Coming soon: Lamprologus ocellatus!

[Tifftastic]

We finally decided on a species of shell dweller for my maternal effects project, Neolamprologus brevis, and then ended up switching to Lamprologus ocellatus due to vendor availability. Unfortunately only the males will be wild caught and females are from tank raised group. I'm exctied to get this started and see what results I get with behavior. They should be here in the next week!
Does anyone have any personal experience with these guys that may be helpful?
I'll get pics when they come in =]

 

[Tifftastic]

They're here! Well they have been for a while, I've just been slow to update. Unfortunately the tech guys didn't listen and threw shells in, so they've made themselves little homes. It'll be interesting to get them out in order to switch to PVC for the experiments. But that's a problem for future Tiff. Right now I'm just enjoying how cute they are.

 

[SnakeIce]

If you want to unshell them, it is easy with the right set up. You need a bucket and a grate with small enough holes to hold the shells but easily let the fish through. suspend or support this grate with just enough water over it to cover the shells by an inch or so. Place shells with fish in them on the grate, and wait. They will come out and descend to the bottom of the bucket and you can take the now probably empty shells out. Only fish mature enough to readily venture out are easily separated this way so if there are fry in the shells they will stay.

 

[Tifftastic]

Ooh good to know! I'll give that a try