# Meanest shell dweller...



## Longstocking (Aug 26, 2003)

In your opinion what is the meanest shell dweller ??

I'm wanting to try and put some in with a pair of breeding N. nigriventris. This pair rarely moves from their territory. They only use 1/3rd of the tank.

I have tried brevis and ocellatus. They lived but were not happy. I have not tried any of the mean shellies before. Never had much interest in them until now. As I think they are the only fish I could put in with them.

This tank is 4 foot by 18 by 13. 48 gallons or so.


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## Voodoo Chilli (Jun 29, 2004)

In my experience, a colony of N. multifasciatus will not put up with much nonsense: mine kept a breeding pair of J. regani in line.


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## Multies (Mar 9, 2007)

IMO, Boulengeri were very aggressive before when i went over to a friend of mines place. 
but the meanest shellie *** had were Speciosus. aside from non-breeding, the most aggressive breeding pair i had were Lamprologus Calliurus. Can you believe that the male rips off my skin when i put my hand in? :lol:

the meanest shellies IMO would be any of the lepidiolamprologus sps. or Telmatochromis sps. Now those guys have some serious Teeth. Esp. the Dhonti's. WOO. Mean lookin fish.


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## c0rreia (Oct 17, 2008)

IMO, if the Neo. Multifasciatus were BIGGER and a Saltwater fish, they would feed eating White Sharks and Whales, hehe. Those little ones are little devils! A couple of them with some fry growing are taking over a entire tank with some Julis, Compressiceps and Cyps


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Telmatochromis sp. shell. They lived and bred in with a breeding group of wild L. attenuatus.....


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

L. boulengeri or T. temporails will be your best bets. Mean little fish.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

multies can be very good at holding stuff off because they act as a pack. Not kept em all inc those suggested above but Lepidiolamprologus hecqui is the meanest best territory grabbing of the pair formers I have kept (meeli were even more so but smaller for me so on net hecqui would be my vote) (my T. temporails were very mean but held out in the rocks rather than the shells so maybe extra conflict there) but even hecqui can be bullied by leleupi pairs so not sure even they can stand N. nigriventris :-?

But surely you need to get the shellys breeding before the introduction of the rock dweller?
Well I find that to work better than adding a shelly to a breeding rock dweller pair. 

Anther idea would be a shell dwelling Altolamp like sumbu dwarf, misses on the aggression table but do not suffer from other fishes attacks because of their armour.


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## Longstocking (Aug 26, 2003)

I would normally never try something like this. My leleupi roam the tank and would kill shellies.

Nigriventris, when they are an old couple with fry/juvies, do not roam the tank. The male will rarely... but if a fish is aggessive enough ... he probably wouldn't cruise the tank.

It needs to be able to stand up to them but also needs to be big enough ( body mass ). There will be no choice of where they get to hang out. The nigriventris will make sure of that. But, they get the majority of the tank.

No way calvus would be happy.

I need something that will not want to go into rocks at all !! As that is when they will get hammered. Or a fast learner !!

Thanks everyone... now to do research on your suggestions :thumb:


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Yep to be honest if your guys are not using the whole tank then maybe pop em into a smaller one. Free up the larger tank for other fish or raising young. They are quite rare in the hobby and I think there should be a market for every one you produce without the risk of predation by a second pair. Your choice of course. 

Sumbu dwarf is a shell dwelling dwarf comp I think but a real fry predator hence its ability to live near breeding rock and shell dwellers without damage to itself, so maybe not what is wanted. :wink:


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## Longstocking (Aug 26, 2003)

I don't want to move them as I think it would break the bond. The bond was broken once a long time ago when I moved the rocks too much... luckily they mended the bond.

Actually the reason this came about is I put some shellies in temporarily for a couple days and the nigriventris produced an enourmous spawn in the mean time. I think it helped them and encouraged a larger spawn. They are a very strange fish... aggressive in some ways and out right timid in other ways.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

The problem is that the large aggressive "shellies" are more shell spawners, so I would expect that they'd be up in the rocks and in the open water as much as in the shells. You might try L callipterus, the males can be quite large and are pretty tough IME.


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## Multies (Mar 9, 2007)

Callipterus would work except not all males can get to that size. 
I would still say either T. Dhonti or T. Temporalis shell. I think the Callipterus can work though. Seen some big males before.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

T. Temporalis shell, without a doubt...


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## Longstocking (Aug 26, 2003)

From keeping both nigriventris and T. temp. shell.... you think this would be the best choice?

Will they eat the fry? If so, I don't want anything that aggressive. Just more aggressive than lets say Occelatus types.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

The temp sp. Shell did not eat the fry of the attenuatus that I had. That doesn't mean that they wouldn't if they had the chance. If you want to raise fry in with parents, you'd be best to leave them on their own, as you know pretty much anything will eat anything it can get in it's mouth.


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## Longstocking (Aug 26, 2003)

yeah but you know me... I like 2 species in 4 footers 

If I can find them for a descent price ... I'll probably try it. So what if I loose 1 spawn :wink:


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

As an aside, at what size did your nigriventris start to spawn? My F1's are now about 3.5" to maybe 2.75" for the smallest females.


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## Longstocking (Aug 26, 2003)

My female didn't spawn till she was three inches.

I really think this fish is easy to spawn. It's the patience involved. Although... big spawns ( more than 20 ) are once a year. The rest of the time it's more like 6 to 8. That is on a very high protein diet. The highest of any of my fish. I did figure out they like red shrimp  And seem to condition well on them !! They are expensive fish to breed for me... lots of worms, mysis, rcs, pellets, etc

Maybe there is a cheaper way without making the fish suffer... but the best I have come up with is using the shrimp.


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## Longstocking (Aug 26, 2003)

Well.. I thought I would update this post as to what I ended up doing.

I was at th ACA and some L. hecqui came up for bid so I figured why not try it  There were only 4 in the bag... for some reason when people saw me bid the other bags went higher ( it was a buyers auction that is for sure ) :wink:

Well.. out of the four I ended up with a pair quickly !! They are very nice.... good strain from who ever brought them to the ACA  I wonder if the person is on this forum :thumb: Nice blues on them... anyways..

They seem to be a good match for the nigriventris. They hold their own... I'm just not sure if they will actually breed in this set-up. I hope so .. it seems like they might. At what size can they breed? The usual 1 inch for shellies? Or maybe a bit larger?


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Longstocking said:


> They seem to be a good match for the nigriventris. They hold their own... I'm just not sure if they will actually breed in this set-up. I hope so .. it seems like they might. At what size can they breed? The usual 1 inch for shellies? Or maybe a bit larger?


Females should be about 1.5" at minimum, males will be well over 2" at that point. Mine bred in with 10" Champsochromis...


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

The males actually get pretty beefy, mine bred in an aquarium full of peacocks and haps.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Glad it worked for you with such small Lepidiolamprologus hecqui. Sorry I am not sure about their min breeding size, mine bred first at female about 2" (male a bit bigger) but then that was very soon after I got mine, could well be earlier/smaller for others. OOps sorry, just noticed question has already been answered, female at 11/2" would have been my guess though. 8)


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