I'm looking to start up a 20g long shellie tank and was looking for species suggestions and numbers. How many males could I fit in this tank, or would one be it? How many females? Has anyone ever experienced shellie juveniles being tollerated by adults and helping to raise subsequent generations of fry? Where can I find shells? Dither fish if any?
I too would be interested in hearing of dither fish for shell-dwelling cichlids. I've a new set-up, housing 3 (I hope 1 male & 2 females ... I chose strictly by size) Neo Multifaciatus and am interested in something to make them a little less shy....and maybe scavenge the sandy bottom at the same time.
As for shells, I am using Apple Snail shells, aquired from a local pet store and boiled before adding to the tank. The tank is in no way large, only an 8 gallon, but filtration is good (3 stage filter with biowheel).
Striking lil' buggars, they are ... with those big baby blue eyes.
The lil' guys don't seem to have taken to many food types, as readily as my Yellow Labs, nor my Keni ... but go bonkers when I treat them to a few frozen bloodworms. The tank is only a few days old now, and they have already staked claim to a few of the apple snail shells & sunk them into the sand accordingly. I believe to have seen the beginnings of courtship antics as well, so my hopes are up for eventually seeing some lil' blue-eyed squirts in the mix.
But, ... again ... dither fish ?? .. I was thinking a small khuli loach, but the tank is really so little that I am a little worried about the territorial slayings of anything I place in there.
If you expect the Shellies to breed, I wouldn't put anything else in the tank. They are 'family' breeders in that once the fry are old enough and the female is ready to lay eggs again, they are shunned fron that specific area. When the new fry become free swimming, the older siblings will take care of the and this continues all along and the tank can soon become overcrowded. I know of one breeder who never paid for food at any LFS. He just kept trading the juveniles for whatever he wanted.
That's what I needed to hear, Zman. Thanks for the insight.
There are a a few "mom & pop" LPS in the area (Kansas City) that I am fairly certain would work trades with me for juvie multifaciatus, so that idea sounds particularly promising.
Beautiful lil' fish ... though I kinda wish I'd gone with black sand for more viewability....those eyes really bowl me over....so so bright & so so blue.
erratum - where have you found tangs in KC? I'm from KC (about 75th and Ward Parkway), and Tropical Fish Cove and OP Pets are the only two stores I know that really carry them (I'd love to find a nearer LFS with them).
Eric: ... The Neo Multifaciatus ? ... in Olathe @ "Petland" of all places. They have a few .. very few .. I think I nabbed the only male in the tank, tho. I've not seen them elsewhere at all .. they said they were getting in some brevis as well but didn't look for them for a couple of weeks.
not all shellies are colony breeders, multi's are though. juveniles will not help raise the younger fish in any shellie that I'm aware of. Brichardi are the ones with this reputation but they are rockdwellers. Most of them will tolerate the juveniles to an extent, as long as they stay away from their area. I started with 13 juveniles in a 20 long. I went to Hobby Lobby and got a couple large baskets of seashells for 5.99 and ended up with about 30 shells I could use, mostly turbosnails or these redish and white conical shells I'm unaware of what they are. I used some rocks to make a divider in the middle to add more territorial boundaries. DO NOT ADD SNAILS or you won't get fry, no matter what anyone else tells you. I had a single trumpet snail get in my tank and turned into thousands. people on the net kept telling me this wasn't my problem for not getting fry but the week after I medicated my tank with flubendazole to rid it of the snails I had fry so I proved their theory wrong. I have since had 4 or so groups of fry and have about 30-40 juveniles in the tank. as for dithers, whiteclouds or zebra danio's would probably work but I don't think you need any with multies, mine are always out and about and when I approach the tank they swim to the top, even the week old fry. Popular shells are neotheuma shells, mystery snail shells, escargot shells or turbosnail shells. I have heard the arguement that turbo snail shells are too heavy for them to move but I've talked with friends that actually bought neotheuma shells and said they didn't move them around anyway so can't comment on that claim. Kyle
