There's a very small opportunistic plant growing out of cracks in the lava rock of the Little Malawi tank. Only two instances, but they are remarkable. The leaves in this photo, shot from a distance of about two inches, are less than a millimeter long. Calciferous algae glows on other rocks; I don't know if their brightly-colored stains will remain once the tank is established. And what other vermins lurk in this otherwise barren conserve?

A few years ago, I decided to name my 6g Asgard. In keeping with the tradition of naming tanks, I've decided to call the new 10g -- which is establishing itself as we speak -- Little Malawi.


This is a fascinating new direction for me. I feel comfortable with the lush, planted tank. But with Little Malawi I'll approximate the climate and conditions of the cichlids accustomed to that region. The tank, as you can see, is devoid of vegetation. I'm buffering the water gently to maintain a hard, alkaline column -- roughly 8.0 pH and high KH. In contrast, my original 10g tank, which hosts Tetras and Checkerboard cichlids (South American), is soft and acidic at just under 6 pH.

Livestock? I've given it a lot of thought. African cichlids are considerably larger than the mostly South American and Asian fish to which I'm accustomed. Because of this and the fact that my tank is small, I have to stock accordingly -- 3 specimens, one male, two female, so that everyone gets along nicely. I'm leaning toward Melanochromis maingano, a gorgeous dark blue fish with radiant light blue stripes and spots. They're typically aggressive, but they are so robust and beautiful, I think 3 specimens will work with the intricate cave network I've built in Little Malawi.

In a couple of weeks, I'll bring home the fish. For now, Little Malawi brews.

So, here I am, yet again with a new tank. I'm not sure whether this is my fourth tank, or if it's a replacement for my original tank. After several months of enjoying Checkerboard cichlids (Crenicara filamentosa), I decided to create a strictly cichlid environment. So, I designed the following:


The problem with the tank above is that it lends itself more to Lake Malawi hard-water cichlids than to the South American cichlids of which Checkerboards are a part. To make the above tank more amenable to Checkerboards, I'd have to introduce plants. Not many, just some Anubias and Java fern would do the trick. But if I want to go with a plantless, stone-only cichlid environment, a la Africa, then I'll have to harden the water and say no to any plants.

Ergo, I'm struggling with what to do. I think it's time to go visit Justin, see what he has to say.

Although I seem terminally plagued with string algae, the new tank is doing wonderfully well.


I've now completed my livestock plan. In addition to 2 SAEs, 2 Otos (the third died), the lone dwarf puffer, and the cherry and Amano shrimpies, I've added 15 Boraras brigittae, which are among the smallest vertebrates in the world and are smaller even than my 2 prize B. maculatas. Unfortunately, they are so small, I immediately lost three of them to the inflow valve (I've since corrected the problem with a temporary measure until my new ADA lilly pipe is installed).

I thought that 15 of these guys would make the tank feel full of life, but I have to tell you -- they are teeny. So teeny, in fact, that I may add another ten or so! Now, won't that be a school to enjoy.

I also added 3 of what I'm told are the world's smallest catfish, the Corydoras habrosus. At about half an inch, they are very cool, indeed. They make Otos look like giants.

I gutted and re-landscaped my 6g tank shortly before Christmas. It took about three hours and required a fairly dramatic rethinking about what I can do with the tank.

• Because most of the plants in Asgard were quite old and starting to look raggedy or algae-stressed, I removed them all. Every last one. I was careful to suction the now-bare substrate aggressively, but not completely, since I don't want to obliterate all the beneficial bacteria that lives therein. I removed my beloved moss-covered driftwood piece and threw it away. I plucked out some dreadful little pebbles I'd put in the tank a long time ago and combed the entire substrate until it was ready for the next step.
• I decided I quite like light sand in the foreground. From Justin, I bought a 10 lb. bag of sand. It's not as fine as what Amano uses and does a better job of allowing water to circulate. Justin cut me a 12" strip of non-toxic plastic that I bent into an arc and dug into the existing substrate. I spooned/sucked out all of the substrate in front of the arc, leaving a pocket about an inch high that revealed the floor of the tank. Into this pocket, I poured about a pound of sand, until it spilled over the edge of the plastic strip, allowing me to carefully merge the foreground sand with the background substrate for a stream-bed effect.
• From Steven and George I bought a small piece of driftwood, a fist-sized Amano-style rock, and half a dozen much smaller rocks that look like miniature boulders. I used the driftwood and rocks to frame the sand in the foreground, separating it from the coarser substrate in the background.
• I then planted several small plants that don't require demanding light (my T5 provides only 1.5 watts per gallon). I added short Valisneria and multiple varieties of Cryptos from Justin, plus a dot of Java moss and new-growth Acorus that I preserved from the landscape I'd just demolished.

While the new design is less busy and feels more like a natural stream bed, I am reminded of how apparent the background appliances are.

I'd like to experiment with a tank that doesn't rely on fast-growing stem plants to stave off algae. Asgard has always been the tank with which I experiment most vigorously. The challenge of maintaining stable water chemistry in such a nano-environment coupled with the absence of stem plants should prove interesting. I've been extra careful to redesign the landscape with real estate for the emergency intervention of stem plants should they be required...or should I grow bored of looking at pipes and tubes in the background.

In the meantime, the killifish, rasboras, and shrimps all seem to be adjusting to their radically different home quite nicely.