Tropical Fish Keeping - Aquarium fish care and resources

Tropical Fish Keeping - Aquarium fish care and resources (http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/)

- Cichlids (http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/cichlids/)

- - pH (http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/cichlids/ph-9448/)

I understand that the pH depends on the fish you have however most of the fish I'm looking at the book say the pH should be 7.6-8.4 for SA or Malawi. I'm confused since most of the theads I'm reading have figures more around 7.0-7.6. I'm new to cichlids so I'm sure I'll have a million questions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holly

SA as in South American? A lot of South American cichlids thrive in low pH than high pH. Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyikan cichlids are the ones that require hard alkaline water conditions in order to thrive. Failing that, they may live poorly.