# Adding multies to 20 gallon long



## Darkskies (Mar 17, 2012)

Hi,
As many of you might know, I have had a colony of 6 multies(3 juvies, 3 adults) in my 20 gallon long for about 2 months now. The fish haven't been breeding yet and I have been working to get the nitrates under control(from overfeeding). Last I checked they were around 30 ppm but I've been doing multiple water changes to bring it down and will be testing the nitrates again shortly. There are over 100 shells littering the bottom of the tank.

3 of the multies are juveniles though one is beginning to get stripes. The other two juvies are still rather small and pale white(look like fry). I have an opportunity to obtain 6-8 multies from another source that should be old enough to begin breeding. I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to go ahead and add these fish to my current stock in the 20 long. Would that be too many fish in the tank? I have an aquaclear 70 as the filter with crushed coral, the sponge, and biomax as the media so I'm sure the biological filtration will be able to handle it but I don't know if the stocking will be too high. Will the new fish be welcomed once they squabble over the territories a little bit or can I expect certain fish to be evicted? I know multies are rather peaceful to each other compared to most other cichlids who are non-colonial. Please let me know!

Thanks!


----------



## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Patience- you're first batch will mature soon enough.  6 multies in a 20g is plenty, and I think you'll run into trouble with 12 in the tank. If you are looking for something to add interest, get some non-tang dithers for the upper water.


----------



## Darkskies (Mar 17, 2012)

Ok. I don't need to add any dithers since I wanted to keep it a species tank(with some pond snails). The only reason I was asking is because the multies I would be getting would be at an unbeatable price.


----------



## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Multi's are peaceful with their offspring, not newly introduced and unwelcome adults. If you really want to do this, rehome what you have, then add the 'ready to breed' fish.


----------



## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

prov356 said:


> Multi's are peaceful with their offspring, not newly introduced and unwelcome adults. If you really want to do this, rehome what you have, then add the 'ready to breed' fish.


+1. Found multies from different groups to stay as separate groups. Very interesting to watch in a long tank (48"-60" or so) but no good at all in a 20g long.


----------



## cichnatic (May 11, 2012)

This is from my personal experience. I also have a 20L multis (1 male/3 females) only tank with about 72 shells. The tank was setup with an Eheim 2215 + AC50. I did not have a problem with breeding but noticed that each day a couple of the **** were dead stuck and attached to the inlet of the Eheim whenever I get home from work. Some of their fins were ripped/picked apart. So I removed the dead **** whenever I see them. This went on for about 2 weeks as I am trying to figure out why this is happening. Did not have any water problem, the test show 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate.

I removed the Eheim filter and left the AC50 running stand alone because I think their was too much current in the tank. After a couple of days, I stopped seeing the dead **** and still till this day, no casualties (knock on wood). I have about 30+ **** from different batches. I think my multis prefer the low current. I change the water 40%-50% weekly.

Have you consider trying nerite snails for your diatoms? I have one in my tank that is doing a fantastic job of keeping it clean.


----------

