How to keep these gorgeous fishes (Lake Malawi Cichlids - Mark Smith)

Member Name: markos9

Product:	Lake Malawi Cichlids - Mark Smith
Date:	30/07/09 (211 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Specific information for keepers of Lake Malawi cichlids.

Disadvantages: Book is too short; not enough information in key areas.

Lake Malawi contains a huge number of fishes from the cichlid family (over six hundred), most of which are endemic so found nowhere else on earth. Many of these fish are active, colourful, and small enough to be kept in an aquarium.

One particular group of fishes, the 'Mbuna', or rock dwelling fish, are amongst the most popular aquarium fishes in the world. There are many reasons for this. Mbuna have been called 'freshwater coral fish', comparing them with the stunningly colourful and beautiful fish that live on saltwater coral reefs.

Another group of cichlids, called the 'Utaka' are larger, just as colourful, but less aggressive so can make a bigger, more peaceful aquascape.

Cichlids from Lake Malawi are easy to look after, being robust and hardy, but they must not be kept with fishes from other areas (particularly the Mbuna; these must be kept with other Mbuna due to their aggression). The Lake Malawi cichlids also have some husbandry requirements that are different from most other fishes, so for the new fish keeper, interested in keeping them, research into the subject is essential.

Lake Malawi Cichlids, by Mark Philip Smith is an attempt to provide a useful guide to the setting up, maintenance, and stocking of a tank of the cichlids from Lake Malawi.

The first part of the book describes Lake Malawi, its characteristics and history (it is the ninth largest lake in the world, at over 360 miles long by 25 miles wide), before describing the cichlids that live in the lake and how so many hundreds of species have evolved, within a comparatively short space of time.

These history, geology, and biology lessons serve to put the cichlids in perspective. These are relatively advanced fishes which are (for fish) highly intelligent, active, and exhibiting fascinating behaviours. For example, many of the cichlids from Lake Malawi practice 'mouth brooding'. Here the female holds the fertilised eggs in her mouth until after the babies have hatched.

This gives the young the best chance of survival, and gives the fish keeper an amazing, natural behaviour to witness.

The next chapter describes setting up the aquarium. The author explains that Lake Malawi cichlids require a lot of space, so an aquarium smaller than 200 litres is not really advisable. A good minimum, big enough to keep around 20 fish, is 300 litres (typically four foot long). For the bigger species, which can be up to eight inches long, a 1000 litre aquarium is not too big!

Filtration is extremely important for a Lake Malawi tank. Because the lake water is so pure, the fishes are extremely intolerant of pollution; efficient filtration is essential to keep the fishes in good health, far more than 'general' tropical fishes. Here though, I felt the author skimmed over this subject somewhat. A mere couple of pages are given over to the subject, which is quite complex, when more information and explanation could and should have been provided.

Water chemistry is also very important to the fishes' wellbeing. Lake Malawi's water is hard and alkaline. Here, the author does give all of the important information (pH, hardness levels, and most of all the need to maintain consistent water parameters), albeit rather brief again.

The other aquarium setting up details are covered adequately such as heating, lighting and decoration and the need to have plenty of rocks when keeping Mbuna is emphasised.

Water changes are also essential to the Malawi Cichlid aquarium and the author explains the how's and why's of this (30% change weekly is not excessive). A small section on fish health follows this and describes what to look for to detect fish that are ill, and how to treat them.

The second half of the book is given over to descriptions of the various species that are available and can be kept in aquaria. These are accompanied by extremely good photographs. The excellent of the photos together with the highly coloured and attractive fishes means that this section looks simply gorgeous.

Many of the fishes shown appear to almost glow, with vibrant yellows, blues and oranges, making the fish really stand out. Just looking through this section will convince many fish keepers that they MUST have a Malawi Cichlid aquarium.

Many of the cichlids are highly aggressive, some are piscivorous and will eat smaller fishes if given the chance, so the author ensures that enough information on the fishes habits are given in the text. A carefully chosen cichlid aquarium will be full of vividly coloured, highly active fishes, living in (relative) harmony. A poorly chosen selection can lead to an aquarium that resembles a war zone.

The descriptions also detail each species' feeding requirements, and their breeding habits so that the fish keeper can keep his charges in the best of health.

This book is quite small, only 95 pages long, but contains most of the information required to keep the cichlids from Lake Malawi. I do feel that some important sections were rushed (e.g. filtration); the book could have benefited from being 30 pages longer.

I can recommend this book to the novice Malawi cichlid keeper, but would recommend him or her to buy an excellent general guide to keeping fish in addition to this book.

The book is available from Amazon for £5.99.

Summary: A good guide for the prospective Malawi cichlid keeper.