One of the largest biotope aquaria in Poland is being set up in the UG’s Faculty of Biology building. The 7,000-litre tank will replicate the exact conditions of the biotope of Africa’s Lake Malawi.  

Lake Malawi is a lake with a white bed of pebble and sand, surrounded by light-coloured rocks which can also be seen at the bottom of the lake. The waters, practically devoid of plant life, contain around 600 endemic species of fish of the family Cichlidae, which serve as a key example of evolutionary specialisation. These include fish which feed on phytoplankton floating  in the water which they sift out with great precision with the help of gill rakers, as well as fish which feed on algae growing  on inshore rocks. The latter are referred to by locals as  "mbuna kunwa", which literally means “rock biters”.

Due to the wealth of endemic taxa, in 1984 Lake Malawi (formerly Nyasa) was entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List. 

Work on the set-up and stocking of the aquarium at the Faculty of Biology will continue until mid-January 2016. 

The project was partly financed by the Voivodeship Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Gdańsk.