setting up brevis tank

[jnn99c]

I am strongly considering setting up a 10 gallon tank with a pair of neolamprologus brevis. and of course I have questions!

I went to the pet store today and they had 3 or 4 in with a bunch of other cichlids. the guy who seemed to be the most knowledgeable said they couldn't sex them until they got bigger. they were about 1 1/4 inches. one was hanging out near the one shell in the tank and they other 2 were swimming around. would this give me a clue as to their genders??? i have no idea how im going to ensure i get a male and a female =/

are rock formations in addition to the shells a good idea for the brevis?

should I add aquarium salt to a cichlid tank? I add 1 tsp. per gallon to my betta and heterandria formosa tanks.

my aged tap water hardness is about 170ppm. is this hard enough for cichlids? my ph is good at 8.4-8.8 (can't tell exactly, the colors are so close)

thanks for any help!

 

[TaffyFish]

hi jnn99c, welcome to the tank!

Brevis are a good choice for a 10, you'll get a lot of fun from owning and observing them.

Brevis have a cool behaviour which is unique amongst Tang shellies - the male and female pair inhabit the same shell. So the trick whilst you're at the lfs is to watch them carefully and look for a pair that use the same shell.

(I didn't tell you this, right?! But when the lfs staff aren't looking stick a finger into the tank and see if your potential pair bolt for the same shell! I didn't tell you this either! Ask the lfs staff if they'll sell you the shell that you saw your prefered fish go into - you might get lucky and be charged for just one fish. A good friend of mine got home with multies in shells and found 3 juvies in one shell.)

If the lfs has juvies that have yet to pair off, as you state, then buy all 3 or 4 and let them pair off naturally. Fingers crossed! the behaviour of juvies in the lfs tank will not be very revealing, male or female could be attempting to claim that shell. Males are usually bigger than females so if you're constrained to buying just two get the biggest and the smallest.

Brevis would be quite happy to have a few rocks around as well as shells in the sand substrate, it'll give somewhere for the extras to go once pairs form up. Give them more shells than fish initially so they have a choice about where to set up house.

You don't need aquarium salt, forget that. (You're not going to cycle you tank with these fish either, so no need to add salt during the nitrite spike. Only add Tanganyikans to cycled tanks.)

From your pH it's a reasonable guess that your KH or carbonate hardness is just fine for Tangs, most likely your GH will be too, lucky you! So no excuses for not keeping up with maintenance ;-)

 

[jnn99c]

thanks for the reply! good idea about spooking them and seeing which go into the shell.

so there wouldn't be any problems with buying all 3 or 4 even if there ends up being a majority of males? especially in a small tank. probably need lots of shells then. i have returned fish to this store before for credit so i could do that after a pair is formed.

about cycling, i definitely planned to cycle it first. right now i have a new filter pad floating in my heterandria formosa tank. its been there for a few days so i was gonna wait a couple weeks then use that in the filter for the new brevis tank. i also thought about sprinkling a little of the gravel from the same tank on top of the sand in the new brevis tank. ive read somewhere that this is enough to instantly cycle a tank. is this true? i could also put some hets in there to cycle it.