanzania. The lake is very deep, parts being over 650m, and is part of the East African Rift Valley that also includes Lake Tanganyika to the north. The lake has between 600 and 700 endemic cichlid species (found nowhere else in the world), almost all of which are small (<20cm), brightly coloured, and ideal for aquaria. The more popular species of these cichlids fall into two main groups: firstly the mbuna, or rock-dwelling species, represented by the genera Pseudotropheus, Metriaclima, Tropeops, Labidochromis, Melanochromis, Cynotilapia, Labeotropheus (and a few other minor ones); and secondly the sand-dwelling or more open water species, collectively and loosely termed utaka, mainly represented by the genera Aulonocara, Copadichromis, Protomelas, Mylochromis, Sciaenochromis, Cyrtocara, Dimidiochromis, Placidochromis, Lethrinops, Nimbochromis, Otopharynx and Hemitilapia. Again there are several others, less common in aquaria

There are several rules to keeping Malawi cichlids that are well worth following:

Most Malawis come from a habitat with few plants but lots of rocks. Plants will mostly be turned into salad. Rocks will give them refuges for breeding and to escape bullying.

They are not community tank fish to be mixed with South or Central American species (either cichlids or catfish).

They do not generally mix well with either Lake Victorian cichlids (which they dominate, and which then become colourless), or with the smaller more timid Lake Tanganyikan cichlids .

They are hardwater fish and should not be mixed with fish from soft water such as the Amazon, SE Asia, and the ‘forest’ species from West Africa. Anyone who thinks that Malawi cichlids could be kept with either tetras or livebearers is therefore not ready to keep them

They should not be fed high protein diets like Tetra Bits, ox heart, or Cichlid Pellets, as most are either totally or partially algae grazers in the wild. Their digestive system can no more withstand a diet of high protein than you can live on fillet steak alone. They will grow fast and then suddenly die of internal organ failure, just the same as you will! This makes them cheap to feed as low protein spirulina flake food can be used, supplemented once-weekly with bloodworm or earthworms. The larger, more predatory, species can be fed spirulina pellets with twice-weekly offerings of Cichlid pellets and larger frozen foods such as krill, large daphnia, shrimp etc.

They are all mouthbrooders and may hybridise (cross-breed) in the confines of an aquarium. Unless the tank is very large with lots of cover, few of the offspring will survive, as most Malawi cichlids are opportunistically predatory, i.e. they will prey on fry when they can.

Malawi cichlids should never be kept (nor even purchased) as ‘pairs’. The male will harrass the female to death. Either buy males only, for a bright colourful display, or purchase more females than males of any one species. If the intention is to breed them, keep them in a species tank, or keep unrelated species (genera) together.

Don’t keep just a few (4-6) Malawis in a tank. The aggression of the top-dog will make life a misery for the others: keep them in a ‘crowd’.

Malawi cichlids do not have common names: use the scientific names. After all what is so hard about "caeruleus yellow", "lombardoi" and "Aulonocara baenschi"? I wince every time I’m asked for "that blue Malawi cichlid.. you know, the one with the stripes...!" I don’t: there are over 300 blue species in the lake...! If you want to know, buy a book or CD.

As a rule, the smallest aquarium for keeping these beautiful fish is a 150 litre or "four foot" tank. A 100 litre ‘three foot’ will suffice short-term for rearing juveniles but will decline into chaos as the fish mature and become territorial. Landscaped with rocks to provide cover and with a water quality in the 8-9 pH range, with a hardness of 8-12DH, (conductivity around 250-300 microsiemens, for the more technical aquarist) and using internal/external or hang-on power filtration, other than undergravel filters, such a tank may be adequate to house up to 20 juvenile (40-50mm) or 12 to 15 adult Malawis. Undergravel filters will be dug up by the cichlids, and then you have no filtration.Water can be temporarily hardened with bicarb of soda from your supermarket (dissolve 3-4 tablespoons full into a 150 litre tank, if the water is soft), but longterm it is better to put crushed shell inside the filter as this will slowly leach calcium and magnesium (the two main minerals in Lake Malawi) into the water and keep the pH buffered. Do not add table or rock salt: it is both unecessary and will damage the fish’s internal organs if used longterm. More Malawi cichlids die from incorrect water quality (usually too low pH and hardness) than anything else except incorrect feeding.

