Neolamprologus Multifasciatus

[dave_oddballs]

hi, i am an experienced fish keeper, but heading into unknown territory!
well, my girlfriend had a 30 gallon fluval roma 125, she just has community fish, she seems to be getting bored of the tank, but i think its more the fish, as much as we all like small colourful fish, some of us sometimes feel the need for a change, something different.
anyway, she really likes malawis, and tanganiykan well... all rifts i think!
i mentioned to her that there is a few species that can live in her smallish aquarium, i didn't even think about the multi's. we went to bas yesterday and saw the neolamprologus multifasciatus, and before i said anything she was stood there fascinated with them, most of them were around an inch, and she didn't really believe me when i said to her, well, they don't get much bigger than that! she fell in love with them, now as i already help her do most things with her tank i don't mind helping her change over and maintain the tank as needed but i don't know how to change it!
well i do kind of, i know they ph has to be around 8.0, but the fact that water comes out of our taps at ph 6.5 makes me struggle to think how i can safely get it up to 8.0. i have never measured the hardness, but i have highered and lowered my ph oh different occasions and it does seem to stay quite stable.
she is worried it will be expensive to change over because someone said to her she will need to get lots of coral sand and that white rock to higher the ph and make a home for tanganiykans. i know coral sand will help higher the ph and hardness but im no expert on water chemistry so is this the way to go?
really what i am asking is how to safely get the water from a ph of 6.5 to a ph of 8.0 or as near as possible. there is no rush to do so and it won't be for another few weeks but all or any information will be greatly appreciated.
the tank is a fluval roma 125 litre
about 33 us gallons,fluval heater, standard twin t8 lighting, but is running on my fluval 305 as opposed to the fluval 3+ that came with it.
all info will be taken on board and very much appreciated, thanks!

Dave

 

[dazsmith69]

Dave,

Im doing the same thing with my 250l tank. Changing it to a shelldweller. Im going to use a mixture of crushed coral and sand or tuffa rock to buffer the water. These fish like it hard and high pH. The multi's (ive read) will tolerate a wide range of conditions, and ive seen them in shop tanks with the same water parameters as the rest. lots of shells are essential and a nice fine substrate. Try www.shelldwellers.com for more info.

HTH #43###

 

[dave_oddballs]

yeah i have had a look, just wanted to hear from what other people as opposed to just reading if you get what i meen.
i know they need the shells but thats another thing, i don't know where to get the right ones from? anyone know?
but will coral sand be ok for the fish as they dig it up? and will a layer of coral sand take the ph high enough for them? what rocks help higher ph? ocean rocks is it?
would it help to also put crushed coral in the filter? i suppose it would wouldn't it. there is a guy on the classifieds selling a breeding colony of multi's there is 30+ he says for £30 thats a good price if you can get to dudley!

 

[ashemely]

I think the majority of us who have multis are using escargot shells. They work well for my multis. I bought mine off of ebay from two different sellers. I think it's also easier using escargot shells as you want to have at least three shells per fish, and you can usually find escargot shells being sold by the dozen whereas other shells are either sold alone or in pairs.

Unfortunately I cannot personally help you with how to go about raising the Ph. Although, you might want to try and look at AdAndrews topic on raising ph, "Make my own buffer" and see how he is getting on.

good luck.

 

[dave_oddballs]

thanks for that bit of info, much appreciated, shall go have a look now.

 

[kiriyama]

To raise your pH, you can used a layer of crushed coral sand, or add tufa rock , or add ocean rock, I used all of these but also used Caribsea fine grade cichlid sand, although expensive it will constantly buffer the water, I have no experience of adding buffers but I would be wary about fluctuating the pH by adding a buffer with eacvh water change, the Multis are fairly hardy anyway....... let us know how you get on

 

[kiriyama]

Dave,

Im doing the same thing with my 250l tank. Changing it to a shelldweller. Im going to use a mixture of crushed coral and sand or tuffa rock to buffer the water. These fish like it hard and high pH. The multi's (ive read) will tolerate a wide range of conditions, and ive seen them in shop tanks with the same water parameters as the rest. lots of shells are essential and a nice fine substrate. Try www.shelldwellers.com for more info.

HTH #43###

dazsmith69
Cheers for the link, didn't know about this website, cheers

 

[dave_oddballs]

yeah i will keep you updated, will be a good few weeks off yet but no doubt i'll have more questions!
cheers, Dave