You can setup two different styles of Malawi tanks:

1. A combination of large stones which almost reach the water surface and multiple caves.
2. With less stones and one or two caves.  Due to their aggressive nature big stones should be provided for every male in the tank.

For a breeding tank #2 is recommended.  The first scenario is recommended for a community tank.

In addition, the following should be adhered to:

• Temperature: 26-28 degree Celsius
• pH 7.5 - 8.5
• Medium to hard water
• Plants are not required.  Stones are recommended. 
• Caves 
  

  Before you purchase your fish, consider their size when fully grown. (C.affra grows to a size of 7 cm while R.macropthalmus reaches a size of 30 cm.) and in what habitat they thrive (C.affra likes caves while C.azureus is adopted to open water).
  

  In other words: If you are going to keep large,(and / or) open water habitants, you are going to need a rather large tank,  while if you are planning on keeping small Mbunas such as C.affra, you can get away with a smaller tank.  Create the environment that your fish wants. If you have both open water dwellers and Mbunas, see to it that you have a thank that have both caves and free space!
  

  No matter what Malawi cichlid you are going to keep, be sure to have a very good circulation in your tank and make a partial water change once or twice a week.

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Water Conditions

Malawi Cichlids live in very "hard (rich of calcium = KH>5)" water with a high pH). Therefore, you should test your tap water before you start to invest a lot of money in these particular fish. This is easily done by a pH and a KH tester (ask in your local pet store). If your water is hard as a rock and (in that case most probably) reaches a high pH, you have excellent water for Malawi cichlids, congratulations! But if your water is like mine; soft as a sponge and barely reaches pH 7, then you have to improve the water conditions.

This is what you can do to improve your water:

1. Buy gravel that contains a high level of lime stone
2. Add 2dl of salt (from sea water NOT mineral salt) and 1dl Calcium carbonate to every 400 liters of water.

If you do have to make adjustments to your water conditions, you have to remember to check after every partial change of water and maybe adjust them a bit!

Food

There are a variety of cichlids in the lake Malawi and therefore, different foods that should and shouldn't be used. There are however some universal basic foods that can be used successfully.

The first thing you have to ask your self is: What do these fishes eat in the wild?
Mbunas are usually aufwchs eaters and tend to grow to super natural sizes in your tank (a fish that should reach the size of 6cm can easily grow to a size of 12cm in a tank), if you give them too much protein. They also tend to loose some of their colors if they become to large.

Predators however, can naturally eat lots of protein without growing to these unnatural sizes.

These are foods and mixtures that I've used successfully throughout the years with both predators and other Malawi cichlids:

• Hikari pellet dry-food-formula (put them in water 15min before you feed them)
• Cichlid de-luxe with spirulina algae pellets (15 min in water before feeding)
• My own mixture of prawns and peas (the best!)

I use about 40% of prawns and 60% of peas and mix them together in a blender and then I freeze them in cubes of adequate sizes.

Temperature

The adequate temperature for Malawi cichlids is 24 - 28 degrees Celsius.
(Breeding temperature: 26-28 degrees Celsius)

Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi is the ninth largest lake in the world and is about 60 miles longer than Lake Michigan.  A rift lake, meaning that it lies in the great Rift Valley of Africa is elongated and very deep in places.  The pH of Lake Malawi is a measure of the alkalinity or acidity which varies between 7.8 and 8.5.    In the middle of the lake and over deep water the pH is 8.3.  The fluctuations are due mainly to the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide.

There are various seasons which include strong winds and heavy rainfalls.  

The shores of the lake are varied.  Most shores have sandy beaches or weedy marshland.  The rocky areas alternate with sandy areas.  The deep water is common with the rocky coastline.  Most cichlids have adapted to the rocky areas and are bound there throughout their lives, therefore, in order to make cichlids feel at home, the Malawi Cichlid Aquarium should have a similar environment.  The ideal tank should be large enough to accommodate enough room for each male to have 3 times his body size in all directions from his home to make "his" as these fish are very territorial.  The tank should be covered on the sides and bottom with black, dark green or green with reddish brown streaks.  Cichlids are use to having light from above and many caves in which to hid and make their home.   Use plain sand or a very fine gravel.  Two types of live plants Vallisneria sp. and Ceratophyllum demersum are recommended.  For Malawi cichlids, the pH should be between 7.05 and 9.5.   

Following these simple guidelines should keep your Malawi aquarium a natural and peaceful community.