“Multifasciatus” specific tank in progress !!

[rockarolla70]

Hi folks,
- As I mentioned earlier that a 39" long "Multies" tank was getting ready, finally done with it. Running the tank for one week with my previous multi's matured tank media. Presently have a very uneven ratio in my 10-gal tank (6 males + 3 females), I was waiting for my LFS to source more females. Today got a word from the LFS that they have procured a stock 8 females + 2 males for this project of mine.

Tank Dimension
- 36" (Width) x 13" (Depth) x 12" (Height)

Water Volume
- 100 liters (approx)

Filters (HOB)
- AquaClear 20 + AquaClear 30

Scaping
- Natural River Rocks (handpicked for this)
- 100% natural Play Sand + Nile Sand
- Escargot shells - 72 numbers (in-stock) yet to be added.

What I need help is ... for this above project how many males & females would do ?? Any other suggestion from you folks are most welcome.

 

[SaraB]

I've done some research on this because i've considered getting multis before. The trick is to have 2-3 females per male and 2-6 shells per fish (to give them a choice). If I were you i'd definitely pick up the females from the store but leave the males there. You also have to consider that they will probably breed with little intervention from you so those few fish you put in there will turn into a lot pretty quickly.

 

[rockarolla70]

Hi Sara, firstly thanks for the suggestion. The problem with the new lot of 10 multie's which are at the LFS where most of them are just half-an-inch and it's difficult to identify the gender by their size & shape. So the only option is to put all the 10 (new batch) & 9 (old batch) together in the new tank and after a month when are a grown a bit I can make out the gender. Later if the male are in excess then to maintain the golden ratio I will have to remove some males.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Tank Looks great! I've got a 20 long multi tank and they are honestly one of the most entertaining fish I've owned. It seems like as their numbers have increased, the excess males in my tank are ignored by the dominant ones. I think once you hit a certain population density aggression starts to dissipate. That's just my anecdotal experience though.

 

[rockarolla70]

Thanks Dallascowboys16 !!. I agree on the aggression ... my my 10gal though they have their boundaries set, but they some big males hardly care about the smaller ones.

 

[SaraB]

Sorry I misunderstood, I thought you said that the lfs had 8 females and 2 males as in adults not juveniles

 

[rockarolla70]

Folks,
Below are the 2 pics with shells. Finally released the fish a while ago.
- Took me 3 hours to get 9 adults from my 10gal out of their shells, I used the breeder box removed the net so the multies swim down to the bottom. 5 was a breeze but the last 4 never came out of their shells.
- I had to cut open the shells, I took the chance hoping the multi's will not go deep into the shell, they did go way deep inside, had to cut the shells till the very end and managed to release them without hurting.
- The worst was 2 multi's in one shell, they are stubborn and never what to come out.
- As of now the tiny ones are doing good and none of the adults are harassing them.
- But what I observed is even though it's a big tank & up to 60 shells still the adults squabble for shells/territory, one was getting harassed so had to move him to extreme corner of the tank with some shell for himself.
- I still have some 20+ shells, do you think it's good add them too ??


Will post the update by tomorrow again with the pics of the multi's.

 

[rockarolla70]

Now I have an issue on hand, till afternoon none of the adults were bothered about the new batch of smaller multies. Since evening two of the adult females from the previous batch (I had only 3 female) are chasing away the smaller multies. I have put in more shells (in total 91 shells) and have let them sort it out for themselves. Cause some times it's difficult to understand the dynamics of the lot.

 

[rockarolla70]

Here are some pics from the new tank.


https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/109mwt1aNmh1O6-ekoGVUgGefY54IL0nE?usp=sharing

 

[rockarolla70]

Below is the link for the small video I have done ... pardon me for the quality, I will eventually do another video with my Digital SLR camera.


https://youtu.be/fOjsVpv_ZT4

 

[rockarolla70]

Folks,

This is the current layout (pic) of my multi's tank & how the real estate has been occupied by the respective multi's.

Marked area occupied by ...
1) Single male
2) Male & a female (pair)
3) Male & a female (pair)
4) Male & a female (pair)
5) Single male
6) Single male

My thought process
- I would want to remove 3 males.
- Introduce 3 or 4 females


So the ration can become 1:2 females. Any suggestions/opinions/thoughts are most welcome.

 

[rockarolla70]

Hi Folks,
Thanks for the suggestion. I introduced 6 females this afternoon from a new batch, This is how they have paired.
- Male #1 - paired with 1 female
- Male #5 - paired with 3 females
- Male #6 - paired with 1 female
- Male #2 - paired with 1 female (though he had one adult female with him previously)

I will observe them for couple days & I will post my update accordingly.

One more thing I observed is ... all the new females who have paired with the males keep exposing their bottom of their belly to the male when he comes towards them. What does this trait signify ??

 

[rockarolla70]

Folks,
Find the attached video link where you can see the new females trait where they show their belly bottom when the dominant males comes towards them. I have made a video with 3 clippings from 3 new females.


"New batch of multi's (female's) trait/actions"
https://youtu.be/7s8yUEDfgcE

 

[rockarolla70]

I presume it is more of a display of submission.