shellie tank!

I set up a 15 gallon tank with 6 Multi's in it this weekend. These guys are a lot of fun! I bought 5 from Midway and they threw in all the shells in the tank. I get home, put them in the tank, 2 fish pop out. Then 2 more. 2 hours later, I still only see 4 fish. Suddenly, 2 more pop out of shells! Seems there was one hiding in a shell. So now I have 6 mutli's and some shells in a little tank.

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You're gonna love these little guys. Just wait 'til they start rearranging the shells on you! LOL

They are looking good spyral... like the whole setup! its really fun when they start making babies! Thats when you really get to see them act like cichlids, all aggressive, and terratorial

great looking fish spyral
are you going to get more shells for them?

I ordered 72 more shells from Amazon, they will be here Wednesday. I plan on covering the bottom with shells. Then some algae growth to feed the fry (which will eventually be everywhere).

I got a sh** load of shells from a garage sale ,, they were in a plastic tube with a can of snail meat, I guess you put the meat in the shells before serving escargot. they look just like the rounder shells in your pic.

thumbs up!

Bro that looks great. Lots of fun, they have a lot of personality as well. I'm sure you'll enjoy them

My shells arrived today! I will post pictures when I get home..they are going to love the new neighborhood!

Here it is! 85 shells and 6 Multies!

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Looks NICEEE. MAkes the tank look bigger to, beautiful shells. And I know why you really didnt get the moss. CAuse I stole it all from you.

lars on wrote:Looks NICEEE. MAkes the tank look bigger to, beautiful shells. And I know why you really didnt get the moss. CAuse I stole it all from you.

You are so wise...

I love it... there are soooo many shells in there! looks awesome! The only thing I would like to see is the back of the tank painted vs the background.... The air bubbles, and areas that are stuck to the tank thant annoy me... lol, no offense, it really looks awesome!

that pisses me off too..gonna buy some paint this weekend and fix taht.

dude you wont regret it
it looks so much better when is painted

Looks great! I have black plastic canvas with riccia and java moss woven through it as my background. When it spreads it looks great! Just an idea

Whoa... before you take things down or fumigate the tiny African's do this, a tip I found while browsing DIY's..

Take a few drops of mineral or vegetable oil and coat the film your applying to the back of your tank for background, squeegee the air bubbles from the background with something flat, available at the auto parts stores as bondo spreaders. Gets rid of the bubbles and looks terrific!

I have no background on my main tank currently and insulation on my planted 5.5 gallon to reflect light. But when I upgrade to the 75 or better I will be doing a blue fade or complete black the same way as I described above...Simple yet effective.

I tried that.... background still bubbled up.... thats why I made the leap to painting all the tanks! LOVE IT!

I Am going to brush paint it, not spray.

Spyral wrote:I Am going to brush paint it, not spray.

thats the only way to do it man.... spray paint makes a huge mess..... plus moisture/air bubbles sometimes build up.

Very cool Spyral, those must be some very happy shellies now

sandnuka wrote:

Spyral wrote:I Am going to brush paint it, not spray.

thats the only way to do it man.... spray paint makes a huge mess..... plus moisture/air bubbles sometimes build up.

Really? I've sprayed my 3 big tanks now without any bubbles. I actually would have thought that would be more of an issue with roller than spray.

Also you'll want to install intake sponges. As you'll lose lots of multi fry to the filters.

Ihave the sponge, just have to slip it on.

So your sure you hae babies no?

Pretty sure..but the fry are so small and they dart into a shell as soon as you get near the tank.

I never thought of evening painting a tank before this site. I had just taken my old backround, flipped it and had my kids paint it awesome colors. If it hadn't ripped during my last move it would still be up.

I have painted tanks before, but didn't do it to my last 4 tanks.

Some new pics from today!

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wow these and my Brevis look a bit alike, aside from the stripes

Thought you said you were gonna paint the back?! Lol, I know your just like me, I can't believe thought bubbles are not makin you crazy!

I have had a full weekend, besides, I have to go to Lowe's for fittings for my sump tomorrow. I am picking up paint then.

still didn't paint it, but added some darf rainbows and some floating hornwort for cover.

Very nice. They must love all of those shells!

They do, in fact they stay in there a LOT..lol

Yow, you were sayin now only the males comes out? PICS OF DARFS PLZ

I sent it to your phone..lol..too lazy to upload nao.