# Which shells for shell dwellers??



## Anthraxx8500 (Feb 11, 2011)

i know its a stupid question but im not getting quite all of the behaviors id like from my shellies. id love to see them be able to move the shells and arrange them how they see fit. any ideas on what might work for not only multis but my up and coming ocellatus as well. thanks in advance! :thumb:

on a side note. is it not possible to get actual neothauma shells from tang?...


----------



## shellies215 (Jan 7, 2011)

Try to get land snail shells like escargot, they are lighter than turbo snail type shells, and easier for the fish to move. even my small occies can turn,rotate,and slightly push escargots. My Hequi can carry them.

I have asked people who import fish to import neothauma shells for me, but apparently the guys in africa don't feel like collecting them.


----------



## Anthraxx8500 (Feb 11, 2011)

ugh. irritating.. considering they sell out EVERYWHERE. i was thinking escargot already. maybe i can find some smaller ones at my grocery stores. who knows. if anybody else has any input plz let me know. (i enjoy the drama that shellies bring and would like to see a bit more)


----------



## TMB60 (Jan 6, 2011)

I use whales eye shells. My Multies luv'm.


----------



## Anthraxx8500 (Feb 11, 2011)

i have a cpl whale eyes in there atm. the big males sure dig em but they cant move them too much. im interested in viewing their natural theft behaviors.


----------



## reelbigspikey (Dec 12, 2006)

I bought a bag of assorted snails at a local hobby store (Hobby Lobby), and put them all in my multie tank. They ignored everything except for the turbo snail shells, which I suppose means they prefer those.

The bags of shells come with about 10-20 turbo snail shells (along with multiple other assorted shells). Around 5 dollars for a bag, so much cheaper than buying individual shells.

My multies don't move the shells around, but instead bury and re-discover the shells all the time. The sand piles are constantly moving around!


----------



## Flippercon (Mar 5, 2011)

reelbigspikey said:


> I bought a bag of assorted snails at a local hobby store (Hobby Lobby), and put them all in my multie tank. They ignored everything except for the turbo snail shells, which I suppose means they prefer those.
> 
> The bags of shells come with about 10-20 turbo snail shells (along with multiple other assorted shells). Around 5 dollars for a bag, so much cheaper than buying individual shells.
> 
> My multies don't move the shells around, but instead bury and re-discover the shells all the time. The sand piles are constantly moving around!


Not to sure on the shells I got ,but I did get them from the craft store and my multies do the same thing. Sand piles move like dunes in the dessert. :fish:


----------



## Anthraxx8500 (Feb 11, 2011)

interesting.. i get new piles but nothing serious. besides the great wall of multi.. lol. i guess each group is different. i also did rehome one of my males so now there is an influx of power.. but overall id have to say the same about the shells. i tried escargot recently and i much prefer their look to that of the random shells. but the randoms will buffer ph as they disolve so thats cool too. thanks for all the responses guys i really appreciate it.


----------



## bostonjon (Sep 2, 2003)

amazon..36 escargot shells for ~15$


----------



## Bodenhimer (May 1, 2011)

i found a place that has Tonna Tessalata small shells .35 each 1.5"to 2" and Japanese Snail 2" 2.5"
It says these are lite and good for shellies that like to move them around. check out.
http://www.cichlidbreeding.com/products.php?cat=10


----------



## hsd (Jul 26, 2010)

whale eyes, can usually get a pound (80-100) of them for $10-15 on ebay.


----------



## illinois9er (Oct 20, 2004)

I don't get why people spend upwards of $1 per shell when you can buy from shell wholesellers at a fraction of that. Yellow land snails, shark eyes, whale eyes, gold mouth turbos, Fernandezi and green turbos are all great shells. I have TONS of extra shells that I can hook you up with. I had a bunch of shellies that I just sold and am needing to move some shells


----------



## Anthraxx8500 (Feb 11, 2011)

9er just lemme know if your trying to offload shells. id be happy to add to my multies collection . PM me if your serious


----------



## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

illinois9er said:


> I don't get why people spend upwards of $1 per shell when you can buy from shell wholesellers at a fraction of that. Yellow land snails, shark eyes, whale eyes, gold mouth turbos, Fernandezi and green turbos are all great shells. I have TONS of extra shells that I can hook you up with. I had a bunch of shellies that I just sold and am needing to move some shells


What I do not understand is why Neothauma tanganyicense shells from lake Tanganyika are so expensive. About $2-$3 each last time I checked. I would love to go for these but the price is just silly as they litter most of the lake I hear.
My guys put up with Escargo and Sea shells got for 0% of this price.
Whelk shells can be got for free from many a fish monger and work fine IME as do Escargo shells free from some French resurants. But I do worry I miss some wild type behaviour.

All the best James


----------

