# Best shells for my ocellatus



## kathyryan (Sep 13, 2013)

I'm not getting quite all of the behaviors id like from my shell dwellers i would like to see them move there shells about and arrange them how they like, at the moments he just seems a bit dissapoonted with his home.....any suggestions on the best type?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I've never experienced occies moving their shells, just burying the ones they don't use in the sand. I find that escargot shells are a perfect size though mine also use whale eye shells.


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## Floridagirl (Jan 10, 2008)

Escargot shells, and I also have used turbo shells.


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## Notorious (Jun 6, 2013)

I have both escargot and wale eye and my occies defiantly prefer the smaller wall eye shells. I have seen them grab the opening and move them and re-position them to their liking. I think it is because the wale eye are lighter. I have also noticed that if you put too many shells too close together they will not exhibit their burying and "building" behavior. You have to keep the tank kind of open so they have plenty of space to do their thing. Occies truly are fun fish to watch. I love the way they bury their shells so only the opining is visible. And of coarse they are not afraid to bite the hand that feeds them.


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## kathyryan (Sep 13, 2013)

Notorious said:


> I have both escargot and wale eye and my occies defiantly prefer the smaller wall eye shells. I have seen them grab the opening and move them and re-position them to their liking. I think it is because the wale eye are lighter. I have also noticed that if you put too many shells too close together they will not exhibit their burying and "building" behavior. You have to keep the tank kind of open so they have plenty of space to do their thing. Occies truly are fun fish to watch. I love the way they bury their shells so only the opining is visible. And of coarse they are not afraid to bite the hand that feeds them.


Thanks for advice I was thinking of purchasing some shells and just scattering them around the tank but I may be a bit more selective on where I place them now! At the moment I have one male and one female with one shell each in a 64ltr tank of there own, any suggestions on a good number to keep in this tank and how many does it require for them to create a colony? New to keeping ocellatus I was fascinated by them and had a spare tank so i thought it would be nice to set them a tank up, I have indeed experienced the wrath of going near his teritory, feisty little fella! :lol:


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

I would add a few more shells ,my 3 gold occies ,1 male 2 females have about 12 escargot shells between them,tho they only use 2 or 3 in the main ,they do change shells on the odd occasion, burying shells does seem to be their thing,right at this moment the male is removing sand from under a shell when he can't move it he will bury it again mad,you may have probs adding more occies to your set up ,males will not accept another male in the tank,and adding another female after the others have established themselves, unlike multis ,occies don't build colonies,they are great little tangs tho ,aggressive little beggars as well


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## kathyryan (Sep 13, 2013)

webbie said:


> I would add a few more shells ,my 3 gold occies ,1 male 2 females have about 12 escargot shells between them,tho they only use 2 or 3 in the main ,they do change shells on the odd occasion, burying shells does seem to be their thing,right at this moment the male is removing sand from under a shell when he can't move it he will bury it again mad,you may have probs adding more occies to your set up ,males will not accept another male in the tank,and adding another female after the others have established themselves, unlike multis ,occies don't build colonies,they are great little tangs tho ,aggressive little beggars as well


Thanks for that I did a bit of reading up on them they've only been in the tank a few days, anyway I've just purchased another female and added her to tank and shes squabbling with the male over a shell not the female..... I've also added another shell so that's one shell each, I do intend on purchasing some more shells it's just getting hold of them, all my LFS don't stock them so looks like eBay is my best bet. So I have 2 females and 1 male that are around one and half inch the male is a bit bigger, is there any chance of these breeding in the future and if so what size do they start breeding?


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

E bay def your best bet for some more shells,or if you have any French restaurants close try them,my male is around 1.5 inches and the females a bit smaller ,they have spawned but the fry didn't make it beyond a couple of days,don't see any reason why yours shouldn't start producing fry.


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Meant to ask you going to put anything else in with your occies?


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## kathyryan (Sep 13, 2013)

No Not for the moment, there staying alone in there, but I have cichlids in a seperate tank and possibly if they have fry they may go in with the ocellatus for a short period of time, will the occies out grow there tank at all?


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

I think they will be fine in there,cant imagine them outgrowing your set up,males at the max just over 2" and females a bit smaller,enjoy :fish:


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## IanR29 (Dec 13, 2012)

Got 6 occies myself. I bought a miscellaneous shell package on eBay and a package of 20 escargot shells. They all use the escargot while 1 uses a different. I would definitely add at least 6 shells as they do change shells quite a bit and normally keep 3-4 to each.

Mine bury the shells, that's the way they seem to move them to where they want. If they don't like where its at they change shells.


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## kathyryan (Sep 13, 2013)

Ordered some escargot shells off of eBay, having trouble with one occie claiming all 3 shells (practically the whole tank) whilst the other two hide amongst the rock, how long will they all fight for? I'm starting to wonder if I have more than one male? Any definite way of sexing them?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I find that if there is more than one male in the tank, fighting is non-stop. 'L.' occelatus are aggressive little fish and there is almost always some kind of drama going on. You need to provide enough cover or hiding places to allow the fish some refuge. It is still possible that you will need to remove any excess fish to maintain some semblance of tranquility.


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Apart from the adult males being larger and more chunky,the only difs I know of are the females are supposed to have white tipped dorsal and and anal fins,but for the life of me I can't see it on mine,my male does have his favourite female which he hangs about with most of the time ,the other female hides under a rock even tho there are plenty of shells inches from where she hangs out,like yours both my females his in the rocks for weeks before the one settled into a shell,give them time and keep fingers crossed


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## Notorious (Jun 6, 2013)

I bought 6 about 3 months ago and it is pretty clear who the males are. They are the biggest and chunkiest and most aggressive. However my smaller couple which I am assuming are females are still very aggressive and will stand up to the larger males on occasion. You need to make sure there are sight barriers in the tank and not every fish will be able to claim a shell if there is not enough space.


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## kathyryan (Sep 13, 2013)

All is calm now, I had a crisis in my main tank and four baby johannis had to be moved into the occie tank, I think it may have helped as the occies all have a shell each one at either end of the tank and one in the middle with several spare shells scattered about and no fighting or hiding behind the filter  there all a similar size atm so god knows who is male/female I do hope I end up with two females and one male as I would love to watch them breed. Thanks for all info


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Kathyryan have a look at shell dwellers.com ,loads of info on Shellie's on that site


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## kathyryan (Sep 13, 2013)

Thanks webbie I'll have a look


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