substrate for shellies?

Gulp

Gulp

Nom, nom, nom.
Dec 16, 2003
336
0
0
Stockbridge, Georgia
Visit site
Well, after doing a little more research tonight I think I am going to put some shellies in the tank I am setting up at work (12 gallon Eclipse). I see they require a very high PH and I want to use some natural buffers to keep things at the right level... So....is crushed coral a good substrate for these guys, or should I stick with sand and use anothe way to adjust the PH? I have crushed coral at home already.........I don't want to be lazy and just use what I have if it's not going to be best for the fish. :D

I still don't know which type of shellie I want, but I'm leaning towards the ocellatus (Gold), or any other color I can find. The odds of any of my LFSs carrying them is low though. Guess I will have to get them to order something once I make up my mind.
 
I have ocellatus blue, and they are great little fish.

In a 12 gallon i reccommend 1 male 2 females, maybe 3 females. I had 3 femmes but one attacked another and i only have 2 left now.

They like sand.... a lot... so its pretty much a must for them. They love to dig in it and play in it... and will sometimes even bury themselves in it.

You'll need a few rocks in there to break up terretories, and of course shells! i would say get at least 2 shells per fish.

Since you wont be putting crushed coral in the sand, put it in a stocking and place it in the filter. Or you could mix some crushed shell into the sand.

:D
-Diana
 
With ocellatus, well the 'blue' variety anyways, you look for a larger one of the group that has yellow tips on the ridge of his dorsal fin. When he's mature it will look like a yellow line along the top of his fin, but when they are younger its just little yellow tips. Also the males will be larger and most likely darker and more aggressive, but only the dominant ones will be like that. They are very difficult to sex and the best way is to buy more and sell off the extra males. I tried to do that but unfortuneately the extra male and female were just killed off before i could get rid of them. They seem to sort things out on thier own ;) Females will have white on thier fins instead of yellow... but the white is much more suttle and difficult to see.

Reading up on the species you are planning on is the best thing to do.... thats how i learned to sex them.

;)
-Diana
 
Jayhawk said:
Personally, I'm fond of the brevis article...:-)

Eric
Click to expand...


Dang it....now I have to make ANOTHER choice. :laugh: Those do sound interesting. :D

It's going to depend on what I can find around here. Most of the LFS'/petcos/petsmarts didn't even know what I was talking about when I mentioned Tanganyikan Shell Dwellers.....and ocellatus confused them more. I did find one place that was familiar with them, but they don't stock them. They said they could order some for me and to call back Monday to get a price. I'll ask about the brevis when I do. They sound a little less aggressive so maybe I can have some top swimmers in the tank with them to even things out.

Thanks for all the advice......off to read some more.

Oh........where do you guys find the shells? I've been told you can get shells from escargo at grocery stores, but I don't think I've seen any of the LFSs carrying any empty shells for the dwellers (then again, I haven't really been looking for them in the past)
 
i ordered them from: http://www.cichlidstore.com, but they have since run out or stopped selling them. I would keep looking, i'm sure there are other places out there that have them for a reasonable price. They are $2.00 CND each from http://www.crlca.com i think, but again they are out of stock at the moment.

-Diana
 
You can also go buy a bunch of shells at craft stores like Michaels. Granted, when you buy a bag of shells, some won't be usable, but by carefully choosing the packet I often was able to get 5-6 shells that were usable per bag and they cost around $4 per bag. As for escargot shells, do you have a local french restraunt...they might be willing to sell you some.

Eric
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom