# breeding shell dwellers



## fromdaisland (Mar 9, 2010)

can anyone tell me more about breeding pearlys and gold ocellatus...i just got 6 pearly ocellatus in a 29 gal. tank with about 12 or s0 shells on the bottem...i just love tangs!!! and i also got 7 inkfin calvus all under an inch,in a 25 gal tank those i have to wait at least 1 to 2 yrs?? to breed, fell in love with all types of calvus...any more info i could use would be great THANKX!!!!


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## fromdaisland (Mar 9, 2010)

can someone tell me any info about breeding pearly/gold ocellatus??


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

just arrange the shells and they'll take care of the rest. There's plenty of info for Altos (Calvus) but, like you said, you won't need much for a couple of years. Don't worry though, change their water 20% twice a week, temp at 80f, 12 hours light, feed sparingly but often (4 times) and they will grow faster. By faster I mean almost 2 inches in a year. So, still pretty slow. Once they're 2 inches the growth really slows down.

I regularly grow my fry to 2 inches in the first year but have found that they still don't spawn until they're at least 2 yrs old.

All that being said I have been obsessed with this species (all variants) for some time and they're awesome at any age!


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## tranced (Jan 11, 2006)

i am currently keeping both pearly and gold occelatus.

i started with 7 golds in november, in a 4 x 18 tank. one male become dominant and claimed half the tank. after a couple of months i noticed that two smallest ones had started living in his territory. they were sticking very close to their shells, and when i looked closely there were tiny fry swimming around the entrance to the shell.

they have spawned every couple of weeks since early january. i have removed all the other 4 occies, i believe they were all males. so the breeding trio have a four foot tank all to themselves. i think its important not to crowd this species as they are quite agressive with each other. often the male swims over to the empty side of the tank and hangs out there for a while. like any man, i think he needs a bit of alone time to get away from his nagging women. i think if i kept them packed into a small tank, there would be problems...

my pearly occelatus tank is the same footprint, as both tanks are on a two tiered stand. however i have 13 of them in that tank. they have not bred yet, but i think it will eventually happen as they have a huge tank and large population. i think they mature a bit slower than the gold occys. they also seem less agressive and territorial, with the two large males often letting other fish linger in their territory for a while.

here is some photos of my very first gold occy fry born in early jan. they are now almost 3/4"


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

those are some spoiled shellies


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## tranced (Jan 11, 2006)

when my fish are happy it makes me happy


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## Pali (Dec 22, 2009)

I find that feeding with new hatched brine shrimp tricker the breeding alot, I have been breeding shellies for many years and they are fun and pretty easy to breed. Weekly 25% water changes is also important, keeping a healthy water culture.

Not the fry you get the most cash for, but on the other hand I remove the shells with fry when I see them in the entrence of the shells. That way I often save 20-25 fry that will grow up pretty fast, so with a few females I can make a fair bunch of fry that will keep my ekspenses down a little.

Atm I breed my L. Boulengeri in a 66 g 4ft tank with 4 W/C A. black calvus (white pearl) + some grow out tanks.


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## Pali (Dec 22, 2009)

dubble post


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## tranced (Jan 11, 2006)

the fry sell pretty well over here in australia, the retail on gold occies is $65 at the moment, mulies are around $25. so you could probably cover alot of expenses breeding the little guys.


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## CichlidWhisperer (Apr 12, 2008)

I have gold occies and inkfin calvus in my Tang tank. The occies breed nonstop, however now that the calvus are bigger, they like dining on the babies. As much as it sounds horrible, after taking care of many many occie litters, I am just fine with this. If you want the babies though, I recommend you remove them with mom when you first notice them (before they venture much outside the shells). It is really easy to do, as you get close to the shell, mom will gather up the little ones and head into the shell herself. You then just take the shell with all the fish and put it in another tank. Once the babies are free swimming, you can once again go near mom and she will go back in her shell without the little ones and you can scoop up the shell with mom and put it back in the original tank.


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## Pali (Dec 22, 2009)

Or place the shell in a net with masks big enough for the fry to pass thru easy, but not the mom and they will swim to the bottom and you can move the mom back to the main tank with her shell and she will go back to breeding pretty fast if she's in good conditions.


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## tranced (Jan 11, 2006)

i prefer to just siphon out the little fry over a series of days, and i always leave one or two behind for the mum to take care of. mine have freaked out and stopped breeding for a while after moving whole shells around.


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