# My new shell dweller tank, thought i would share



## Sshhyguy (Mar 20, 2003)

Here is my recently stocked 10 gallon . The tank has been up and running for a while but I just added 4 Gold Ocellatus, im hoping for a few more to assure me of a good breeding pair but they seem to be settling in great, jumping from shell to shell and staking out territory. Background is AquaTerra "canyon rock" . I have added a few live plants and moss pieces for some color. For filters im runnning a zoo med 501 canister and a Rapids Cannister , i added the zoo med after i realized the Tom Filter wasnt enough water movement for my liking and planning on swapping both out for a rena xp1, but right now both filters a silent!! Everything is hidden behind the right corner piece and the rest of the background only sticks out few inches. My goal was to make it look as natural as possible.Thanks for the looks, and here are some pics


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

love it :drooling: vn job


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## Donfish (Dec 24, 2007)

Schweet Tank! Real cuties there.

It looks like you have a male and a female in that pic, male on the right, just wait till you have babies swimming everywhere. They are harem breeders.

Mine breed so fast I can't keep track of them and to think I was worried.

My two females rear them until they're ready to spawn again then kick the tads out and they drift over to the male. Big tough male has dozens of babies swimming around him like a daycare center.

So far there has been no aggression towards the youngins' the oldest is still less than 2 months old and it is just showing signs of territorialism but can't be sexed yet. He/she seems more of a threat to the other young ones than the adults are. I guess there will be fireworks someday but I'm letting this play out in a species only 30 gal tank.

The fry get along fine on "First Bites" or I'll grind up a bit of flake, Micro pellets or NLS and mix with water and squirt in the tank with a dropper, although now they are big enough to steal some daddy and mommy food as it drifts down. Some algae helps hold little pieces of food for the babes when the pumps come on and snails chomp on the leftovers and excess algae.

OH BTW, while we all strive to have our tanks just right don't be surprised if the Occies have another idea of what is "just right' Mine have buried almost all but a few select shells and stacked a few up to make walls. Over the weekend I put in 3 new shells in the back for the oldest fry, within hours the adults had them buried even with the substrate and it was a group effort too. They are real surprising in their tenacity.


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## Rockydog (Oct 21, 2007)

A beautiful tank, well done.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Nice job. It looks very cozy! I have a similar set up myself.

kevin


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## Thorin83 (Dec 23, 2008)

cool tank. Looks impressive


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## BoostedX (Mar 1, 2009)

Pretty sweet little set up you have there. Some hard work has gone into it you can tell.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Thats one of the nicest ones! Pure proof for people that wanna get into fish but cant afford a big tank that even a smaller sized tank can be amongst the best!


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## Sshhyguy (Mar 20, 2003)

Donfish thanks for the insight and advice , i have never bred any shellies before and really cant wait until i have some fry running around in there. Hopefully my tank will be as entertaining as yours! And thanks for the rest of the comments its great to have a forum with this kind of members that are so helpful!


> I have a similar set up myself.


Ridley25 I looked at your tank and yours was one of the tanks that convinced me of ordering a background and setting up a small tank like this, thanks for the inspiration and motivation


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## Donfish (Dec 24, 2007)

Sshhyguy,

Nothing prepared me for how much fun these guys really are. I've been keeping fish on and off for years and never had laughs like this.

The male big tough guy, yeah right, the first few days I had him he would dive for cover into the substrate with just his eyes sticking out whenever something happened outside the tank. I though I lost him, meanwhile the delicate little females were squabbling over the shell situation. They finally got that taken care of, male in the middle one female on each side.

Now Mr. Bigshot is twice the bulk and size of the females but the other day the thermometer came loose and was floating on top and the tough guy went hiding in a hole in a rock and wouldn't come out until I put the thermometer back in place. They are very observant little buggers. Yet they love to attack cleaning sponges.

I saw a pile of snails in a corner, what I don't have any loaches and these snails were still living, here the left female would move every single snail that would come into her territory and put them in the back corner of the tank.

The right female one day was trying to keep her brood in the shell, she would pick them up and dump them back in the shell and the little tykes would swim out as fast as they can, man she was getting so frustrated, so she just plowed a ton of sand around the shell and dove head first into another shell and pouted for about an hour. She came out and took up her post and all was well.

Some people may say that we put too much "human" motive into Cichlid behavior but anyone watching these guys will see one remarkable animal and why Cichlids are so unique.


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## demonsoni (Feb 10, 2006)

you get the A+


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## F8LBITEva (Nov 9, 2007)

awesome tank! :thumb:


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks, Sshhyguy. I hope you have as much fun watching your shellies as I do!

kevin


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## patrickeriksson (May 26, 2007)

Looks great! and it will look even better with some algae growing


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## Philg (May 14, 2007)

Great shellie tank. Any advice and/or photos showing how you proceeded through setting up the background and hiding the equipment? Did you cut openings to allow water to circulate between the front and behind the background?
Thanks
Phil


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## Philg (May 14, 2007)

Great shellie tank. Any advice and/or photos showing how you proceeded through setting up the background and hiding the equipment? Did you cut openings to allow water to circulate between the front and behind the background?
Thanks
Phil


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