Gonna Get Multis! What do I need?

[BioHazard]

I've done some research, and now that I have a spare 10 gal, I want a pair of multis to breed.
I have already ordered a huge selection of shells.
What do you recommend for substrate?
I'm considering this http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+9805+21412&pcatid=21412, the Sunset Gold sand.
Or this http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+10742+8976&pcatid=8976, the sand.

I like the more natural look of the former though, so I think I will go with that.

My pH is normally around 7.6. What do you recommend as a buffer? I'd love some holey rock, but that seems to be hard to get.

How about plants? Do these guys like them? Probably not.

How about food? What do you recommend? I have frozen foods for them, as well as live whiteworms. What do you recommend as a staple?

Anything you can think of that I need would be nice.

[BioHazard]

I would really like some food suggestions, as I'm sure they have little mouths, and I read they like sinking food.

[jpappy789]

Substrate:

Any type of sand is good, but the eco complete will help buffer. I dont think its essential so go with what you like.

Plants:

Multis like to move sand around so expect any plants to get buried in a smaller area. You could try anubias species if you like.

Food:

I had these small, cichlid pellets that sank but I can't for the life of me remember the brand.

Otherwise they'll take frozen foods, especially bloodworms IME.

[efors]

In a 10gal you can even start with 4 multies, IMO. Add at least 3 shells per fish; more would be better for the future fry because the size of the colony will increase. The water pH and hardness should be high, so your second choice for substrate is better because that is an African cichlid sand that contains aragonite; a great pH and hardness buffer. You don't need any other buffer with that substrate.
Holey rock is great but very expensive. You can use it or any other suitable kind of rock should be OK, but you don't need too much rock; shells are the real important items. Plants are a problem with them because they dig in the sand very much. If you are not too strict, use a few realistic fake plants.
As staple food, flakes with spirulina are great as are very small sinking cichlid pellets. I also feed them brine shrimp decapsulated eggs once a week. Do not feed them as staple food too meaty foods high in proteins. Good luck and enjoy these interesting little beauties!
P.S.- You can use those frozen foods as occasional treats. And yes, they prefer sinking foods; they don't like too much to eat at the surface.

[Fishfiles1]

could you fit a julie in that tank to, sorry for stealing your thread

[mel_20_20]

I'd love to share some Texas holey rock with you, Anna. I have a quantity that I have put aside for some AC members would like to have some, though I haven't gotten them packed up and shipped out and it was such a long time ago that I dug these things up. I still plan to do that.

I still would have enough for your needs, I think. Describe what you'd like your tank to look like.

[BioHazard]

PM sent to Mel.

Also, does anyone know if shrimp or snails could be in this tank? It would be nice to have a couple of amanos, and maybe a nerite in there.

[Pittbull]

Fishfiles1 (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/member.php?u=82965) wrote:
could you fit a julie in that tank to, sorry for stealing your thread Not in a 10gal your fry will disappear so will your parents..

Biomajor - Small tropical shrimp probably not they will fall to predation, nerites should be fine plus when they die the tiny babies could use the shell as a hide out, I have a 20gal long Multi colony its been up and running for a couple of years now i have 3 medium size pieces of Texas Holey in this tank one piece on each end and one in the middle with a lot of shells, I have anubias nanna attached to the rocks and work fine because they are not buried which is a great past time for Multi's..