well if you start out with say about 5 multi's in a 10gal in a few months it will be like 20 multi's they breed like rabbits and they do have the little man syndrome type of attitude sorta scrappy for a shellie but yeah they by themselves would work in a 10gal until its time to thin the stock out with enough shells provided it would make for a nice setup, i have a 10gal with a trio from my original stock parents and they are now breeding for me and the whole 10gal is wall to wall sagitaria and java moss really nowhere to swim in the upper levels i also have bristelnose pleco fry in this 10gal, cool deal it should be ok..