Am new & am interested in setting up at “Multifasciatus” specific tank.

[rockarolla70]

Hi Folks,
Am pretty new to this hobby, just got into this last year. As of now I have 2 tanks.
Tank 1 - Community Tank - 28 gallon
Tank 2 - Species Specific (Betta Splenden) - 8 gallon

Now planning to go for the 3rd tank & this too I want it to be a species-specific tank, got interested with multi’s after reading a lot of material bout them. I have quite a few questions which I think lot of hobbyist here can help me out with. With the space constraint the best I can for is a 11 gal tank (16.5” x 13” x 12”). My thought is to have

- 2 male & 3 females
- Aqua Clear 20 power filter
- Fluval pre-filter sponge
- 0.5 inches of river sand at the bottom
- 1 inch of aquarium sand over the river sand
- 12 to 15 giant escargot shells.
- Very few plants or nothing.
- Lighting (I want some suggestions)

I want to know if am in the right direction or not. Point out wherever I am wrong or something needs to be changes or any hobbyist have suggestions/opinions as I just want to make it right as in India, we don’t have must hobbyist are into multifasciatus & getting them is quite a challenge.

Help/Suggestion/Opinions appreciated in advance.

 

[Arget]

For that many females you only want one male. The males prefer harems. The sand bed should be pretty deep, they like to dig in the sand below the shells, to the point that the shells rest on the bottom of the tank. You'll want about 3-4 shells per fish, and expect to have to get more, they are easy to breed fish. A current is pretty good, flakes are best, but they float and a current is needed to get the food to the fish more easily. If you use fine sand, then be warned that it gets everywhere, so taking the sponge prefilter and cleaning it thoroughly at least once a month or replacing it is a good idea. You'll also want to take the filter out and clean it of any sand that gets in it. The finer the sand, the easier it is for the Multies to dig around, but it's also easier for it to get into the filter, potentially causing a lot of problems. Normal lighting is fine, though having a small, smooth stone can be useful in keeping the ph up, as being from lake Tanganyika they prefer hard water, though be careful with hard water, it'll cause hard water stains on the glass where the water evaporates before it's topped off. In my 60g Tanganyika biotope I have about a 3" or so sand bed, and the Multies have done some pretty expansive digging on their end of the tank, causing some fairly sizeable hills, especially one rather large one in the no man's land of the tank.

 

[Arget]

Here's some pictures of my 60g. The Juli's are on the right, the Multies on the left, with the sand hill in no ma's land in the middle from all of the Multies digging around. The second picture is the Multies, I've got about 2 dozen shells for the 3 females, one male, and about a half dozen fry. The females have more or less divided the shells among themselves, with each female claiming some shell, which they then dig around, not caring if they buried another female's shells.

 

[rockarolla70]

Hi Arget, thanks a lot for all the input/insight.
- I am having a pre-filter sponge to ensure that the 99% of the sand does not get into the filter. Do you think even after having this there are chances of sand getting into the filter ??
- Mine is however a multi's specific tank so hope there wont be much of turf war.

My next doubts I have is
- How much water change I need to do & how frequently ?
- Is a light algae growth "OK" with the Multi's ?
- How does a plant help the multifasciatus specific tank ?
- Is is possible/good having 24 shells are more in a 10 gallon tank where my actual floor space is only 1.48 square feet ??

 

[Arget]

