# Multies in a 20 gallon (question)



## Vino (Feb 25, 2014)

*** had this * 20 gallon set up with Multies for around 6 months now.

I purchased 4 fish at the time. It turns out that two happened to be male, and two female. 
The largest of the males attracted both ladies to his side of the tank. Whereas the smaller male has since been alone in "Bachelorville" on his side of the tank.

The trio has had at least two different sets of babies, at different stages of growth, thus far. I can never get a good count of how many, but I would estimate the total to be around 30 at present. I have about 36 total shells in the tank, with 8 on the solo male's side.

Here's the question. 
Will there be enough room for the trio, and all of their offspring, to live without overpopulating the tank, or triggering stress?

Should I make the solo males area smaller, to accommodate for the growing colony? Or should I eventually remove the solo male?

Will the trio eventually stop mating when the population has gotten too high?

Any help in this matter would be extremely helpful.

Thanks

*(I cant figure out how to add pictures from my computer).


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## phishman2001 (Apr 12, 2013)

Sound like your Multi set up is similar to mine. The bottom of my tank is completely covered with shells. The other male may always be an outcast. He may even get killed. A friend of mine gave me 8 about a year ago. 7m, 1f. I'm down to 1f, 2m, and countless fry that are growing in the tank. One of the remaining males is beat up constantly.


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## Vino (Feb 25, 2014)

Im wondering if I will have to remove him. He and the larger male regularly meet at the invisible "Red Line" and occasionally dart at each other. Sometimes one or both encroach upon the others' territory to nip.

Im not sure if this is going to get worse, or if they are just being normally territorial. My hope was that the solo male would eventually convince one of the females to visit his place...but that hasn't happened.


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## Vino (Feb 25, 2014)

Pics of the tank set-up and inhabitants.





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## Vino (Feb 25, 2014)




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## wolfemitch (Jan 5, 2014)

I had a similar situation occur in my 33 long, I ended up with 2 males and a female. I moved the outcast male to a 20 long with a few of the females from the pair's offspring and ended up with a great colony in the 20 long. if you are able to set up an additional tank for him to get him out of "Bachelorville" go for it!


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## judyok (Aug 12, 2014)

I did the same thing as Wofemitch. I removed the outcast male and now have a few juvies in there with him. I did well on his own and now with the juvies.


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## Vino (Feb 25, 2014)

wolfemitch said:


> I had a similar situation occur in my 33 long, I ended up with 2 males and a female. I moved the outcast male to a 20 long with a few of the females from the pair's offspring and ended up with a great colony in the 20 long. if you are able to set up an additional tank for him to get him out of "Bachelorville" go for it!


If I was to set up another thank for the solo male, it would be a 10 gallon (I have an empty one on hand). Would I put some of the babies, that are in this current tank - 20L, in with the male in the 10 gallon? Or, introduce some into the 10 gallon tank when they get big enough to fend for themselves?(right now they all look the same and are far too small- 1/4 to 1/8th inches).


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## Tanganyika (Apr 4, 2015)

You could use a hang on fishbreeder type thingy. Maybe one that is a little big and put a few shells in it. That would buy you some time for the little multis to grow up a bit and then introduce all fishies at same time. Might not look so pretty. You could put in the back of aquarium.


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## Vino (Feb 25, 2014)

Tanganyika said:


> You could use a hang on fishbreeder type thingy. Maybe one that is a little big and put a few shells in it. That would buy you some time for the little multis to grow up a bit and then introduce all fishies at same time. Might not look so pretty. You could put in the back of aquarium.


That is a great idea. Thanks!

On a bit of a variation; Do you think if I just skipped the whole 10 gallon, and added the largest breeder box I can find to the 20L, that the solo male would be ok in that? At least until the babies grow and I can put them in the 10 gallon.


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## Vino (Feb 25, 2014)

Would a solo male be ok in a 2 gallon tank?


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## Tanganyika (Apr 4, 2015)

You dont need the biggest breeder box. I would say a 6 inch by 4 by 4 would be fine. Fish dont ask why. Only people do. As long as he has a little space a shell or two he could tuff it out. Im confident of that. You can find smallish or biggish breeder type hangons online. Goodluck!

oh yea 2 gallon would be fine too. I didnt mean you had to have biggest breeder hangon. I just meant not the smallest!


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