Who Gives A Fish Forums

I'm considering Malawi cichlids for my new setup, but I'm still in the thinking stages. Got a few questions, though.

I've heard that when introducing these fish, it's best to get a group at once, rather than adding new ones to an existing tank, as the established fish can be quite aggressive towards the newcomers. Is there any truth to this?

I've also got a bunch of bogwood that I'm not looking to get rid of, and I'm wondering if this will cause any issues. I know it can help keep the pH lower, which could be beneficial given our tap water pH in Scotland is around 7.

I'm just exploring the idea at this point, as I haven't even got the tank yet, but I'm keen to try something different this time around.

Any advice or constructive criticism would be great, thanks.

Edit: Just to add, the tank will be a Jewel 180 corner, and I'll be using the filter from my existing Rena 240, which has been running for years, so no need to worry about the cycling process.

I was browsing through videos and came across this setup - http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtQLO8J8tfw. It's pretty impressive. Something like that would be great.

Thanks for the vid, sensualx, but it doesn't really give me much to go on for my scape or with keeping Malawi cichlids. Still, nice tank, and I'm glad to see it's the same model as mine.

When I kept Malawi cichlids, I'd usually introduce them a few at a time to distribute aggression, avoid adding similar coloured fish to the existing ones, and turn off the lights, but even then things can still go wrong depending on the temperature of the fish you already have and the ones you're adding.

Thanks for the info, NMT. It makes sense to avoid adding fish with the same color as the existing ones. I'm still a bit stumped about the water hardness though. I'm really fond of the bogwood and plants in my tank, but I know I need to find a way to keep the pH closer to 8 rather than the usual 6. Any suggestions on how to achieve that would be great.