A blank canvus.....

fish_n_vw wrote:I will have some new shels in the next few days, I orderd some cool ones off the web. I will post the pics when they go in.

Ive heard about using the escargot type shells. What are you going to use?

@ DMD I have escargot shells, but those are for my multies... when I put them in the in wall tank (to see how it looked) where everything is black it looked strange, and my wife said "it clashed and drew your eyes to that spot". So I orderd some others off the internet. I will post pics when they get here. There cool, I think they should "fit in" and not be overbareingly bright against the black of everything else.

@ Betty cool wich varient do you have? I never knew there was more then one... I have been reading about them a bunch, they seem like they are going to be a good fit in the tank. The guy were ordering from said he was confident he could get me a male and female pair, and that I dident have to buy 4+.... I thought to myself "wow, this guy just turned down a chance to sell 4+ instead of 2", honesty is worth so much to me that I will be ordering from him again in the future. I'm very excited!

I have Katabe. A few pictures here --- [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I have two males. I started out with a female, but she didn't make it. You can see her in the shell.
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They are a nice little fish and they don't stray far from their shell. Mine love to dig the sand around their shells and fill others in. Wait til you see yours moving sand -- it's the coolest thing.

Very nice fish. my multies can move some sand too. Its probably mean, but I occasional level all the sand in the tank. It seems to make the furious, because they all go at the sand together. They can really displace a big amount of sand in a very small amount of time. I have 4 male multies and one ?m/f?... hope its a femal but it was the largest baby in the tank it came from, so probably another male. Although it was showing "female" behaviour. Either way I will probably pick up a few more and try to offload a few of these males. I'm really excited about the brevis, and when I order again I plan to get some occies, and probably 3 small multies. I really like the shell dwellers ther funny.

if your interested in occies, i have a proven pair up for sale. need the money to deal with some supplies for that 125. just let me know. either way that tanks looks awesome!!

fish_n_vw wrote:it was showing "female" behaviour.

Was it nagging the other fish?

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Lol, D you really make me laugh often with what you post.

Anthraxx wrote:if your interested in occies, i have a proven pair up for sale. need the money to deal with some supplies for that 125. just let me know. either way that tanks looks awesome!!

I was thinking about it, but you said they wouldent be ok with my pulcher, and that's what I planned on keeping them with. For my 29 I orderd some brevis "ikola". Your occies are the reason I wanted some. But if they can't work with the pulchers, then its a no go. Thanks for the offer though.

WHAM WHAMNNN, WWWHHHAAAAAA BAAAM!!!!!!!! Sorry its just not a blank canvus anymore. And I'm stoked, its going together really nicely. I am really happy with the way this has come out. My shells came in and I love the look of it. The ones I orderd are a little small I think (any brevis owners please cue in). Thanks for looking at my large amount of media. Here it comes and sorry I'm a dork.

The opening of the shell box and how it was shipped. PLEASE TELL ME IF THESE SHELLS ARE TO SMALL!!
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K now some pics of the shells.
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Razor blade for scale.
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K now a video of the the tank.
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Hope you enjoyed, and sorry I'm such a dork but I'm stoked.

P.S. please tell me if the shells are to small. They are the same size as the ones most used for breeding brevis but have a slightly smaller opening. Thanks again for looking.

i think they might be too small. great shell type however. i also think u may need some more. i love that big ole monster tho. im sure u remember i have a very similar shell in my multie setup. if anything get some turbo snail shells. they look good and are plenty big for everything to live in. that or umm whale eyes. not as pretty to look at but with a shelly tank more is better. GL to ya and i love to see that tank getting setup. btw sunspot brevis were high up on my list but kevin didnt have any when i was setting up the occie tank.. haha.

I agree; I think they might be too small. They might work while the fish are also small, but not when they grow and remember with brevis, the pair will share a shell. Male and female both have to fit in the same shell.

I started out using a variety of shells, but mine preferred escargot shells. Over the years they have started deteriorating and falling apart, so just this morning I ordered a package of them. I won't use them all, so I could give you a couple to try out and see if your fish will use them.

Enjoyed the video tour of the tank.

