keeping neolamp multis

[daveho]

hey guys,
im looking into africans for the first time and since i have a spare 25g breeder with the footprint of a standard 2 foot, and i was thinking i would do maby a half dozon shellys in the tank.
here in australia they arnt the most common guys to find so id love to hear some advice from you guys on keeping them other then water peramiters.

thanks,
Dave

 

[Nathanpopp]

That's alot of Shellies, I would stick with just 4.

 

[daveho]

ok so 4. id guess that gives em space if there are fry?

 

[Freakgecko91]

6-8 will do just fine, they only pick an area of maybe 3-4 inches in diameter, I did 4 in a 6.6 gallon with no problems.

 

[daveho]

cool ill prolly get 5 to start that way the chance of me geting at least 1 pair is good.
i dont mind having an understocked tank (i gennerally prefer it acctuly, for example i have 4 australe chocolate in there own 20g with a 304 on it lol) but i miss the crazy antics of cichlids and prefer smaller guys so multis look the goods to me.
who here keeps them? im having a hard time getting them here in australia

 

[Freakgecko91]

cool ill prolly get 5 to start that way the chance of me geting at least 1 pair is good.
i dont mind having an understocked tank (i gennerally prefer it acctuly, for example i have 4 australe chocolate in there own 20g with a 304 on it lol) but i miss the crazy antics of cichlids and prefer smaller guys so multis look the goods to me.
who here keeps them? im having a hard time getting them here in australia

Multies don't usually breed in pairs. I have 1m:3f and the one male is the father to fry with all three females actually, the females bicker a bit, the male is really relaxed. Just remember that your tank will more than likely have to be a species only tank, a they are quite aggressive

 

[candacecook1025]

I just started my own multies tank and LOVE them! I have a 20 long (30") with a dozen little guys who all get along great. And we have our very first fry! Obviously, once we get too full, I will be rehoming lots of babies. But these are colonial fish, so they will accept several generations without too much issue. So maybe I will just have to get a larger tank instead of thinning the herd. The most important thing about shellies, apart from water parameters, is you need LOTS of shells! Some people say 2-3 for each fish, but I have more than that. Some of these little greedy guys like having several of their own. And while it's not necessary to have any rocks, I find that even just one large rock off to the side is great. The shellies can go hide behind it while I am cleaning the tank. And they love sand over gravel. They seem to be pretty hardy fish. The guy I got them from kept them in pH range of 7.0-7.8, and I am slowly raising it...i wanted my little guys to have the most natural habitat, so we are eventually going to get up to about 9.0. They have had no problems with any of the changes I am making. You will really love these fish...I can easily waste lots of time watching them! Hope this helps!

 

[daveho]

i understannld they are typicaly harem breeders but i mean gettin say 5-6 gives me a good chance of having a male and female mix. im currently digging thoug all the sellers i can find to locate some in aus but i have found asource of escargot shells