came to a decision- shellies

[wrs]

for the 20 gallon this is what i want to do

• Julidochromis regani - 1 pair
• Neolamprologus leleupi - 1 pair
• Lamprologus occelatus - 1 trio

i know that the Julidochromis regani are rock dwellers, thanks to semeper, as apposed to the other two being shellies. Now how would I go about seeting that up? I was thinking rocks in the back, and shells in the front? Or should it be rocks on one side and shellies on the other? And is it two shells each? So it would be 10 shells? And if my lfs doesnt have the Lamprologus occelatus, can i supsitute them for 2 more Neolamprologus leleupi, because my lfs always has them.

and now with my luck theyll only have a 10 gallon. which is 12 dollars less then the 20, and has a UGF, so id have to get all the same stuff for the 20, so it would all cost the same anyways, what would be good shellies?

 

[Snowie]

Okay I've never heard of Neolamprologus leleupi being a shelldweller. They are cavespawners so any cave will do for them. A good shell or a good cave works well as far as they are concerned. One problem with them is that they are very agressive towards their own kind, its hard to keep more than one pair in a tank. And even with just one pair they can be agressive.

If you could find them Julidochromis transcriptus might be better than Julidochromis regani since transcriptus are a lot smaller.

And about the number of shells you can never have to many! But 2-3 per shellie is recommended.

 

[semper fi]

i wouldn't use the ugf with them either.

that might have been my bad on that one. it was in chat and i had eight windows open and answering questions from 3 others at the same time in public. the answers tend to get mixed up in there sometimes.

 

[yhbae]

That seems quite crowded, no? (Especially with Leleupi in the mix!)

While back before when I setup the mbuna tank, I was considering to turn the 30g into a community tank and use the 25g tank as the Lake Tang based tank.

The suggestions I've gotten at that time is to get no more than one species from shell dwellers and one of the smaller Julidochromis. I was going to go with a trio of N Multi (or N Similis) and a pair of J Dickfeldi, sand on one side, and rocks on the other side. I've been told that even N Occelatus could be too aggressive in this setup, especially when they start to breed.

Any thoughts?

 

[wrs]

i got that mix from http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_20g.php

they seem to know what theyre talking about, but I guess not, lol. well any others maybe that would work?

 

[yhbae]

i got that mix from http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_20g.php

they seem to know what theyre talking about, but I guess not, lol. well any others maybe that would work?

I follow that forum very closely - most in that forum agrees that their cookie-cutter mix is really pushing to the edge. If you don't have any previous experience with Africans before you should go with less than what they suggest in that section with more places for them to hide...

 

[wrs]

so what would you suggest then?

 

[yhbae]

Is that a 2.5ft tank?

If that is the case, personally, I'd go with a trio of N Multies (or N Similis) and a pair of J Dickfeldi (any smaller Julidochromis should be ok). Some says N Occelatus is ok, others say too aggressive with other species present in this tank size.

Put sand as substrates, put rocks only on one side, shells on the other side.

I'd purchase young specimen from local auction, about 5 or 6 of each and remove the un-needed ones as they mature.

What's your native tap water parameter like?

 

[Snowie]

If you buy adults: 1 male shellie and 2 female. No more than one male in a tank of that size.

And I agree about N Multies or N Similis, ocellatus have a tendency to be very agressive fish. I know it doesnt sound like a whole lot of fish, since they are so small but tangs are very territorial and they fight fiercly to defend it.

A friend of mine has a pair of oceallatus in large 150 gallon, the female had fry and regularly fought of fish 5-6 times her size! They even attack his hand if he moved it to close to their shell.

Julidochromis are rock huggers. They dont feel safe unless they have their belly to a rock, they even swim upside down in the roof of their cave. So they probably wont bother the shellies much since they dont like leaving their rocks. The Julidochromis transcriptus and Julidochromis ornatus are a bit smaller and might be good.

The problem with recomending fish like these is that even if you have a perfect mix on paper it might be impossible to find the fish in the shops.

 

[wrs]

my lfs has all those kind of cichlids, but they dont have a return policy on them, which makes me kinda not want to get them, because what if they kill eachother in the bag? Or die on the way home, or they sell me a bad one, a sick one?

 

[yhbae]

my lfs has all those kind of cichlids, but they dont have a return policy on them, which makes me kinda not want to get them, because what if they kill eachother in the bag? Or die on the way home, or they sell me a bad one, a sick one?

Personally, I have yet to experience loosing fishes while coming back home from LFS...

One more note on the J Transcriptus - there's a variation called "gombe", don't get this variation. They are alot more aggressive than the regular transcriptus. In fact, I don't think they are supposed to be transcriptus at all, but they are commonly labeled that way.

 

[wrs]

i really do likr those orange ones, is there any way i can have one of those?.
The Neolamprologus leleupi.

 

[yhbae]

Apparently, they have a reputation to harass shellies. I've seen people try this combo in a larger tank and successfully keep them, but in your tank size, I'm not sure...

This is one of the reason why my next large tank is going to be a Take Tang theme - 80g should allow me to create a nice combo of different species...

 

[Angjo72]

Hiya,

Im a newbie HERE, but here is my 2 cents!!

I love the shellies! I currently have 2 pairs of Neo Multis and 3 pairs Neo Brevis and 10- 3/4 inch Hecqui in a 55 gallon with a BREEDING pair of Leleupis! I love the leleupis as well. My leleupis do NOT live in the shells, but they breed there! I did NOT notice any problem with the leleupis harassing the shellies even after she had a bunch of fry(but this may or may not be normal) Although my leleupis beat the heck out of the extra pair I had, to the point that I had to find them a new home! I finally put in a divider, because I did not want to remove parents or fry! (oh and yeah my syno's were trying their hardest to get at the fry... snacks!! ) If you start out with a pair or trio of leleupi and a trio of shellies I think you will be ok!

PLEASE make sure you have atleast 3 shells per fish! (I actually sell the shells for them, so I was fortunate to have plenty!! I keep 30+ shells on the bottom of my tank w/sand and some rocks piled up with a terra cotta cave and some coconut caves)

I will post some pics once I get acclimated here!! This is just my experience!! Ok, well I have to go stare at my 40+ leleupi babies!!!

Ang

My Webpage

 

[wrs]

i have the shells in the bottem of your web site. but they are ploished, would that be bad for them?

Heres another idea, some Julidochromis cichlids, a female Neolamprologus leleupi, and a male Lamprologus occelatus.

Or just some Julidochromis cichlids, and one Neolamprologus leleupi. Id really like to have the Neolamprologus leleupi and the Lamprologus occelatus to breed.