Suggestions please

**aquarium kid** · 07-31-2012, 07:54 PM

I have a 46 gallon bow front and I am considering shell dwellers. Does anyone know a good spot to find some basic info on them as I pretty much clueless.

Thanks in advance

**aquarium kid** · 07-31-2012, 09:19 PM

I have done some reading and i think shell dwellers and other fish from lake Tanganyika would be perfect. I was wondering what your favorite species,combos,setups were?

**aquarium kid** · 07-31-2012, 09:38 PM

Probably a dumb question but what is this F1 F0 stuff I keep hearing about.

**Goes to 11!** · 07-31-2012, 09:48 PM

Never had Shellies, Sorry.

Originally Posted by aquarium kid

Probably a dumb question but what is this F1 F0 stuff I keep hearing about.

F0 = Wild caught fish [Also: WC]
F1 = Fish with F0 [or WC] parents
F2 = The next generation
... And so on.

**aquarium kid** · 07-31-2012, 09:51 PM

Thanks 850R

**IanR29** · 08-02-2012, 08:06 AM

I can't tell you about shellies, all I've got are bricardis and am ordering a calvus for an online source. I can tell you that F1 is the offspring off a wild caught fish. F0 would be wild caught. F0 - wild caught. F1 offspring of wild caught. F2 would be offspring of F1.

Oh and I've heard the name Julie along with shells.

**IanR29** · 08-02-2012, 08:10 AM

Oh and btw bricardis and calvuses are Rock dwellers.

**~firefly~** · 08-08-2012, 08:50 PM

I've kept two varieties of shellies.

Neolamprologus multifasciatus
Lamprologus ocellatus gold

Ocellatus look amazing but are the most aggressive species I have ever kept (and this includes Mbuna cichlids). They will attack you if you put your hand near their precious shells. Loads of character and great to watch,

but make sure you have lots and lots of shells (more shells than individual fish - you can pick up escargot shells very cheaply). Try to scape your tank rockwork so that there are lots of broken lines of sight. By that I mean that you should not be able to sit at one end of the tank and see every other area easily. If you do, you'll get constant fighting. Sectioning the tank off by blocking the line of sight will create natural territories for each fish.

The must be kept on sand or crushed coral as they have very distinctive ways of moving the substrate and burying the shells. Make sure that any rockwork you have is set on the base of the tank - not on top of the sand. These guys dig like crazy and move everything around so any rock piles you have will collapse and be very dangerous if not on the solid tank base.

In the right conditions they will readily breed. I kept mine successfully with julidochromis species (cave dwellers) but if you do keep more than one species the fry/eggs will likely get eaten very quickly. One day I want to keep a shelly only tank.

**Scrup** · 08-08-2012, 08:53 PM

Brevis are also nice if you want something a little bit larger than multies or occies. Not much larger though. Almost any of them will be plenty of entertainment. Remember though, they will only really inhabit the bottom 6" of the tank. The rest will be empty. Which is not a bad thing, but its good to know.