All things Shell Dwellers

I'll try and grab a pic of the multies while at the shop today.

I'm seeing if I'll get up the courage to order from here: The import/custom fees etc might be insane. But they have so many wild caught shellies etc. Also all the prices are in euros so it's even more expensive. I'm afraid I'll go broke buying all the things I want.

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Here is the first tank I'm selling up for shellies after all these years.

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It's simple now, but I'll be working on it. More pictures at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] but they just show an empty tank and cleaning substrate etc.

Aquarium Co-Op wrote:I'll try and grab a pic of the multies while at the shop today.

I'm seeing if I'll get up the courage to order from here: The import/custom fees etc might be insane. But they have so many wild caught shellies etc. Also all the prices are in euros so it's even more expensive. I'm afraid I'll go broke buying all the things I want.

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Spoken like a true aquatic hobbiest, LOL!

Aquarium Co-Op wrote:Here is the first tank I'm selling up for shellies after all these years.

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It's simple now, but I'll be working on it. More pictures at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] but they just show an empty tank and cleaning substrate etc.

After suggestions of adding some MTS on shelldwellers.com I am going to add some. . Starting to develop mulm in the tank. With the new residence starting to dig they are throwing this mulm around the whole tank, lol! Time for a water change and a light sand vacuum

These are the multies at the shop.

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How are raising your ph in that tank?

Here is a way.
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Lol I have all three ingredients just chilling around the house

honestly ive kept many species of shell dweller without much PH alteration. in fact ive only ever used argonite as a primary substrate source, and lace rock. never seemed to have any issues so long as the tank is well oxygenated and nitrates are kept low. i seemed to run into more issues when altering ph then when i just left it alone. just my two cents, ive also stopped using water conditioner and it doesnt seem to have hurt anything (so long as i dont do more then 50% WC's) ran out of conditioner one day and had to do a WC on a fry tank. everybody took it like champs so i just gave up on that expense

Anthraxx wrote:honestly ive kept many species of shell dweller without much PH alteration. in fact ive only ever used argonite as a primary substrate source, and lace rock. never seemed to have any issues so long as the tank is well oxygenated and nitrates are kept low. i seemed to run into more issues when altering ph then when i just left it alone. just my two cents, ive also stopped using water conditioner and it doesnt seem to have hurt anything (so long as i dont do more then 50% WC's) ran out of conditioner one day and had to do a WC on a fry tank. everybody took it like champs so i just gave up on that expense

Unfortunately my water here in Maple Valley and Covington is too chlorinated. You can smell the chlorine as you fill the bucket with cool water. So that is expense is necessary for me but this ph formula thing is cheap expense for those who don't use argonite or lace rock or coral (whole rock or crushed).

oh im sorry you misunderstand my reccomendation on PH, anytime i tried to use buffers (before i just bought the substrate of course) it just seemed to flucuate too much and ended up just hurting the fish. i personally wouldnt adjust the PH at all. your more then likely not going to get wild caught fish so its not as important as you think. id say oxygenation rates and temperature are more important. the lake itself doesnt change temp throughout the year so as close to 78 as you can keep it is ideal.

It makes senses.  

Same with West Seattle

just proud of this awesome photo and figured it was appropriate to share here. pretty darn sure its a big male. the females tend to be more wishy washy on the color as you can see on my other thread of some in the background.
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@ Cory: feel free to take for shelldweller.com, on a side note. ever put any thought to putting a new section in for species profiles? it could be user generated and include whats worked / not worked for each other. sort of a nice way to help others without sifting thru tons of threads. also it could boost the forum use because the search engines seem to pick up species profiles a lot easier then individual threads.

+1 to species profiles!!

WikiFishBox,I think it would be great to have,but instead of user generated,how about some amount of published literature with a way for users to make comments about each species,and what has worked?

It would probably make having a decent sized database easier to add,but still provide the community another way to interact

We( mods) discussed this recently.  I think it's a great idea too. I'm not sure if our current website can support this... I'm not really techie so I can't remember what the pros and cons were

i just figured it could be a nice way for us to share our pics and experiences. anybody can read a species profile but a short tid bit on what works and what doesnt from somebody with first hand knowledge could be cool. that way it would expand as people here share more of what they keep and all that jazz.