It depends on how fine the sand is. I use very fine sand, and need to clean the filters and pre-sponge very frequently to get the sand out. The water change depends on the water quality, how many fish and how much you feed them. In the wild, Multies are found in areas with shell beds that are over ten feet deep, so the more shells the better off you are. The Multies are easy to breed, and they will, so over time as they breed the fry will go off to find their own shells. The more shells, the less fighting over them. It depends on the algae, I prefer to keep my tanks clean of it, aside from the Mbuna tank where they eat the algae. Multies are not like Julidochromis which will eat algae along with any small invertebrates. Algae can make the tank look really bad, so I tend to prefer to control it. Plants have to be ones that can handle hardwater, Lake Tanganyika has a ph of 7.8 to 9.0, but many tank bred fish can handle a lower ph. You'll want to be careful when changing the water that the ph of the new matches what's already in the tank, otherwise it'll shock the fish and kill them. Small, frequent water changes are better then larger, less frequent ones. In a 10g it'll be really challenging, larger tanks are more stable, so the water change effects it a lot less. I don't have much experience in live plants, but I've heard that Vallisneria, Anubias, and Java Fern will work in a Lake Tanganyika tank. Multies will dig in the sand, so any plants that are in the sand can be uprooted.

 

[Arget]

Hi Arget, thanks a lot for all the input/insight.
- I am having a pre-filter sponge to ensure that the 99% of the sand does not get into the filter. Do you think even after having this there are chances of sand getting into the filter ??
- Mine is however a multi's specific tank so hope there wont be much of turf war.

My Multies have a bad habit of moving the sand around. I've seen them take a mouthful of sand, go up to the top of the pre-sponge, and spit the sand out, right where the sponge is on the intake, pretty much insuring that the sand gets into the filter.

 

[Laser]

I have a 20 long Multi tank. I used an Aragonite sand substrate with about 35-40 escargot shells. This substrate can help buffer your pH at a proper level for these guys. I'm probably going to add more shells because they keep burying some of them in the sand. As someone else said you really can't have enough shells with these guys.

I started with 2 males and 1 female and now I have about 14 of them. They only bred the one time, I think they have an instinct not to over populate their living area.

 

[rockarolla70]

My Multies have a bad habit of moving the sand around. I've seen them take a mouthful of sand, go up to the top of the pre-sponge, and spit the sand out, right where the sponge is on the intake, pretty much insuring that the sand gets into the filter.

This is a bit worrying, as it is a HOB which am going to have. Will try to go for the finest sand in order to avoid the problem.

 

[rockarolla70]

I have a 20 long Multi tank. I used an Aragonite sand substrate with about 35-40 escargot shells.


I started with 2 males and 1 female and now I have about 14 of them. They only bred the one time, I think they have an instinct not to over populate their living area.

Thanks, need to check if I can find Argonite sand here in India, I know about "Maalavya Live Reef Substrate Aragonite Sand" which is available here. (if this is the same you are referring to)


On the breeding part a bit confusing, some say they don't stop breeding irrespective of the space.

 

[Arget]

They make specific sand for African Cichlids. I've never used it, my tap water is pretty hard. Putting in some smooth limestone rocks also helps keep the ph up. I had a hob on a 20g which is where I had my Julidochromis before I upgraded them to the 60g. The very fine sand that I had got into the filter, even with a pre-sponge on it. I had to clean it out about once a month, each time I changed the media.

 

[rockarolla70]

Hi all, Kindly find below a link where you can see my N. multifasciatus (4 numbers) which I was able to find, they are getting quarantined right now for the next 8 more days. I am still trying to find one more (if I can) presently I can make out gender of these as there are just 1 inch.

If a N. multifasciatus is 1 inch ... how many months old it might be (approx) ??

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HQaA6fYp6v7O2IU2YZBOOdy-s0jT1imV?usp=sharing

 

[Laser]

Hi all, Kindly find below a link where you can see my N. multifasciatus (4 numbers) which I was able to find, they are getting quarantined right now for the next 8 more days. I am still trying to find one more (if I can) presently I can make out gender of these as there are just 1 inch.

If a N. multifasciatus is 1 inch ... how many months old it might be (approx) ??

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HQaA6fYp6v7O2IU2YZBOOdy-s0jT1imV?usp=sharing

Males will grow close to 2 inches and females stay closer to 1. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but I think 2 and 3 are male and 1 is female. I have also heard that the darker the stripes the older they are.