In smaller aquaria (anything less than 300 litres) it is unwise to mix mbuna and utaka. The mbuna are generally more aggressive, especially the larger more robust species like Pseudotropheus lombardoi, P. estherae, P. socolofi, P. elongatus and P. zebra, and some of the smaller but more aggressive Melanochromis species such as M. auratus. As far as utaka go, the Aulonocara ("peacock") species are not so aggressive except between males of the same or similar species. Protomelas, Mylochromis and Copadichromis can all get quite large (12-18cm depending on species), and although usually compatible they demand quite a bit of living space, and can be harassed by the more rough mbuna, resulting in colourless shredded fish.

In large display aquaria such as 2m or larger tanks, all Malawi species can thrive, especially if there is adequate cover in the form of rock piles, caves, logs etc. Many people make the mistake of adding a South American Plecostomus (Hypostomus, or similar "pleco" type ) catfish in the belief that this fish will consume unwanted food and algae not eaten by the Malawis. This is totally wrong thinking! Not only is the catfish a soft water species from the Amazon, whereas the Malawis love hard water, but they will compete for the scanty supplies of algae so-loved by the Malawis as food. Don’t add a pleco! I feel that a Malawi tank with either plecos or ‘parrot cichlids’ in it is equivalent to buying a Mercedes with mag wheels and go-faster stripes on it...yuk! Have some class!

If you chose to keep one of the most distinguished groups of fish, why spoil the effect with a fish from a totally different continent, that doesn’t even mix well with the Malawis? If you feel the need for a catfish, by all means obtain one of the Rift Valley Synodontis species such as S petricola, S. multipunctatus (Lake Tanganyika) or S. nyassae (the only one found in L Malawi). If these are not obtainable then you can get by with one of the S. eupterus featherfin Syno cats from West Africa. The other Niger/Congo River species are not suitable, and the Asian Mystus, or Pangassius catfish are completely out!

I like to encourage people to keep the occupants of an aquarium as close as possible to what you would find in Nature, both animal and plant, and the tank décor too. Thus if you are one of those with ‘painted glassfish’ in your aquarium, you should not even be reading this! Much more enjoyment can be obtained from the hobby than by just throwing money at the dealer and slapping it all together without any thought as to "what", "who" and "where from". This is why supermarket type pet shops are bad for the hobby as they cannot (and don’t) give any sort of valuable advice to the customer as to how to set up a ‘classy’ fishtank with real appeal, as opposed to ‘just another jumble of assorted species that may sort-of survive together for a while’. When I started fishkeeping at the age of 14, my Dad was wise enough to buy me a good fishkeeping book before getting me a tank. I read that book countless times until I knew exactly what I wanted: then he bought me the tank and fish. Now, even more info is available on the internet, so there is absolutely no excuse for the "pleco/ Malawi cichlid/parrot & jewel cichlid" type combination that is so often seen, regrettably also in shops that should know better.

I’ll finish with a recommended combination of readily available Malawi species that work well together in an average sized, say 250 litre ‘four foot’aquarium:

First Choice - Colourful Mbuna 4 Labiodchromis caeruleus ‘yellow’ 2 Melanochromis johanni 4 Pseudotropheus elongatus ‘mphanga’ 2 P. lombardoi (blue) 2 P. socolofi  (blue,black tail) 2 P. estherae (orange) 3 P. socolofi albino (snow white) Another Option - Colourful Utaka 1 Mylochromis ‘mchuse’ 2 Aulonocara ‘peacocks’ 2 Copadichromis azureus 1 Nimbochromis venustus 1 Sciaenochromis fryeri (Ahli) 4 Lab. caeruleus ‘yellow’ 1 Protomelas steveni ‘Taiwan’

Lake Malawi Cichlid Habitat and Available Literature
By Nick James

Many people often feel that a tank bare of plants looks bleak. Correct. It does. However a Lake Malawi tanks does not need to be without plants entirely. If you dive in the lake you will rarely see plants except in the weedy, marshy areas where you will also see far fewer fish of the type we keep in aquaria. The ‘classic’ Malawi underwater landscape consists of huge rounded boulders plunging into the depths, interspersed with a little sand here and there. On this sand you may occasionally see small amounts of Vallisneria growing. Now it wouldn’t exist at all if all the fish eat it, so we must assume that Vallisneria is largely unpalatable to mbuna, the main cichlid occupants of this type of habitat.

