Chris Harris

Barely touch this one and it keeps chugging along fine. Water changes when I remember, a dose of Prime, and that's basically it. Spiderwood anchors the whole layout and the hygrophila pinnatifida has finally started hugging it instead of growing straight up, which took a while to convince it to do. Rotala stays in check with an occasional trim, otherwise I mostly just watch it. Crystal red shrimp are the main attraction, a whole colony of them now picking through the moss and grazing the glass alongside the ramshorns. Found a baby shrimp during a trim a while back, way smaller than the others, first sign they'd actually bred in here. Temperature stays steady thanks to the inkbird so I don't worry about that side of things at all. Small footprint, big personality tank, and easily the lowest maintenance thing I own even with thirty shrimp crammed in there being their usual paranoid little selves.

People ask why a reef guy has a tank named after Malawi and I just shrug, no cichlids here, I liked the name and it stuck. This one runs on a Fluval 307 and a Jebao wavemaker doing most of the heavy lifting while I mess with parameters more than I should. The yellow tangs claimed the open sandbed up front pretty early and still chase each other around it like they own the place. Anthias school near the top of the rockwork most of the day, still a little skittish if I walk by too fast. Firefish gobies dart into their holes at the slightest movement, classic. Goniopora and the zoanthid colony have filled out nicely across the rock, favia and montipora tucked into the caves I stacked for exactly that. Coralline is spreading over the bare spots now which I like watching more than I probably should. A small army of nassarius snails keeps the sand turned over so I don't have to think about it much. Feeding time is honestly the best part of my day.