Share your experience with shelldwellers?

[sinibotia]

Hello everyone! This is my 2nd post here. I've been keeping fish for 11 years now but never once have I had african cichlids of any kind! However, I recently moved into a house near my university and set up two 20 gallons with the intent of breeding some fish. At my previous residence the water was just too soft to pass up doing lots of south american fish; where I am now the water is very hard and so I'd like to try something new, and shelldwellers seem to be a really good fit.

I've been reading as much as I can but right now one thing in particular is overwhelming me- there are quite a few species of shelldwellers, and I dont know which ones are readily available (I have no lfs here, so really I have to order online anyway) or best suited for the aquarium . What are the pros and cons of different species? In particular, I'm looking for people's personal experiences with keeping them, as I'm not sure I understand the differences enough to know which I'd prefer.

Oh, and if you have any good pictures of your own shelldweller tanks and the fish themselves I'd love to see them! Thanks!

 

[SnakeIce]

Well, from my limited experience they need floor space more than anything else. So a 20 long is better than a regular 20 gallon tank. I had multifasciatus trio in a 10 gallon tank and it went ok for a while, but one of the females killed the other two. So for those smallest of shell dwellers a 10 gallon isn't enough space just for reference. If you can find a source of the "escargo" shells those work wonderfully for housing for the fish. Even if you have to buy the escargo with the shells it still may end up being cheaper than buying them from the fish store or a fancy shell vendor.

 

[sinibotia]

Was that your only experience with them? Did you enjoy having them while they lasted?

Thank you for the advice on shells. Here I was going to buy hermit crab shells from a big box pet store. Then again, I still might have to; I'm in a rural place that doesnt have much in the way of unique or cultural food. But at least I know to look.

I do happen to live near the coast, and there are a lot of shells there. Would marine snail shells work?

 

[FishFanMan]

You can go to craft store like hobby lobby and buy shells. I boiled them then placed them in my tank. My multis seems to like them. I have 4 in a community 34 gallon tank. Everyone seems happy. During the day, my multis never go into the shells. When the lights are turned off, that's when I think they go into the shells.