New Shells Arrived: A few Shellie tank pics

[Cichlid-Man]

Some of you may recall me asking where to buy shells, i was shown cichlidbreeding.com and put in an order. The order came a few days later and i could not be any more pleased. I was worried about breakage but not ONE shell, out of 70 (!) was broken. I got just what i wanted and sizes that were perfect (I got 2-3 sizes of each type of shell i ordered). They were also very clean and took only a rinse before they went into the tank. Like i said i could not be more pleased and when and if it comes time for more cichlid breeding items i will have no problem going back to cichlidbreeding.com . *BOUNCINGS Thanks Orion and Exister for pointing me to them.

Now on to the pics. I ordered 30 Whaleseye, 20 Gold mouth turbo, and 20 Delphinula shells. I kinda wish i would have gotten more whaleseye but these will do just fine for now while my colony of 4 Multis grows.

Please excuse the start of green water, a W/C is due tomorrow. And remember this aquarium is the worst i've ever shot a camera through (glass).

This got the blood pumping when the guy in brown brought it.

Shell Line up compared to a US money piece

Tank bottem

Tank

Enjoying the new additions! *SUPERSMIL

A black background is coming for the tank.

 

[Orion]

I kinda wish i would have gotten more whaleseye

lol, that was the same thing I said after I went though all the ones I got! Gotta love them whales eye.

You may want to think about adding a little bit of rockwork as the colony grows. My male mutlie prefers to hover somewhere inbetween the rocks and shells. Some vertical rockwork would really look good I think. IMO its hard to do alot with species only shellie tank.

You were talking about wanting cyps in another thread, have you thought about paracyps?

Congrats C-man! All looking good!

Heh, if we keep this up the Tang's are going to take over MFT. *SUPERSMIL

 

[mamba]

ok c-man now i know what im doing with my tank.. forget the plants im going to go with shells and some rocks and sand... nice tank by the way .. soon as i get the new heater im gunna post pics

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Awesome to hear mamba, i am definently hooked on shellies now.

Orion, i used all the whales eye first just dropped them in and was like "Is this all?!" lol. But its a good start. I have 2 good rocks and as i can really sex them and they start to "bond" together and form pairs or w/e i will add the rocks as needed. Lucky me i believe i have 3 males and 1 female as of now LOL. Seems like i am seeing the beginings of a pair, lets hope. ANd looks to be 2 lone males....but we'll see.

As for the Cyps, yes i'd love them. Would Paracyps be ok in a 29gal? I'm not to familar with them, any sources from your research on them orion that i should check out?

The thought even crossed my mind to take my 55gal (now discus soon to be something else) and turn it into a tang community, or go with malawi haps. So many plans, gosh i want to do so many things but i only got a few tanks lol.

 

[Orion]

Really most of what I have read on paracyps have been over on CF. Seems that many have tried keeping a group of them in 29 gallon tanks, but its been hit or miss. I've not found many good articles on these.

If you can get them easily I would say try it out and see what happens. If it does not work out, you can alway put them in your 55 for a great start to a tang community.

As for the multies, give them some time to grow. IME the males are about twice the size of the females when mature, so sexing is easy. Also my males tend to hover more above the shells, and the females stay closer, especialy when fry are present. If you wanted to add more females later that should not be a problem as I have had good results taking females from a different colonies and the new males take to them rather well. Be more on the look out for the alpha female not taking well to new females. I've not had any casualties from this, but lots of flaring and picking.

 

[phOOey]

now thats what i call planning ahead, 70 shells for 4 multies

looks like multie heaven in that tank c-man *thumbsups a bit unlucky on the old m/f ratio but it should be fine. when they do start breeding its always a good idea to add a few new females from time to time to add new blood to the colony.

seeing your and orions tank has really made me want to get back into to shellies, i miss my multies colony.