Malawi Tank Cleaner

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
M

mukundam123

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 6, 2008
226
0
0
Sunderland
Hey guys,

Am converting to a Malawi tank, and was wondering what fish I can use as 'cleaners'? Are cory's and pleco's any good? I have them in my tank at the moment (along with 2 syndo's...i think thats what theyre called...upside down catfish). The LFS said that the corys and plecos are no good, but the syndo's are what I need....only thing is, syndo's are £5 ($10) each!!! where as the corys are half that much!

Any suggestions?

cheers
 
how big is your tank as syno angelicus get pretty big and they are way more than £5 like the other synos more like £30-50 in the uk what synos do you already have?
 
Wow! Nice one! It's only a 40 gallow. The 2 pleco's are just common plecs. Don't know exactly what species of synodontis i have....I'll try and get some pics of them uploaded when I can...They're only like an inch long. I think theyre pretty common, as I got them from a regular LFS, and like you said....they were only £5....

Cheers
 
I have a common pleco and a royal pleco with my africans. the royal isn't much of a cleaner but he looks cool and eats a ton. my common does well at cleaning and he also eats a lot. not sure I agree with the upside down catfish call...my malawi cichlids would pick a fish like apart quickly. initially i had columbian sharks and several loaches but after about 5 - 6 months both columbian had been killed along with a few loaches. I would have to believe that the same thing would happen to the upside down cats.
 
thanks for the input guys. I probably won't be going for any of the larger african's, so hopefully won't have as many casulties as with the more tempramental one's (if stocked to the right level....).

Mike - which of the synodontis would you recommend?
 
petircola, multi, any that you like.

What do you mean by tank cleaner? Algae on glass, uneaten food on the bottom?
 
I find 'malaiwis', particularly mbuna's, to be extremely effective 'cleaners' themselves. I keep some BN plecos and various syno's with my cichlids but more as a diversity in live stock than for scavenging purposes.

They don't do much scavenging (the mbuna's don't leave left overs) so the synos and plecos eat when I feed the cichlids.
 
stevea6221;1772907; said:
petricola? dont get too big at about 4" and you can keep more than one, they cost about £10-20 though each
Click to expand...

My fav. I am in the market for a few myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom