Okay... Now I'm Mad

M

Margarita

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Dec 2, 2002
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Okay... went to my local LFS to buy a couple shellies for my desktop tank. The girl there sold me two young fish that she assured me were shell dwellers. Well, I've got em home in the tank and they don't even look twice at the shells so I go online and start looking at pictures and find that these guys look exactly like: Lamprologus brichardi

Are these considered shell dwellers?? Don't these get rather large?? Should I kill my LFS??

Thanks!
 
Not shellies--they are substrate spawners, by everything I could find they stay under 4 inches. Probably not the best fish for a small tank. I'd return the fish and shop elsewhere.
 
If they are really Neolamprologus brichardi (genus got moved):
1. Cave/rock (not shell) dwellers.
2. About 3" body length max, IME. Fishbase says 9 cm total. Much bigger than most shellies, but not huge.
3. Yes, they wasted your time and money. Make them suffer
:mad:
 
The worst part is, I just called to expain the situation and the girl argued with me on the phone. She was like, "what website are you seeing this on?" and "I've seen them go in and out of the shells here, so that makes them shell dwellers, I don't know what else to tell you" and "they may not really dwell in the shells now, but they will later".

ARGH

She finally said the owner offered to let me return them after I explained to her that the whole reason I came in and specifically asked for certain fish was because that's specifically what I wanted.

The nerve of some people... make a mistake and then argue.

Sheesh
 
I completely ignored the L. brichardi in the first post...good catch, mogurnda!

I think that what they put you through is ridiculous...they might spend time in a shell, but they do NOT spawn in them...sounds like the store needs to do a little more research!!!
 
So you don't have to go through that **** again, I've included links on shellies:

http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/shellweb/

http://www.cichlidae.com/tanks/t016.html

http://www.aquariacentral.com/artic...ldwellers.shtml

http://www.nature.com/nsu/000803/000803-1.html
(That one is actually just interesting, but it gives you an idea of the dynamics of social interaction between the shellies.)

http://www.tanganyikan-cichlids.co.uk/Articles.htm
(This is just an all-around good site with regard to Tanganyikan Cichlids...it's worth a read!)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articl...ller_corner.php
(Again, a site with many good articles within it about your shellies.)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/n_brevis.php
(A species-specific one written by our own Jayhawk.)

HTH,

Matthew
 
about a month ago i went in to one of my lfs specifically looking for convicts. i didnt know much about them except they are darker colored and have black and white stipes. i asked if they had convicts, and showed me some small fish which i bought, and a few weeks ago i realized they were green severums, jokes on them though, cause i can get twice as much as what i bought them for :)
 
man you guys got some messed up LFSs in your area. mine all around are knowledgable and almost always right. sometimes they mess up bbut not like that.

whats the name of that place so i never go there?
 
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