I'm currently in the process of using my 125 litre tank as a 'life boat' for my main 250 litre community tank that went t*ts-up recently. I'm *hoping* that the 125 litre tank will become vacant in the next week and I wish to use it as a cichlid tank.
Is it possible to use it for a mini Malawi setup? Or perhaps for a pair of convicts/firemouths or something along those lines?
This will be my first cichlid-only tank so any help is appreciated

Hi

Too small for Malawi. Even dwarf Mbuna need a 200L mimimum unfortunately as they need the footprint due to their aggression.

A pair of Firemouths or Convicts would be fine in there if your water suits, but in either case you may struggle to find a mated pair so will need to buy a group of around six juveniles and grow them on until a pair forms and then rehome the rest. Be aware that Convicts will produce frequent large broods of offspring that can be very hard to find homes for.

Whats your water like? pH wise if you have a high pH like 7.8+ you could do a multi tank, if its at the bottom end, sort of 7.2ish you go could dwarf cichlids like Bolivian Rams.

Tap water PH seems to be swaying a fair bit at the moment. It's normally 6.8 but it's as high as 7.6 at the moment. No idea why that is

something to do with your supplier I expect. If it's 6.8 and soft water you'll have to buffer up gH and kH for Tangs or for Central Americans.

Well, this tank is about to become vacant now. I've put all my fish into the main tank now that it has fully cycled, apart from my clown loaches for a few days because they have touch of ich and I want to be 100% sure that the main tank is fine before moving them.
As for the 125l tank, I was thinking of some German or Bolivian rams with a school of tetras, perhaps rummy nose. Would they be ok in a 125l tank?
My tap water is about PH 6.6-6.8 now, with nitrates up to about 5ppm.

What's the gH?

I'm unsure because I don't have a test kit for that. But according to United Utilities website, we're in a 'very soft' water area.