This habitat closely resembles the kopjes of massive smooth granite boulders all balanced on each other, as seen on the road from Musina up to Masvingo in Zimbabwe: just imagine what they would look like underwater, and you’ve got it! This poses a problem: how does one fit a 10m diameter, 50 tonne rock into a four foot aquarium? Seriously, we can’t even hope to simulate the scale of the underwater landscape of the lake, it’s simply far too massive. Trouble is the fish have evolved with this, and are adapted to having all sorts of refuges between the rocks and in the often very dark spaces between them. One example, Aulonocara walteri, lives almost entirely in such caves, only venturing out to feed and to attract a mate, and not surprisingly, is very dark coloured.

Our options are limited to much smaller rocks, or possibly artifical ones made of fibreglass. I have no experience of making such plastic rocks, but this should not be too difficult. They can be bought, though, for outdoor pond decoration, from some of the better and more comprehensive type garden centres. For natural rocks, I have found that sandstone type rocks are best if you are going to use natural stone. They are relatively light, and often have all sorts of nooks and crannies. They can be piled up at each end of the aquarium and along the back, and even interspersed with horizontal pieces of slate to create ‘platforms’ on which the mbuna will establish territories and maybe even breed.

To spread the load, a sheet of 10-15mm polystyrene can be laid right across the entire bottom of the aquarium before covering this with coarse sand (or shell) and the rocks. Leave plenty of space right across the front of the tank for open sandy areas (use coarse river sand, not beach sand: it’s too fine) and plant Vallisneria at either end, in between the rocks, anchoring its substantial roots with small rounded pebbles of the type you find in rivers or on the beach. Many Malawi cichlids are diggers, but give them enough refuges to establish territories in and they don’t feel the need to ruin the artificial landscape too much. I find a mixture of coarse sand and crushed shell makes a good substrate: the shell is light, and bright, and helps to harden the water and buffer it against pH-drop. More Rift Valley cichlids perish from too soft water than you can ever believe, especially Tanganyikans.

Seriously, a four foot (250l) aquarium is practically the smallest that can sustainably look good for a Malawi tank. Smaller aquaria are fine whilst the fish are juvenile but soon succumb to a space problem once the fish mature. Remember that most Malawis are about 8cm –12cm once adult, with a few exceptions. Decorations that are definitely ‘out’ for a Rift valley set-up are: coloured sand (ugh!), plastic plants (come on, Vallisneria is cheap!), sunken galleons (there aren’t any in the lake…) and divers blowing bubbles (there may be a few of these…). I have said it several times but it bears repeating here: Rift valley cichlids are the Mercedes Benz of aquarium fish, and like the car of that name, should not be spoilt by ‘mag wheels and go-faster stripes’. If one is going to all the trouble and expense to set up a Rift Valley tank, surely one should want it to look as authentic as possible? Enough said.

I often hear complaints that there is no literature available on setting up Rift Valley tanks. To some extent this is true, but only if you confine yourself to the average city pet shop as a source. Specialist, good quality, and wondefully illustrated books are available for the Great Lakes of Africa and their fish, namely Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika and Malawi. Two years ago I wrote a small beginners’ book on keeping Lake Victoria cichlids, and this little volume is distributed through the Interpet chain of distributors (or available from myself).