Thanks for the input guys... we'll guy and gal. The reason I chose these shells is because the website ( [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ) specifically said they have sold thousand of one that is almost Idetintical to breed brevis. Btw if you hit that link its the third shells down. Anyhow, when I opened it up and saw how small they were I was kinda shocked. Because I have 17 escargot shells and my multies love them. But when I put them in the tank, they looked really bright, and I want the tank to be a little darker

Thanks for the offer Betty, I have a bunch of those though, and if push comes to shove I will use some I have. But I am hoping to find something with a little color and not so bright. I like my escargot shells for my multie tank, they just don't look right in this one though. Either way these smaller ones will be great for fry to escape to. Again thanks for the offer.

Anthraxx, you are right the other shells would work better, but I have to keep with my darker theme. And the lighter shells looked weird to me. I will just buy others darker and a little bigger. And your big shell in the tank was my inspiration for my big one. I am hoping it will be home to my calvus. But who knows who will claim it. All I know is the calvus has 5 days to claim it before the other 4 fish get here.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

I see what you mean about the color. When I get my order, I have a feeling mine are going to look out of place for a while, but with my ability to grow algae, it won't take long for them to look aged.

I'm good at growing that stuff too.

I see a post coming with pictures of the most algae covered tanks.

hehe funny

@ vw - the tank looks great! I like that darker look. Yes, you could give it a brighter light though my opinion is that as a wall inset that in itself is enough to draw the eye. And thanks for sharing the pic showing the back of it, quite informative

@vs your welcome, and thanks for the kind words.
@D if it gets bad I have these two fish buddies that I'm sure will come help me clean it up for a few beers..lol...seriously...lol.. no but serious!

I am really happy with the tank, those shells are small but I'm looking for some bigger ones today when I get off of work, I want something that's dark in color and either has a lot of black, or red in it. I don't want it to bright, because that will draw the attention away from the whole tank, making you focus on one thing only. I also have to rearange the rock a little. Its pretty good where it is but I think I can do better. Nothing to major though still the same layout, just a few changes to the big corner pile. Again thanks everyone for your kind words.

hey VW the other thing that may work with shells that size is that your fish will be able to move them around to your liking. its pretty funny to watch my big multie male try to move things around... about the shells i suggested i was just tossing ideas out that may work for them. clearly its all up to you in the long run but the more shells the better it will work out for your fish. i hope it works out for ya. there should be plenty of turbo snail varietys to suite your needs. clearly white is gonna be present but i really think that the gold mouth variety will really pop against that black. again GL buddy

Thanks anthraxx, I just orderd more shells. The ones like mine, but with a bigger mouth. I orderd 10 of them, so like you said the more the better. I noticed that 2 of the shells look big enough, so I figure that ordering 10 more I should get another at 3 or 4 that are bigger. Don't know guess we will see on Monday when they get here.

Btw you are right about the gold, it would look really cool against the black of it all.

hey just my opinion. the shells tend to come in a range of outter colors as well. so it might fit into your setup. just take a look if you dont like this second order. shells are always handy to keep around when u got shellies hahaha . btw a large whale eye for the pair could work well. both my multies (the pair) hide out in the same shell together.

Got my shells today... good news, there bigger then the others... they are twice the size of the smaller ones. So I am sure they are big enough. Anyway all set up, here's some pics.


A few full tank shots.
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My shell pile, now large enough shells, and plenty of choices.. 15 count.
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Julie ornatus congo
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Brevis ikola
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And lastly the neolamprologus beuscheri mbita
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There is another brevis in here (hopefully a m/f pair). Along with a brichardi, and a black calvus. The tank is very boring right now, nothing is ever out. The brevis haven't found the shells, the pulcher, beuscheri and ornatus only come out for a second and then dart back in to the rocks. And the calvus only pokes its head out when I feed the tank, after taking a bite, it ducks back into the rock. I am hoping all is well and everything is just getting settled, but who knows... I have never kept africans before. The little glimpses I see every here and again are really cool, just wish they would show themselves a bit more... anyway, time will tell. Thanks for following this long thread. And sorry for the crap pics.

Never fear, they'll grow accustomed to their new home and to you. It took several months when I was starting up my Tang tank, but now when I feed every fish in the tank is rushing up to see me and get food. I had the same concerns as you when I was first starting out.