candacecook1025
Aquarium Advice Freak
Neolamprologus Multifasciatus (shell-dweller) Tank
***Warning: This is a fairly long-ish, photo-heavy post.***
I am so excited to (finally) share my shelly tank with you! Several weeks ago I got a whole shell dweller setup (tank, filter, and 12 fish) for really cheap. I had wanted these fish for a while so I jumped at the chance. For a while I kept it exactly as the original owner had it: sand and shells. That’s it. But I have been wanting to redo the whole thing for several reasons:
1. Most of the tank was just empty space and soooo boring! I want this tank to be a species only tank so I needed others ways to fill up some of that space.
2. The multies are very shy. Any detected movement and they scurried into their shells. They did a little better when I added a rock, but not much. I needed to give them more security and more hiding spaces, so they felt safer coming out.
3. I have two males that get along most of the time, but sometimes one of them gets shooed to the corner. He needs his own space out of the line of sight of the other, more dominant, male.
4. I didn’t have any type of cover, and was losing a lot of water to evaporation.
5. No fry! There were a few teeny fry when I got the fish, but they did not survive the move and I haven’t had any since then.
I think if I fix the above issues, the multies will do what they do best: breed!
Needless to say, this was not the ideal environment for my favorite little fish, and it needed to change. I didn’t want to do anything too fancy or expensive. I just wanted it to be better. Here’s what I did:
1. I decided on stacking rocks in the center of the tank to create lots of caves for the fish to hide. They do most of their living in their shells, but this gives them lots more space to explore.
2. More shells! I added about 30 more shells, so they all have several each.
3. I added a black background. Not only does it look better, but it gives them a lot more security. I still have some air bubbles to get rid of, but after messing with it for a while, I decided it was good enough for now. Probably will end up painting it.
4. Better filter and media. ‘Nuff said.
5. Aragonite sand. This will help buffer the water and is perfect for their tendencies to remodel every inch of their home.
6. I picked up a VersaGlass top, and then just placed the light fixture on top of it.
7. I have also been slowly changing their water chemistry to more accurately compare with Lake Tanganyika. Trace elements, buffers, and lake salts have all been added a little at a time until I got it how I wanted it. Now it’s just a matter of maintenance.
8. I added some MTS so they can help stir up the sand and clean up after these messy eaters. I swear, they are so picky: if food hits the sand, it is no longer good enough to eat.
Future plans still include: changing out the light fixture (in all my tanks actually), and doing something more to the background (plants along the back wall maybe?)
I have already seen a difference in my multies. They don’t quickly hide as soon as they see me coming! They back up a bit into the rocks, but that’s it. They have also been exploring more of the upper levels of the tank, which they never did before.
Here are some pics of my new tank! I have some Before and During pics, but they don’t make me as happy as the After pics, so that’s all I’m showing lol. The pics are not high quality as they were just taken with my phone. Hope you like it as much as I do! (I am, as always, open to any helpful suggestions to make it even better.)
***Warning: This is a fairly long-ish, photo-heavy post.***
I am so excited to (finally) share my shelly tank with you! Several weeks ago I got a whole shell dweller setup (tank, filter, and 12 fish) for really cheap. I had wanted these fish for a while so I jumped at the chance. For a while I kept it exactly as the original owner had it: sand and shells. That’s it. But I have been wanting to redo the whole thing for several reasons:
1. Most of the tank was just empty space and soooo boring! I want this tank to be a species only tank so I needed others ways to fill up some of that space.
2. The multies are very shy. Any detected movement and they scurried into their shells. They did a little better when I added a rock, but not much. I needed to give them more security and more hiding spaces, so they felt safer coming out.
3. I have two males that get along most of the time, but sometimes one of them gets shooed to the corner. He needs his own space out of the line of sight of the other, more dominant, male.
4. I didn’t have any type of cover, and was losing a lot of water to evaporation.
5. No fry! There were a few teeny fry when I got the fish, but they did not survive the move and I haven’t had any since then.
I think if I fix the above issues, the multies will do what they do best: breed!Needless to say, this was not the ideal environment for my favorite little fish, and it needed to change. I didn’t want to do anything too fancy or expensive. I just wanted it to be better. Here’s what I did:
1. I decided on stacking rocks in the center of the tank to create lots of caves for the fish to hide. They do most of their living in their shells, but this gives them lots more space to explore.
2. More shells! I added about 30 more shells, so they all have several each.
3. I added a black background. Not only does it look better, but it gives them a lot more security. I still have some air bubbles to get rid of, but after messing with it for a while, I decided it was good enough for now. Probably will end up painting it.
4. Better filter and media. ‘Nuff said.
5. Aragonite sand. This will help buffer the water and is perfect for their tendencies to remodel every inch of their home.
6. I picked up a VersaGlass top, and then just placed the light fixture on top of it.
7. I have also been slowly changing their water chemistry to more accurately compare with Lake Tanganyika. Trace elements, buffers, and lake salts have all been added a little at a time until I got it how I wanted it. Now it’s just a matter of maintenance.
8. I added some MTS so they can help stir up the sand and clean up after these messy eaters. I swear, they are so picky: if food hits the sand, it is no longer good enough to eat.
Future plans still include: changing out the light fixture (in all my tanks actually), and doing something more to the background (plants along the back wall maybe?)
I have already seen a difference in my multies. They don’t quickly hide as soon as they see me coming! They back up a bit into the rocks, but that’s it. They have also been exploring more of the upper levels of the tank, which they never did before.
Here are some pics of my new tank! I have some Before and During pics, but they don’t make me as happy as the After pics, so that’s all I’m showing lol. The pics are not high quality as they were just taken with my phone. Hope you like it as much as I do! (I am, as always, open to any helpful suggestions to make it even better.)
