# Help!! My multies had babies & I don't know what to do!



## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Hello all,

I am very new to shell dwellers and I need some advice. I just set up my 29 gallon N. multifasciatus tank a couple of months ago. I just noticed a few mins ago there are babies in my tank!! I only see 4 babies right now. I am totally cool with this, but I wasn't expecting it yet. In fact, I cleaned their tank earlier today and I was moving the shells around quite a bit. Now I feel like I probably messed their little home up, and I'm afraid I probably sucked some babies up with my "sand" cleaner too since I wasn't looking out for the little things. 

Sooo, how am I to clean a multi tank to keep from messing up my fishies "home", and what am I supposed to feed the babies? They are soooo tiny it's insane! Cool, but insane small! 

And any other advice about multifasciatus would be cool too.


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## ashilli48 (May 14, 2006)

In my opinion they are so prolific that I leave the feeding upto the parents. They have a way of herding food over to the shell. If it makes you feel more involved , LOL, crush up some flakes and use a turkey baster (sp?) and squirt some food at the shells. There are also some fry food out on the market, it's basically dust so I would grab a pinch, dunk my fingers under the water and let it fall as a "clot" once it hit the substrate it would dissolve.

Most of the time you don't even know the little guys are there until they venture out of the shell and by that time...well....they know how to find food. 

I'm no expert but the multies are pretty low maintenance that I think I could help. Any specifics?


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

How are we supposed to clean a shell dweller tank when moving the shells around (the way I did) disturbs everything. Seems like we shouldn't move the shells, but kinda have to sometimes.


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## kriskm (Dec 1, 2009)

No shell-dweller experience here, but I do have experience with cleaning some hard to reach places. You can use a turkey baster to squirt water around rocks (or shells) and stir up the poop, which you can then suck up with your gravel vacuum. Hopefully babies will be smart enough to hide in the shells while you're doing this, and you can avoid vacuuming near shell openings. Considering how quickly these guys bred for you, you'll probably have plenty of little ones in no time.


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## ashilli48 (May 14, 2006)

I don't clean my shellie tanks. But the baster idea sounds good. Mine just aren't that messy. But then again I have a slight snail problem in there anyway....wait....maybe it's not a problem..... :-?


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Multies should raise the young in the depresion dug under the shell/shells so yep it is rather easy to disturb em. But as said they are so prolific it kind of matters not much. They at least for me keep the area near and under the shells free from detritus so just hover away but away from the shells.

You could add an air curatain that way detritus is gently circulated in the tank and picked up by the filters.

But to be honest multies are so hardy you hardly have to keep the bottom free of detritus anyway and its all food for micro organisms that the young can feed on.

I just would not worry much about a bit of muck at the bottom but keep up the waterchanges.

All the best James


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

I moved Multies (+ Fry) and a J. Orantus pair (+ Fry) from a 75 into a 40 breeder a couple of weeks ago. Honestly, I was way more concerned about the Julies.

For the Multies - I gently picked up the shells one at a time and put them in Tupperware sitting on the bottom of the 75gallon tank, and then moved the Tupperware from one tank to the other (water with the shells) and carefully pulled out each shell - one at a time.

Everyone seemed to have made it just fine - no worse for wear.

Point being - I believe you can always slowly move the entire clan to the other side of the tank and back with little problem in my experience - just take your time and do it shell by shell.

Once a quarter would be plenty often I would think.

Good Luck.


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## bknerd (Mar 7, 2010)

How many multies do you have in your 29gl?


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

bknerd said:


> How many multies do you have in your 29gl?


I set it up just a few months ago. I bought 5 multies, but I ended up with 7 b/c two babies were hiding in a shell that was also put in the bag. And now I also have at least 4 of the new microscopic babies....

How may multies can be in a 29 gallon??


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

CutieSusieQ said:


> bknerd said:
> 
> 
> > How many multies do you have in your 29gl?
> ...


About 100 of various sizes.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Darkside said:


> About 100 of various sizes.


Ok, so how many is a "healthy" number for a 29 gallon, lol.


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## tranced (Jan 11, 2006)

as many as your filtration and water changes can keep up with??


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Hmmmm. I'm so used to Mbuna and proper male to female ratios that this shelldweller thing is seeming way too simple, lol.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

CutieSusieQ said:


> Hmmmm. I'm so used to Mbuna and proper male to female ratios that this shelldweller thing is seeming way too simple, lol.


It is with multies. When it gets too crowded they will kill each other, when you start seeing some dead fish, you're at capacity.


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## Jago (Oct 5, 2007)

Darkside said:


> CutieSusieQ said:
> 
> 
> > Hmmmm. I'm so used to Mbuna and proper male to female ratios that this shelldweller thing is seeming way too simple, lol.
> ...


My experience with multies was different. I had a colony going for two years in a 15 gal. and when they reached what they deemed capacity they either stopped breeding or all the fry were consumed. The adults went about business as usual, never harming each other any more than usual.

Now that they've been moved to a 20 long they are back to raising fry.


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## ashilli48 (May 14, 2006)

Darkside said:


> CutieSusieQ said:
> 
> 
> > It is with multies. When it gets too crowded they will kill each other, when you start seeing some dead fish, you're at capacity.


LOL,...good way to put it, rough but true


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Ok well... I guess I will thin them out when I feel like there aren't enough shells


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## bossfish (Jun 1, 2005)

I had two colonies in a 75 gallon for several years with about 20 shells each. They seemed to do better with the shells in a pile rather than spread out. You can add new shells around the perimeter of the pile as the colonly grows. Subadults and fry will share shells and hide under dugout shells so you dont need a shell for each fish. After the older fry get larger they will move to the outside shells and start defending the colony while the breeding females and newest fry stay more towards the center. If you get to the point where you think you have too many you can remove the outer shells with the larger juviniles and rehome them.

I fed mine finely crushed flake, microworms and frozen cyclop eeze. Even the tiny fry could eat the microworms and it seemed like it helped them to grow faster.

I'm a neat freak so I fully understand your desire to clean the area around the shells. It does get dirty and the piles of excavated sand can become anerobic because once they are dug out they don't get disturbed by the fish. This is what worked for me. I would take a few shells from the edge of the pile and move them to the other side every week or two. I did this because whenever I disturbed the middle shells with the females and smallest babies they would stop breeding for a while. The females would move on thier own to the center of the pile over the next couple of days. This would allow me to vacum about 2 or3 inches at a time. When the entire shellbed area was cleaned I would start the process again going in the opposite direction.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Thank you Bossfish ... that was a lot of cool and helpful info!


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