# Shell dweller tanks, show me your pics!



## rracechase (Oct 6, 2008)

Hi guys im new here but not new to fish tanks. *** kept planted for a few years and want something i dont have to take care of as much as weekly trimmings so i want to set up a shell dweller tank. 

i have a 20 gallon high, and i will use some play sand and aragonite to raise the pH.
my tap ph is about 7.4 out of the softner but i havent tested the hard water. is hard water better for shellies?
*** been looking at some of the smaller shellies such as multies, brevis, simlis, occelatus. is 6 a good number? which one has the flashiest color/pattern? 
i know they are notorious for uprooting plants but i plan to float some hornwort to combat algae and maybe tie some anubias to rocks for that african effect  
as for shells i would put like 20 in there and let the fish move em around.

is there anything *** overlooked?

if you could post some pics of your shell dweller tanks thatd be great!! thanks guys!


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## Zack2112 (Jul 11, 2008)

I am doing the same thing with a 20 i have laying around, I look forward to watching this thread and seeing what others say. Im pretty sure im going with multies, i know i can get them around here. Thanks for posting this thread so i didnt have to :lol: Good luck.


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## renegade545 (Jul 4, 2008)

6 is a good number, of those, occelatus is probably the brightest colored. Sounds like you have it under control.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

6 seems to be the magic number. Yes hard water is nice, but consistency is key - ie if you're confident that you can play with the chemistry (it's not hard to do) of the water and keep it consistent each water change, well there's no reason why you shouldn't. But if you can't/don't want to take it that far then there's no real reason why you have to, unless your water is seriously unsuitable. 
http://cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php

I buffer my water because my KH is 1 and GH is 3-4 out the tap, so it's both unstable and incredibly lacking in minerals - with my water being so low in minerals I like to buffer, tangs uptake minerals through osmotic regulation and they just didn't seem so vibrant or sprightly without it. My water isn't the norm though it is incredibly soft. Check your pH pre-softener, I suspect it will be perfect straight out the pre-softener tap.

I don't know about uprooting plants, I found my Multies had more of a tendency to bury plants :lol:. I love occelatus but from what I understand they tend to be a bit too aggressive for this size tank as the males can be pretty hard on the females and particularly other males. Of course it depends on the fish, but I have read quite a few reports of people having issues with dominant males, even in larger tanks.

Really you want a colony former for a tank this size, that's why I like my Multies so much, they get on great side by side in smaller tanks with the occasional (but fairly harmless) showdown and when they start to breed the older generations help to defend the new..... So you can end up with a few more fish in a smaller tank than some others, which don't really tolerate the competition from their offspring.

Personally my next favourites are N. similis, they're like multies with a variation in marking, very cool fish and should also be equally suited to the tank.

The real question is, which one is _your_ favourite?
http://cichlid-forum.com/profiles/results.php?genus=108




























You want lots of shells, loads of them, I don't have anywhere near enough in that tank pic, which was fairly new set-up and me being me I'm too picky to get any old shells, they have to be a certain kind so it's taking me a while to build up my collection, at the moment I only have 2-3 shells per fish and even so they get on great. I want about 6 shells per fish.... You can use escargot shells - easy to get loads of them for cheap, check out ebay.

If you want to go genuine then look for neuthauma shells, but good luck I've been after them for a long time now (none are being exported from the lake at present as far as I know, hopefully it will pick up again):









The next best thing to neuthauma shells IMO are trapdoor snail shells, although the colour isn't a match, the shape and size are perfect and almost identical:









I hope that helps on your shelly quest.


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## rracechase (Oct 6, 2008)

shoot forgot to check this forum in a while... been trimming 8)

blario i really like your rock scape. hopefully i can find some nice rocks around here.

i have a few more questions...

do neo's colors show up well over white sand? ie play sand, pool filter sand, quickrete sand. im trying to keep this tank under budget so i need about 30lbs of it for cheap.

and what color light do they show up best in? something like 10,000k or 6,700k? im limited to 24" t8's but i know petco has a whole bunch of different colors.

edit: i forgot to thank you guys for all the good information. thanks


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 11, 2006)

If you look hard enough you can find Neothauma shells :wink:

20g long with about 250 Neothaumas and a whole bunch of Multifasciatus.










PFS will work fine and look natural... I would stay away from play and quickrete sand since they are so fine and light.

As for lighting I would go with a mix if you have the option.... 6700k and 10000k. If you can order it I like the cheap coralife T5HO saltwater fixutre which is actinic and 10k, either that or a shorter then tank std T8 fixture with the power-glo bulb.


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## rracechase (Oct 6, 2008)

Okay. im setting up this tank this weekend finally!

im getting the 24" 28W coralife T5NO with a 10000K and an actinic.

the tank is going to be a 15 long instead of a 20 high

the substrate can either be PFS or eco complete (planted substrate) because i already have eco, but idk which multies or similis look better over. can anyone weigh in?

i want some nice dark shells that all look the same, do most escargot shells at the supermarket have a uniform color/pattern?


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

*eklikewhoa*
How did I miss that, you're killing me with all those neothauma shells! I've really looked and really tried for a long time to get them, but they are not being brought in by the importers at the moment.

I had to settle for malawi shells instead, very close, but I will always know they are not from lake Tang and until I get them it just wont be the same .

Might have to get some family in the states to send me some.


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## F8LBITEva (Nov 9, 2007)

heres a vid of my 36x18 50G. A bit over crowded but its worked so far. No fry, I think my Calvus' take care of them.


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