On the more scientific and taxonomic side, there is Ole Seehausen’s Lake Victoria Rock Cichlids published by Verduijn’s Cichlids, and the pictures of so many never-seen-before fish will make any cichlid lover drool. For both Lakes

Malawi and Tanganyika the specialist books and publications by Ad Konings (Cichlid Press) are undoubtedly the most popular. Lake Malawi cichlids in their Natural Habitat (and its companion volume on L. Tanganyika) are large format books with around 300+ pages of both text and pictures (mostly taken underwater in the lakes). They are indeed the “Bibles” (“Korans”, for you Muslim cichlid lovers) of cichlid information for those who really want to specialise in these cichlids, and for those who want to see more than the 100 or so species commonly traded in the shops. The text is not too scientific, and targets the aquarist interested in Rift Valley cichlids. If the cost of these (about R500 to 625.00) is beyond your pocket, a condensed version is available by the same author in the Back-to Nature series, for each lake seperately. These are smaller format and obviously don’t encompass all the species but are excellent nonetheless for the average enthusiast. At a price of around R175- R265.00) each, they are affordable too. For shops, and those wanting simply a catelogue of fish pictures for identification guides, the Aqualex series is hard to beat. We have sold dozens of the ever-popular Aqualex catelogue of Malawi cichlids, published by Dahne Verlag (Germany), and a new edition in hardback format and somewhat enlarged is now available. The German publisher Aqualog has also produced a range of specialist books, and the relevant one here is African cichlids 1: Malawi mbuna. It illustrates just about every known colour form of mbuna, and some man-made ones too! A good ID book for the mbuna specialist. They have also published one on Tropheus species of Lake Tanganyika which I have not yet seen.

As many of the more vividly coloured mbuna come from the Tanzanian side of Lake Malawi, and these have been collected and introduced to the trade by a German company operating from there, Andreas Spreinat has written a book devoted to the fish from Tanzania, namely Lake Malawi cichlids from Tanzania (published by Verduijn’s Cichlids). This is one of the most prized of all Malawi books, beautifully illustrated and with excellent text: a must have for the specialist. There are many other books too. Most often, we hear of hobbyists quoting from Herbert Axelrod’s books. Whilst he has been very much the ‘father figure’ of the post-WW2 aquarium scene, Malawi (and other African cichlids) have never been his strong point. The pictures are not always accurate as to species, and in many cases use outdated names, and do not show the animals in their best light. His information is also 20 years out of date in many cases. Having said this, Dr. Axelrod’s Atlas of Freshwater Aquarium Fishes still sits on my bookshelf, and is regularly used for general fish identification. Just bear in mind that the pictures and info are weak for Rift Valley cichlids.

For the real enthusiast, I can strongly recommend the American publication Cichlid News. This wonderful journal comes out for times a year and is solely devoted to cichlids. There are usually sections on Malawis, Tanganyikans, New World cichlids, and other African cichlids. I have this year published three articles on African cichlids from Namibia, and those who enjoy our indigenous fishes may find these interesting. Back copies of these journals are usually available too.

**All the above books can be ordered through Fish Fantasy World**

The Utaka of Lake Malawi by Nick James
By Nick James

Most Lake Malawi cichlids are kept as a mix of mbuna, peacocks and utaka. The mbuna are well known as the rock dwelling, brightly-coloured cichlids of the genera Pseudotropheus, Labidochromis, Cynotilapia, Labeotropheus and Metriaclima (amongst others). These are the typical cichlids so often traded as ‘mixed Malawis’, a term that gives me the shudders as it often includes hybridized, poorly-coloured specimens imported cheaply from the Far East by Gauteng importers.

The peacocks are also quite well-known, but the quality of the imports distributed by the main dealers is even worse than the mbuna: Aulonocara ‘red’, A. ‘yellow’, A. ‘blue’ and A. ‘nyassae’ are some of the typical offerings from those who claim (unsuccessfully) to be ‘in the know’ about Malawi cichlids. These are of unknown ancestry, and bear little resemblance to the pure species from the lake. Most are hormone-fed to produce vivid colour (whilst the hormone treatment lasts), and even the females are coloured-up, like the males, so buying both sexes is difficult.

