Plans for a 12gal. shellie tank

[brooklynfish]

Hi, Sorry hanen't been on in a while. School has me tied up real bad.:/

My sw tank is a wreck and I plan on taking it down over spring break. Im not going to go into details over my failure cause it kinda depresses me lol. The LR will go along with the sand. I have a clown and a purple and yellow fish. Its not a royal gramma, but a puesudochromis (excuse the spelling). The fish are awesome, but I really don't know what to do with them.

Ok, now for the real reason im here. I've always wanted to do a shellie tank with a small colony of shellies in it. Here the setup as I may recycle some of the stuff from my SW tank:
Crushed coral
test kits
70w MH <----Would I have to change this?
295 return pump <------the tank is an Aquapod 12, so it has a few back chambers.
Some shells

Anything else that should be on the list? C+C are welcome.

 

[Chris_A]

For a 12 gallon I'd really only recommend a pair of the smaller Shellies. Say Multi's or Brevis.

I doubt there should be an issue with the pump, but if it's really stiring up stuff you could always downsize. "cross that bridge when you get to it" type of thing .

So far as the light... Yeah, it's WAY overkill for this lol. I'm not really familure with the Aquapods, is there anyway to retro some different lights into it?

Also, depending on the grain size of the CC you may want to switch it out for fine sand. May not be needed but if you really want to watch the personality and behaviour of Shellies I would recommend it.

Chris

 

[brooklynfish]

Thanks Chris. As of now, im thinking of maybe something else. Maybe a few Scarlet Gem Badis (Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Scarlet Gem Badis) or just regular Badis and a Licorice Gourami. It would be lightly planted. Would I still need to change the light if I kept it on for a few hours with some plants? Which stocking option would you feel is best?

 

[Chris_A]

I'd say a tank with some small Badis and/or Licorice Gouramis would be AWESOME! LOL, don't mind me living vicariously through you . I've only seen LG once in person, amazing looking little guys! I really don't know about compatability of those two species and I normally try to avoid saying diffinatives about that in general. My gut says the Badis *may* pick on the LC's, fully prepared to be wrong though.

With those though, you'd definitely want to cut back your flow substantially. The LG's in specific prefer *almost* stagnant flow I believe.

Tough call on the light for that option though... I'm really not sure. You would probably need to look at a lower kelvin lamp but I seem to recall seeing 6500K 70watt lamps on the net. Hopefully someone with more plant experience can chime in .

Chris

 

[brooklynfish]

Thanks again. I am really liking the idea of the Dario Dario (Scarlet Gem Badis) as my main stocking option. For now, I'll change the light bulb to something less powerful. How does this sound? Venture 70W 6500K Double Ended Metal Halide Lamp - Businesslights.com

Maybe i should just get a new light? Problem is that I can't find any 16" to 18" lights that suit my needs or arent cheap looking. Any light that you know of fit over this one nicely?

 

[Orion]

I'm going to disagree with Chris a little on the stocking of the shellies. (Now I don't know the dimensions of an aquapod or what it looks like, so I'm just going to go with a standard 10g) I would feel OK with a small colony of multies, 2 males and 5 or so females in a 10 gallon. You will need at least 3-4 shells per fish, then provide extras. And some rocks and what not to help break up territories. I say 2 males, but only one will actively breed and the sub dominate will likely end up looking like a large female, or he might get killed in a bad situation.

I would skip the brevis all together but that's just me. Even when paired up, I think they are a very un-active fish.

If you are going to put a 70w light over the tank, you will ether want to only keep it on a few hours a day or you'll likely end up with some major algae issues. That's a lot of light anyway you look at it!

 

[Chris_A]

So far as the light, Coralife makes some smaller PC fixtures. If you buy the legs as well (they come seperate) you should be able to match it exactly to your tank width, assuming they don't have an exact match anyway .

Yeah, if territories are broke up I do agree with Orion so far as Multi stocking. I really like Brevis' personalities but that's all personal preferance.

 

[brooklynfish]

Wait, I thought it was Badis, not Brevis. A little confusion now lol. Going to look up some of the lights now. Thanks

 

[Chris_A]

LOL, we were just switching our species there for a minute . Neolamprologus brevis is a type of Shell-dweller. Dario dario is the Scarlet Badis (among other names lol). Hope that clears it up