# shell dwellers for a 29?



## rrcoolj (Apr 8, 2008)

Im getting rid of my community fish in my 29 gallon because they are just not entertaining to watch. I already fell in love with mbunas and I would love to keep other african cichlids too. Is it okay to keep shell dwellers in a 29 gallon? Which ones should I choose and how many? I dont want the really small ones like multis maybe ocellatus or brevis. Also can I keep some middle top dweller fish with them? I heard they stay near the bottom so i don't think that will be a problem. Im also looking fior a fairly colorful fish not peacock colorful but somewhat colorful. Which shellie do you find the most colorful?


----------



## mx22 (Jul 13, 2009)

From what I was told on this forum - a trio of ocellatus for 29g. One male, two females. As tank mates a couple of calvus or smaller julies.

Cheers


----------



## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Shellies would be great in a 29 gallon. Adding a second species can be a bit tricky, particularly if you choose an aggressive shelly like occelatus or stappersi. My shellies use the whole tank; only breeding females stick really close to the shells. And even they will chase away other fish hanging out above.

A smaller julie species (like transcriptus or ornatus) would likely be fine with shellies in a 29 gallon, but they'll hug the rocks quite a bit. If you are looking for an open water fish, it will need to be a non-cichlid dither fish like barbs, danios, etc.


----------



## rrcoolj (Apr 8, 2008)

Thanks it goin to be a one species shellie tank so probably just ocellatus gold. For open water fish im looking for something that hangs to the surface pobably like sailfin mollies. I found a really cool lookin one on the internet(pic below). can I add any small catfish like petricola or no?


----------



## mx22 (Jul 13, 2009)

triscuit said:


> A smaller julie species (like transcriptus or ornatus) would likely be fine with shellies in a 29 gallon, but they'll hug the rocks quite a bit. If you are looking for an open water fish, it will need to be a non-cichlid dither fish like barbs, danios, etc.


What would be a good choice for open water fish? Would barbs/danios even survive for long in a hard water? Or a better question, what open water non-cichlid fish from Tanganyika is there to choose from?

Thanks!


----------



## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Occies will rip those mollies to shreds within a day. You need to pick something faster and hardier.

A petricola will happily eat the eggs and fry of the occies, so I don't recommend it. A bristlenose pleco would work better.


----------



## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

What about the Tanganyikan Killie, Tanganicanus? Good luck finding those.


----------



## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)




----------



## rrcoolj (Apr 8, 2008)

what about Cyprichromis leptosoma ? They are small fairly docile and seem to stay in the upper layer of the aquarium. Hopefully these guys will be more interesting to watch than my boring angelfish. I was also looking into calvus and compricceps also they look so cool but they grow extremely slow! I think my tank is too small for them so I will stick to either occelatus or brevis.


----------



## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

29 is too small for Cyps but anything over 20 long is ok for Calvus (provided you're talking a pair) even though I wouldn't do that to them unless I was growing them out. They do grow slow though. But man are they worth it!


----------



## rrcoolj (Apr 8, 2008)

Wow cool Im really not interested in a pair because I heard the fry are hard to raise but I would just want one.


----------



## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

BioG said:


> What about the Tanganyikan Killie, Tanganicanus? Good luck finding those.


You'd want a 75 gallon for those, they get pretty large.


----------



## rrcoolj (Apr 8, 2008)

Well I decided to keep brevis, comprisseps(sorry about the spelling), and maybe a small julie.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'd limit to 2 species and would not do comps and juli's in this size tank since they both occupy the same habitat in the tank. Shellies and comps would work, or shellies and julidochromis.


----------