 

[rockarolla70]

Thanks for all the input provided by all of you. I have already procured AquaClear 30 as I could not find AC20. My tank will be ready by 25th Jul, getting my 24 escargot shells & fluval pre-filter sponge from US on 27th Jul.

Now coming to the sand again I need to decide between fine aquarium sand & marine aragonite sand (suggestion are welcome). I will also would like to let you know that I have found out the tap water here is pretty soft so either I need to use buffers or you aragonite sand so the pH is maintained.

Last but not the least is that once the multie's settle in the new tank, claim their respective territories ... I presume we should not be disturbing the floor area which will erase their real estate boundaries claimed by them ... then how to clean my tank ??. How does the bio-waste of the fish which would escaped the filter & would have probably settled on the sand or would have gotten beneath them be cleaned, I am sure I can't even use siphon.

 

[Laser]

While I am cleaning the tank I will move some of the shells out of the way and try to suck up some of the detritus with the siphon. It's really not the easiest task, but I try to do half of the tank each weak during my weekly water change. I try to put the shells back how I found them.

They will bury some of the shells in the sand given enough time. I occasionally unearth these and dump the sand out of the shell.

 

[Laser]

Sorry, double post.

 

[rockarolla70]

In addition to the above ... coming to the aquarium sand, I've a few options which are available here in India or if you have any other suggestions ??

ADA La Plata Sand
Graining: 3mm

JBL Sansibar WHITE
Graining: 0.2 to 0.6mm

CLASSICA Marine Aragonite Sand
Graining: 1mm


Next question is if...
41 ltrs is my water volume in the tank & if I need to do 30% water change weekly that would be 12 ltrs water change weekly. I would like to know .. for per liter of water how much Seachem Tanganyika Buffer should I have to use ??

 

[rockarolla70]

Hi Folks,
Here is a small update on my N. multifasciatus tank. Attached are some pics of the tank, I've decided that this will be my trial tank for the next 2 months. I would like to see how the progress goes with association with a Multi's & based on that I will be going in for 3 feet (long) tank for Multi' & a couple of ocellatus gold.

If all goes well I will go with a 36 x 13 x 12 (inches) tank by Oct 2019.

At present am doing a fishless cycling for the next 4 days & then have my multi's here in this tank.

Any suggestion/opinions are welcome.

 

[rockarolla70]

Hello all, here is a small update on my Multi's tank. I used the media of the tank there were quarantined, & the media of one my oldest matured tank to cycle. I released a fish y'day afternoon along with 4 liters of the water from their quarantined tank & by the look of it they are doing fine.


I have few question, they are still very skittish & when I try to drop their food they just get into their shells, dropped a couple of pellets but they never seems to eat which is on the bottom & I had to remove the uneaten food. However today morning I tried feeding them and they do feed on the pellets but not completely. Any solutions ??


Secondly kindly see the pic attached I see in the same these green/black patches, I presume this alage formed in the air pockets of the sand or am I wrong ??


Any suggestion/solutions.


https://drive.google.com/open?id=1oR_lLOe5DrRqmTIDMjQGRB-680Kjofrl

 

[rockarolla70]

Hello all, here is a small update on my Multi's tank. I used the media of the tank there were quarantined, & the media of one my oldest matured tank to cycle. I released a fish y'day afternoon along with 4 liters of the water from their quarantined tank & by the look of it they are doing fine.

I have few question, they are still very skittish & when I try to drop their food they just get into their shells, dropped a couple of pellets but they never seems to eat which is on the bottom & I had to remove the uneaten food. However today morning I tried feeding them and they do feed on the pellets but not completely. Any solutions ??

Secondly kindly see the pic attached I see in the same these green/black patches, I presume this algae formed in the air pockets of the sand or am I wrong ??

Any suggestion/solutions.

 

[Laser]

Yeah, I have a fine aragonite sand and I get those too. I just wipe them away with my finger during a water change occasionally. Not sure if that's the best practice, but it works for me.