It would take someone with the knowledge of how to set it up to make it work. If someone knows how to create that database etc. We could have a link to it on our menu bar. I'm not sure if we could link the logins with our current forumotion forum. But it would make a great case for moving the forum if that option opened up to us

Hey cory. Are getting any of these species? 
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Not currently. IMO they are a more advanced shell dweller to keep. Not as easy as many of the others.

those are melagris or specsious. both are harder to keep shelly wise, pretty much any of them that have that pit bull look. definitely gonna need like a 20g long for a pair. great fish to watch and keep (got some in my 40g) but they are definitely much harder to keep long term then multies brevis etc. hope this helps, i should have babies soon, the group i got has some size on them already and they seem to be settling in quickly.

Neo. Brevis Kitumba Orange Belly came in today with more Multies.

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Oh my that's nice!

Mine!!!!! Lol still cycling

those are some excellent looking brevis. also got some good size on them already so it should be easier to get a pair. GL to whomever snags em, kitumba is a really nice location

You guys are killing me! I have an empty 20L pretty much ready to set something up in and shellies seem like such a good thing to put in there!

Dooo it!!! Lol

Where to buy shells?

I've already ordered hundreds and different types of shells. Just waiting for them to arrive sometime this week hopefully. I'll post pictures of the types etc when they get here.

I'll just leave this here....

Aquarium Co-Op wrote:I've already ordered hundreds and different types of shells. Just waiting for them to arrive sometime this week hopefully. I'll post pictures of the types etc when they get here.

Yes, please let us know. I could use 10 or so more. My shellies are actually burrowing under my rocks now. Sooooo cool

keep us posted for when they arrive I started cycling my tank a week ago with aged media from my other spec v
still need to find a way to raise ph without using calcium sand want to use pfs for substrate and maybe add crushed coral to filter?

anything else I should look for when adding décor to tank? rocks shells any thing else I might be missing?

Shells will dissolve and help raise ph

I'd like just a photo thread where everyone posts their Shellies and their names.... I'm still on the fence, but would love some sort of fish to live in a smaller tank on my desk at work ( and no, I'm not looking for tetras, danios, or guppies ). So I hope one of you experts starts a thread ( mostly pictures not a lot of text) to help me visualize all of this hype!

So, do any of you use shells from the ocean? I have a huge collection if shells from the ocean that my grandparents collects years upon years ago over in Hawaii.  I've never used them for anything as I worried they would leach something that would negatively affect the water

lloyd378 wrote:I'd like just a photo thread where everyone posts their Shellies and their names.... I'm still on the fence, but would love some sort of fish to live in a smaller tank on my desk at work ( and no, I'm not looking for tetras, danios, or guppies ). So I hope one of you experts starts a thread ( mostly pictures not a lot of text) to help me visualize all of this hype!

check out page 2 for inspirational pics =)

lloyd378 wrote:So, do any of you use shells from the ocean? I have a huge collection if shells from the ocean that my grandparents collects years upon years ago over in Hawaii.  I've never used them for anything as I worried they would leach something that would negatively affect the water

From my research its mostly the weight of seashells compared to the escargot shells. They fish like to move them around and seashells can be too heavy.

have to wait for cory to get in shells might just get everything at once from him

lloyd378 wrote:So, do any of you use shells from the ocean? I have a huge collection if shells from the ocean that my grandparents collects years upon years ago over in Hawaii.  I've never used them for anything as I worried they would leach something that would negatively affect the water

My fish don't seem to move shells. They displace sand which move the shells. I would think any shell is going to be okay. The shells you see us using are relatively close  in size to those found in their natural habitat.

I hope sea shells are not harmfull. I am using a bag of crushed coral and shells to buffer PH . I am also using corals and shellsin the sump of my 140 that my daughter brought back from the islands.

Does anyone keep these? I'd like some info on them.....
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Lamprologus stappersi (meleagris)  

And the shells are from what type of snail?

Here is a list of shells Anthraxx put names on. I have no idea where , or what the are from except they are snail shells. Lol. But you could Google the names if you wish. Escargot, gold mouth turbos, whale/shark eyes

lloyd378 wrote:I'd like just a photo thread where everyone posts their Shellies and their names.... I'm still on the fence, but would love some sort of fish to live in a smaller tank on my desk at work ( and no, I'm not looking for tetras, danios, or guppies ). So I hope one of you experts starts a thread ( mostly pictures not a lot of text) to help me visualize all of this hype!

Community wondering around.
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Busy diggn holes.
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These Multies have been really active. When they get spooked will dart in their designated shell but quickly come back out to investigate. I thought these fish would stay at the bottom but they dont they occupy they whole tank. But it is a small tank, limited space.