Hemitilapia oxyrhynchus is one of the most attractive utaka species

What is rarely traded is the real utaka species from Lake Malawi. Utaka are the open water, or sand-dwelling species that do not spend their entire lives in the vicinity of rocks, as do the mbuna. These are often slightly larger-growing species than the mbuna, and most show no colour save dull silver, until the male is near adult size, at which time the most glorious blues and other colours are displayed. They can form large shoals over sandy areas, or even in open water, where they feed on the abundant Malawi lake flies (Chaoboris edulis) that swarm at certain times of year. Although many utaka species will still frequent rocky areas of the lake, they do not seem dependant on the rocky environment for their territories or for feeding and reproduction. Typical species of utaka often traded are ‘Electric blue haps’ the so-called Ahli (Sciaenochromis fryeri, this is not strictly a utaka species), Protomelas species such as the well-known “P ‘steveni Taiwan’, the red empress P. taeniolatus ‘Namalenje’ and the ‘fire-blue’ race of this species. Others from the genera Copadichromis, Mylochromis, Cyrtocara and Buccochromis are quite well-known in the hobby.

Copadichromis azureus must be the bluest fish in Lake Malawi, hence its name

The most ‘extreme’ form of this group is the species Copadichromis chrysonotus, a beautiful deep blue cichlid that spawns in open deep water, having no territory save the immediate water around it. In this case the female drops several eggs into the water column, and these are immediately picked up by the female, and probably fertilized in the buccal cavity by the male. On completion of spawning the female then joins shoals of other mouthbrooding females in open water. Food in the form of drifting phytoplankton and more importantly zooplankton is the sole source of protein, and these fish never, or very rarely ‘graze’ from rocks as do mbuna. Fish purporting to be C. chrysonotus are often imported into Johannesburg and subsequently distributed counrywide by wholesalers, but are invariably Copadichromis azureus, or hybrids thereof. This is undoubtedly a fine utaka species, but something totally different from C. chrysonotus. A simple diagnostic tool is that Cop. azureus has an almost straight dorsal forehead profile and is deep azure blue all over, whilst Cop. Chrysonotun has a more ‘boat shaped’ or elliptical profile, and adult males are paler on the dorsal surface than further down the body, one of the very few Malawi cichlids to be paler above than below.

Malawi peacocks, like this shoal of Aulonocara mbenji, are good tank mates for other utaka

One of the nicest utaka is Hemitilapia oxyrhynchus, quite a mouthful by name, but a stunning electric blue fish, that grows quite large, reaching about 15cm. Adult males have long trailing unpaired fins. For something that looks different from the typical blunt-snouted cichlid from Lake Malawi, the utaka of the genus Mylochromis are interesting, having long pointed snouts much like a spotted grunter from our estuaries. M. ‘mchuse’ has this long extended snout and a diagonal dark line running across the body from the upper shoulder. Adult males become very deep blue, with quite a bit of red in their fins, and look very dramatic, although are peaceful in temperament. Another strangely-shaped cichlid from the utaka group that many are familiar with is Cyrtocara moori, sometimes traded under that ghastly ‘common’ name “Malawi blue dolphins”…if ever there was a case of debasing something elegant, beautiful and almost regal as this species is, by giving it a plebian common name… this is it! “Mooriis” is quite adequate! These largish fish (up to 15cm for an adult male) are characterized by having a domed protuberance, or nuchal hump, on the head: the only Malawi cichlid to have one. Reasons for this are not well understood, but almost every cichlid enthusiast is familiar with Cyphotilapia frontosa, the large striped cichlid from L. Tanganyika which have even larger nuchal humps. Many Central American cichlids also display this feature as adult males.

What sort of aquarium is required for utaka? If you have something of the order of a ‘3 foot’ or ‘4 foot’, these tanks are too small. They may (just) be adequate for small mbuna like Labidochromis caeruleus or Cynotilapia afra, but are just too small to allow utaka species to mature and display their finnage and colour to their full potential. Whilst utaka are generally less aggressive than mbuna, they do require more space when adult as they do not have the habit of retreating to rocks to escape aggression by others, and as they are large when adult, less can be kept per unit volume of water. An ideal aquarium size is a 2m aquarium with sides 0.5m square holding about 500-600 litres. Bigger tanks are even better.

