33g Mixed shellie

[KnH]

Greetings

33g 48"x12"x12" (one small sand area), (large rock pile), (larger sand area)-rule of thirds
From glass cages or cut down a 55g, from the $ per gallon sale.

I would like to have 3 species

Choices, choices
#1, shellies
A-Neolamprologus multifasciatus
or
B-Lamprologus ocellatus 'gold

#2, Neolamprologus Caudopunctatus

#3,
A-Julidochromis Transcriptus
or
B-Julidochromis Ornatus
Or
C-Julidochromis Dickfeldi

Suggestions or substitutions

Thanks

[ptran]

I personally like the first group. I had experience with occie silver. Those clowns are awesome. They are funny and have a bull dog attitude. Due to their smaller size, you can house a big group of them in that footprint.

[KnH]

Whats the difference in behavior between the multi vs occie,
From what i've read the multi's are colonial in groups and the Occie are not.

How do the Occie's handle fry growing out

[ptran]

I believe both have similar temperament. Occie is a little more territorial than Multi. Each must have their own snail shell, and they will guard it with their live.

For 33 gallon tank, maybe you can keep a trio 1M2F of Occie. The female is an excellent mother.

[morpheus]

i like the first group too. i ahve never housed shellies, but you do have a lot of room to work with overall. as long as every male has his own area/shell you should be fine. create some sight breaks is standard too

[ptran]

Everyone needs their own shell. I would also provide a few extra shells because the male will usually claim a couple extra shells.

[augusto9605]

Multis are really territorial and they will claim 3 or 4 shells once they start breeding, they use them to make kind of a cave you may say, I've shared these pic before but I can do it again so you can get idea what I'm talking about


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[ptran]

Augusto, how many Multi in your breeding group? Are they in their own tank and tank size?

[augusto9605]

I could see at least 12 between adults and juvies, they are in their own tank that is a 10 gal tank.

[augusto9605]

I read one time that you shouldn't put two species with similar requirements, so I tried leleupis with bichardis and kind of worked because I ended up with a lot of bichardis and only some few leleupis, then I tried these multis with some brevis and this combination went just totally wrong.


the multis didn't even let brevis get out of the shells and they were claiming to get all the shells for them. so if you are thinking to put together those two shellies together, I'd put some rocks in the middle in the tank kind of high to avoid a visual contact between the two species.


I tried this too, but I think my tank was too small and it didnt work so I gave their own thank to each species

[ptran]

I agree that they should have their own tank for breeding purpose. Thanks for the insight.

[augusto9605]

np any time

[troy tucker]

What are the smallest Shellie's? And how small are they?

[ptran]

I believe Multi is the smallest shellie or smallest known cichlid in the world. The male max out at 1.5"-2".

[ptran]

Multis are really territorial and they will claim 3 or 4 shells once they start breeding, they use them to make kind of a cave you may say, I've shared these pic before but I can do it again so you can get idea what I'm talking about


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Nice colony btw bro!