Your tank looks great! Could you keep those sweet looking calvus " horse shaped face" Africans with them?   Because those calvus are my favorite!

And I saw them listed quite a bit on that shell dweller forum

I'm REALLY considering converting one of my tanks into a shellie tank... I still have some left over shells from when I kept land hermit crabs. These are my largest shells, two Turbo shells and a Magpie shell. I will definitely need to collect more shells if I end up doing a shellie tank. We'll see. The only thing I can think of that might be a problem with these shells is that they are pretty heavy... maybe I should consider land snail shells. Hmmm...

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PokeSephiroth wrote:I'm REALLY considering converting one of my tanks into a shellie tank... I still have some left over shells from when I kept land hermit crabs. These are my largest shells, two Turbo shells and a Magpie shell. I will definitely need to collect more shells if I end up doing a shellie tank. We'll see. [B]The only thing I can think of that might be a problem with these shells is that they are pretty heavy... maybe I should consider land snail shells. Hmmm...[b/]

IDK Poke, my little shellies don't move shells physically. They move sand around, the shells move a little bit but it's more sand manipulation. My little guys have been busy. It looks like a typhoon hit the sand bed. They fill shells with sand, bury them in mounds ,then unearth the shells. I would defiantly try your little shells with my Multies. In one day the tank bed looks different from the day before. It's really cool!

multies get the nickname of bulldozers btw.

they wont really move the shells so much. the neothauma shells found within the lake are really light and even then only certain species actively "steal/move" shells. its pretty isolated behavior, mostly what you will see is them burying shells the dont want any unwanted neighbors moving into. as for salt water vs land snail shells it doesnt seem to matter much. ive noticed the land snails degrade far faster then the salt ones plus the salt shells end up buffering the PH quite a bit. Whale eye are a freshwater snail as are the escargot. the shark eyes and turbo shells are both salt water types. really the only important factor is a nice sized opening and space enough for them to move around within the shells but not get stuck (cuz it will happen with certain shells) ive used babylon and then some random shells from michaels grab bags.
@ lloyd Melagris are really a tough species to start out with. the pug looking shellies tend to be high on the aggression side so a larger space would be ideal to isolate down to a pair / group. id reccomend you not try them in anything smaller then a 20g long. even then you may run into issues getting a pair to form. theres some really good articles on cichlid-forum for shellies in the library section. its all pretty much the same, just shell and tank size differences really. as for mixing calvus/ shellies its really not a great idea, in the wild they naturally prey upon shellies and in aquariums have been known to do the same thing, sometimes even killing females as they attempt to protect their young. it will take a WHILE for this to occur but sooner or later they will give it a shot.

@poke those big shells would be perfect for some of the brevis cory just picked up. if you do get some just get one of the biggest in there and then two or three of the smallest. size is a pretty good indicator of sex within shellies, most females barely get past 1/2-3/4''

@fishnabowl in your pictures pic 2 almost looks like a similis rather then a multie. the tighter stripe pattern is the only real difference between the two species and its quite common to get them mixed up. just wanna make sure youve got what you think you have

Anthraxx wrote:
@fishnabowl in your pictures pic 2 almost looks like a similis rather then a multie. the tighter stripe pattern is the only real difference between the two species and its quite common to get them mixed up. just wanna make sure youve got what you think you have

Pict #2, that's the biggest fish. Think he's the Alpha. He's made the biggest sand mound, and taken the far right side of the tank. All the fish look alike - I think  they are all the same species. Where I got these fish the keeper also had Similis. I did notice the difference. The strips where just a little bit darker, finer and defined. Also the strips went all the way up and over the head. I stared at them for quite a bit. Nice looking fish.

I am hoping AquariumCoop has some multie females in stock when I roll through there. From what I have gathered I think I have a 5 to 2 male/female ratio. I would like to add 2 females and another 10 shells.

Well went and got the fishes from adal. The gold occellutus female died before I got there. So no pair    but got the male gold occellutus,  the leloupi, the juli (in another tank, thinking of trading him it for a multis) and the long fin chocolate pleco. Overall it was still a good trade off for both of us. He got blue pearl shrimps, he wanted  less maintenance shrimps barely feedings but bi-monthly or tri-monthly (20 shrimps in a 30gal). And I got a few fish I liked but no pair    better than none.