Utaka can be mixed with the more peaceful mbuna like the Labidochromis species, peacocks of the genus Aulonocara, and ‘small-time’ predators such as Electric blue haps (‘Ahli’). To mix them with Pseudotropheus, Metriaclima, Labeotropheus and other larger and aggressive territorial mbuna is asking for trouble, and the utaka will not develop to their full potential unless the aquarium is very large, with sufficient open space for the utaka to be able to keep away from rocky territories ‘owned’ by male mbuna.

Feeding of Malawi cichlids is always a difficult question: most hobbyists are sold so-called cichlid pellets by shops keen on making a quick buck by passing along their most expensive foods. These are invariably high-protein feeds developed for such predatory fish as Oscars, and other South and Central American cichlids from the old genus Cichlasoma (Jack Dempseys, Texas cichlids, Convicts, Jaguars etc). Such foods are invariably too high in protein for the algae-grazing mbuna and result in fast growth followed by early ‘unexplained’ mortality, as the animals’ internal organs collapse through an excess of protein: much like we would do if fed a sole diet of red meat for breakfast, lunch and supper. They need lots of low-protein spirulina based flake or pellet food to thrive. Utaka and peacock species (Aulonocara) are somewhat less fussy than mbuna in this respect, as their natural diet includes somewhat more animal protein in the form of insects and zooplankton in the wild. Having said this though, an exclusive diet of high-protein dry food in pellet or flake form only, will not cause them to thrive. I recommend a basic diet of spirulina flake (or pellet, if they are large specimens) food, supplemented three times weekly with cichlid pellets, frozen bloodworm and other ‘delicacies’ that may be available like earthworms, shrimp, frozen or live daphnia or cyclops etc.

As with all Lake Malawi cichlids the water quality must be kept at a high pH (between 8 and 9) and more importantly the water hardness must not be allowed to become too soft. A general hardness of over 10 degrees DH is preferred. Both pH and hardness can be sustained at correct levels by using crushed shell, either mixed with the coarse sand as the substrate or even better by using it as part of the filter medium. This shell will very slowly dissolve and buffer the water. If you are fortunate to live in a limestone area, or have naturally hard tap water this will not be so essential, but parts of the country such as Cape Town which have naturally soft acidic water will find it essential to buffer the water. Often coral sand is used, but I still have reservations that this substance is too fine and causes gill-irritation, as fish in aquaria with coral sand always seem to be scratching themselves on the rocks as if ‘irritated’. Symptoms of pH shock are reddish marks at the fin roots, moping on the bottom and extreme nervousness by the fish. Any aquarium water becomes more acidic as time passes due to the filtration’s chemical process, so pH drop may creep up on you slowly and you may be shocked on checking the ph reading at how low it really is. If you ask what the right pH should be, and your local store tells you that their water is “at the correct level, i.e. pH of 7” they do not know what they are talking about so rather buy your utaka elsewhere, the guy is an ignoramus and thinks you are too!

Copadichromis chrysonotus (male with females) is a typical utaka but with unusual colouring in that the deeper colour is on the ventral surface.

Utaka are not difficult to breed: they are all mouthbrooders like all other endemic Malawi cichlids, and have rather large broods often of 100 or more. The juveniles are usually smaller than mbuna fry, and tend to be more fragile, so the chances of raising any in a community of other cichlids is small. If you want to save the young the mouthbrooding female should be carefully removed to another tank to complete her 18-24 day cycle before final release of the fry. A word of warning! Utaka are much more prone to spitting out their eggs or fry than mbuna, so guide her with the net into a submerged small bucket rather than lifting her bodily out of the water, if you have to. If she does ‘spit the eggs’ try incubating them in a two-litre ice cream container with an airstone, you may just succeed in hatching them!

One final word: utaka, and indeed any Lake Malawi cichlids, should be kept just with other Malawi cichlids, not with Oscars, not with convicts, nor with Jewel cichlids. They are certainly NOT community tank fish to be mixed with plecos, angels, pangassius catfish, and all the other horrors that I have seen over the years. A few small Synodontis catfish are acceptable tank mates, but get rid of that pleco, he is only competing for algae with the greens-loving Malawis anyway!

Malawi Cichlids