water conditions.. and what lake are these from?

[president89]

i have.. the following cichlids in a 55 gallon tank.. all are under 3 inches..
afra..(1)
p.seudatrophi(2)
sacalofi(1)
acci(2)
P.demasoni(2)
what kinda water conditions do these like... as odd as this sounds.. i have had these fish for a year...and not had any of these africans die... but i do not know what type of water conditions exactly they prefer.. i'm just the type who throws in some baking soda.. and epsom salt.. to keep the ph and kh and gh up there ... somewhere... but where is this somewhere if i could some exact perameters.. it would be good thanks guys.

[Boilermaker]

Your cichlids are from lake malawi, rock dwelling cichlids (Mbuna).
They are mainly vegetarians, feed them mostly spirulina, blanched zucchini,etc...
They like a ph from 7.8 to 8.5, dH 6 to 12, kH around 200.
Also I would invest in some books,African Cichlids by Dr. Paul V Loiselle,
or The guide to owning Malawi Cichlids by David E Boruchowitz. these are great beginner books. Also search the web there's tons of Malawi sites days and days of reading. :wink: