• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Buying Information

Mike's Rifts is a fully licenced pet trader and operates from home premises.
Visits and viewing of stock can be arranged beforehand for a mutually suitable time and we are available 7 days a week including evenings.
Payment for stock can be made using cash, credit/debit cards.
Fish can also be purchased via telephone ordering or email.

Useful Information

We keep our fish in individually filtered tanks and do not use centralised systems.
Water conditions in our tanks are maintained at a pH of 8.1-8.2 with a temperature of 25C.
We employ Hamburg Matten Filters (HMF's) as our main source of biological filteration for our stock tanks.
We also carry out large weekly water changes to keep water and fish in tip top condition.
Our fish are fed daily on Tropical and New Era brands of fish food, we also stock and sell these products.

Shipping Information

We use APC Couriers to ship livestock on a next day before 10am service.
Current standard cost is £23.00 for a single box upto 15kg in weight. (Extra boxes are charged per kilo)
For Scottish Lowlands and Highlands there is an extra charge.
We ship only within the UK mainland.
Delivery days are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; consignments can arrive any time between 8-10am.
Fish are packed inside polystyrene shipping boxes and are double bagged. We use pure oxygen when bagging up stock and during cooler weather 30 hour heat packs are used to keep the boxes warm (pretty much most of the year!)
Due to the efforts we put into shipping our fish correctly the minimum shipment value is £50.00 worth of live stock.
All fish are starved for 24hrs before shipping and we require 48hrs notice before orders are shipped.
During cold weather periods we reserve the right to hold back consignments until weather improves.
Although we pack the fish to the highest standards there are some fish which we will only ship at the customers own risk, these are,

• Benthochromis
• Cyathopharynx
• Cyprichromis
• Enantiopus
• Lamprichthys
• Opthalmotilapia
• Paracyprichromis
• Xenotilapia

Any DOA's must be reported the same day of arrival and photographic evidence is required as proof before any refunds are given.
As always we encourage customers to collect their fish in person, a drive home with your fish is far less stressful for them than an overnight journey.

Useful terms for Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlid keepers

• Wild Caught - Any Malawi or Tanganyikan cichlid described as wild caught should have been collected in either Lake Malawi or Lake Tanganyika.
• Pond Bred - This is a fish that has been bred and reared in a pond.
• Lakeside Bred - Fish that have been bred and reared in tanks or ponds next to a Rift Valley Lake.
• Tank Bred - This is a fish that has been bred and reared in a fish tank.
• F1 - With Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids it is used to inform how many generations removed from wild caught parents. So F1 refers to 1 generation removed from wild caught, with F2 referring to 2 generations removed from wild caught.
• Local Bred - Malawi or Tanganyikan cichlids bred in the UK.
• Euro Bred - Malawi or Tanganyikan cichlids that were bred in countries on the continent such as Germany, Holland and the Czech Republic.
• Far Eastern Bred - Malawi or Tanganyikan cichlids that have been bred in countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Notes about wild caught Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids

• When initially imported they need time to settle into captivity, with the right care they can become truly stunning specimens.
• It is normal that the fish are of mixed sizes as individuals of different ages are collected side by side.
• Certain physical attributes may look more pronounced e.g. lips and head structure. Wild caught rift valley cichlids will have the correctly proportioned bodies and shape that is true to their species. Often with tank bred stocks these attributes are dulled down or lost to inbreeding.
• Within a batch of stock of the same species there will be some variation in mature male colouration as they will be from different parents and therefore unrelated to each other.
• Wild caught rift valley cichlids are more demanding and therefore harder to maintain than tank or pond bred stocks and are not reccommended for a hobbyists first attempt at keeping Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids.
• For the production of high quality young rift valley cichlids wild caught breeding stock is often the best option as you are able to select adult brood stock from unrelated fish.

Information about water quality for Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids

The Rift Valley Lakes of Malawi and Tanganyika are huge bodies of water and because of their mass they are relatively stable environments for life (just like an ocean or sea). The cichlids that live in these lakes have evolved spectacularly over the ages to take advantage of the myriad of habitats they offer.
What this means for aquatic hobbyists is that we have a group of animals that have evolved to live within stable and clean water conditions and it is important to remember they need these conditions to thrive in captivity!
An effective filter system and regular partial water changes are essential tools in the quest for these conditions.
Choice of filter systems is vast and there are many solutions available from low to high tech, all aim to do the same job which is to filter out and breakdown organic waste products within your aquarium.
All filters once matured will process ammonia into nitrite and then nitrite into nitrate and it's important to understand that Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids are adversely effected by a build up of nitrate in their environment. In the wild they would never come into contact with nitrate but in our aquariums it is often allowed to build up freely over time and becomes a creeping menace to the long term health of our fish.
Weekly water changes are an essential part of keeping nitrate levels low, the amount of the water changed depends greatly upon stocking densities and how much nitrate is present in your tap water to start with. Some hobbyists can keep nitrate levels in check with 20-25% changed weekly whilst others need to carry out 50%+ per week to keep levels under control.
The important thing to remember is that weekly partial water changes are essential and allowing nitrates to creep up will have a detrimental effect upon these fish.

Of equal importance is the quality of the water used for partial water changes, which means,

• Water is fully dechlorinated, all chlorine or chloromines should be removed from the water.
• Temperature of the new water should approximate that of the water it is replacing.
• pH and hardness levels should match that of the water in the aquarium.

The above 3 can all be carried out in a bucket/tank/barrel in advance but what should be avoided is placing a hose pipe straight from the cold water tap into your tank and then dosing with dechlorinator and pH buffers.
The changes to your tanks chemistry and temperature will knock it's stability and will effect not only the fish but also the micro-organisms which are responsible for the breakdown and conversion of dissolved organic waste.
A period of 24hrs aeration and storage is even better and this allows the tap water to de-gass and release it's load of carbon dioxide, which improves the waters chemical stability.
If you can make one single change to your fish keeping husbandry it should be to carry out weekly partial water changes using the correctly pre-conditioned water, you will find over time that the health of your livestock will improve greatly.