# 2ft Shell Dweller Setup/Stocking Advice



## Donnixd (Sep 13, 2009)

Hey all,

I had a spare 2ft around, and decided to have a go housing shell dweller cichlids for the first time.   The tank so far:
2ft, 
75Litres
Black painted background
4-5 cm of white filter pool sand as substrate
One Java Fern (I plan to get 3-4 more small branches) 
Red Rocks and the white looking like coral rocks (buffs the PH to like 8)
14 varied med seashells.

















































A bio filter -tetra Internal filters with two sponges 
A chemi internal -Sicce Shark Filter which holds active carbon and chemi pure









Been adding Stability from Seachem to help â€˜kick startâ€™ the tank









All decors were boiled before they went into the tank. Itâ€™s been cycling for a week now, at 27 degrees and with high aeration (this speed things up so I read). I havenâ€™t done any water tests yet but i hope its headin to the right water sanity for shell dwellers. Now for the best part of the setup, letâ€™s talk inhabitants!
I will be adding a small bristlenose pleco into the tank this weekend to help manage the algae (once it gets too big, iâ€™ll transfer him/her to my 6ft). Also Im a huge fan of Malaysian trumpet snail for algae control. :thumb: :thumb: I had some experience with them in a guppyâ€™s tank. Will they perform well in a setup like this? This will be my algae control crew, any other suggestions?

There are so many kinds of shell dwellers each with its different requirements. I narrowed it down to the three common kept ones- Ocellatus "Gold" ,Multifasciatus & Brevis.
Multiâ€™s required alot of shells and im not a fan of the â€˜Shellbedâ€™
Brevis require a little bigger space and can be aggressive.
So i thinking of getting Ocellatus, they look really nice and require fewer shells.

My purpose is breed shell dwellers if possible (optional) but keep a fish thats entertaining and fun to watch. Correct me if im wrong if with anything above, itâ€™s my first time to cichlids. :thumb:


----------



## aaronjunited (Sep 29, 2009)

Nice tank mate. You sure its 2ft? 60cm in length? Looks bigger to me. Wouldnt know on what to advise with inhabitants as i'm not very experienced yet.


----------



## Cento (Mar 30, 2005)

Try posting in the Tangayikan section to get more advice on what fish would best suit your tank...

Nice tank though. Please post pics when you're done. I'm interested in seeing how it turns out. I have a growout tank I'd like to convert to a shelly tank and I wanna see how hard it is to keep up. I know they need harder water then the mbuna that I keep.

Have fun!


----------



## webgirl74 (Jan 30, 2009)

Nice little setup. I am thinking of doing a shellie tank myself with a spare 20 gallon I have. One suggestion is that you might want to get some lighter weight shells so the fish can move them around. Shellies love to play around with the positioning of the shells.


----------



## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

My understanding is that Brevis is one of the less agressive species, and that Occies are in fact one of the most aggressive lamprologine shell-dwellers (excluding the lepidolamprologines, of course). Most people suggest either multies or brevis for a 10 gallon tank, due to the reduced intraspecies aggression of those 2 vs some of the other choices. A 2ft tank should be fine for a pair or trio of Occies (many people have been unable to keep 2 adult males in a tank that size though).

I'm not sure since some of the shells opening is facing away, but you may want to add more shells with a "rounder" opening rather than the elongated one that most of your shells sem to have.

-Rick (the armchair aquarist, who points out that the only shelldweller he has personal experience with is N. Multifasciatus)


----------



## Donnixd (Sep 13, 2009)

Hi Guys

A little update... 

Iâ€™d replaced some seashells for approx. 20 Apple Snail shells and added in two small (4 cm) plecos, a bristlenose and a peppermint.

































Iâ€™m a little concern at the yellowish algae growing on white rocks. The tanks only 1.5 weeks old, is this algae growth normal?

I went to a fish auction and got 5 Gold Occies at a good price (they didnâ€™t auction multies). They seem to be doing fine; there was a hierarchy of power and property dispute during the first few days. But now, the two big (guessing males) own the front area of the tank. I put some shells hidden under the white rocks and two smaller occies use those shells. The firth fish I havenâ€™t seen in a week.. :? :? Maintenance is easy so far, 40% water change, a temp of 25 degrees, two feeding of flakes, frozen blood worms, or frozen brine shrimp using a water dropper.


































These guys are surprisingly small and my digital camera isnâ€™t that great hence crappy pictures. Srry


----------



## fishEH (Sep 15, 2008)

I like your set up and am enjoying watching your progress. I have a spare 20 gallon that I have been thinking about setting up for shellies. 
What's up with the fork?


----------



## PaulineMi (Apr 3, 2008)

The fork looks like it's holding perhaps a piece of zucchini or squash for the plecos?.

BTW...My Brevis are AGGRESSIVE!!! One of them is so territorial he patrols the tank (20 long) chasing everyone around. About 2 weeks ago I started off with 6 Brevis (unexpectedly...thought there were 3 fish in 3 shells) and I'm down to 3 Brevis now. The tough guy chased the other 3 right out of the tank. There's only a small opening in the tank cover that allows the filter to run. I found dried up little fish on the floor a few mornings over a 5 day period.


----------



## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

most shellies are territorial males can get mean

the setup is great looking, i love the white and red rock, didn't realize blending the rocks would look that good, i usually hate when people blend rocks


----------



## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

if there is nitrate and light there will be algea, the good news about algea is that i means your bio filter is working


----------

