Shelldwelers And Rainbows

[severum boy]

Hi all,
I have a spare 8 gal tank that for the moment is growing out some baby Cichlasoma bolivinense. Ive started to think about what to put in the tank when I manage to sell them. Im getting some M. preacox rainbows soon, but would a pair of shell dwellers be ok in the tank with them? My knowledge on SDs aint great, but from what I can tell Multis are the least agressive, so I guess a pair would be ok. I would like some Brevis more as they just look so cool, but think they will be too agressive. Any thoughts?
Oh yeh, the tank has a sand substrate and the babies can be put into a 12gal growout tank.
Thanks for any advice, Max.

 

[HODDY]

imp shellies should be kept on there own.And when water changing only change 10% as they dont like a quick change of water.

 

[jayjay]

I personally wouldn't. Though what are the dimensions 18"x10"x10"? I wouldn't go for the rainbow fish anyway, something like minnows would probably be better.

And on the subject of them on liking large water changes, when I had mine, I used to do large water changes, around 50% (often more) with no problems, they even bred on multiple occasions.

 

[severum boy]

Water changes would be about 20% weekly-fortnightly. Why would minnows be better than rainbows? My theory for the rainbows was that the SDs would take the bottom of the tank as a teratory and the rainbows would have the rest at the top. The dimentions are: 19.5x10x11 inches, so its a 8gal(UK).

 

[Teelie]

I agree, shellies are a species only fish unless you're doing a massive biotope and even then you have to pick carefully.

 

[fishstick]

I agree, shellies are a species only fish unless you're doing a massive biotope and even then you have to pick carefully.

I have shelldwellers in a slightly larger tank (35l) and got some rainbow furcata to act as dither fish. They remain in the top of the tank, are very active and seem to reassure the family of neolamprologus multifaciatus who were quite nervous when I moved them to a species-only tank. The rainbows about 2cms and have yellow tips to their fins.

 

[severum boy]

I agree, shellies are a species only fish unless you're doing a massive biotope and even then you have to pick carefully.

I have shelldwellers in a slightly larger tank (35l) and got some rainbow furcata to act as dither fish. They remain in the top of the tank, are very active and seem to reassure the family of neolamprologus multifaciatus who were quite nervous when I moved them to a species-only tank. The rainbows about 2cms and have yellow tips to their fins.

Interesting. How many Mulits do you have? I dont suppose you could go into more detail on how they act coud you?

 

[fishstick]

I agree, shellies are a species only fish unless you're doing a massive biotope and even then you have to pick carefully.

I have shelldwellers in a slightly larger tank (35l) and got some rainbow furcata to act as dither fish. They remain in the top of the tank, are very active and seem to reassure the family of neolamprologus multifaciatus who were quite nervous when I moved them to a species-only tank. The rainbows about 2cms and have yellow tips to their fins.

Interesting. How many Mulits do you have? I dont suppose you could go into more detail on how they act coud you?

I originally had a male and 2 female multies in a quiet corner of my 180l community tank. They were happy and had lots of fry. They fimly defended their territory allowing nothing else on or near their patch but, I think, liked having other fish about. However they need hard water and quite a few fish and plants do better in softer water. I have rams, neons etc and decided to make my 180l a soft water setup and move the shellies to my new arctank (35l). They sulked for days even though I moved their shells, rocks, water with them. Then I got the rainbow furcata and they (the shellies) are frisky again. The male swims from shell to shell and as he approches the females jiggle, peck, display... There is seemingly no interaction between the multies and the rainbows, the benefit is the 'dither' element.
Multies are excellent fish; small, active, nicely shaped with brilliant blue eyes, easy to breed and protective of their young which are incredibly small. They are also hardy which helps if you are just starting with them. Hope this helps.

 

[severum boy]

Thanks. I guess being cichlids they still need dither fish to keep them secure.

 

[stang1]

I keep my 3 pairs of Multis in a 48G tank with no other fish at all. They have settled in really well and are not shy at all. I've only had them about 2-3 months and they've already produced 40 fry betweeen them.
To be honest, you don't really need anything else in the tank, they are so active and intereseting enough to watch by themselves.

 

[severum boy]

The reason was that i want to keep a seperate tank spare to raise young, so i needed a place for preacox rainbows to go. Il try them im a tank with shell dwellers and see how they get on, if not il move them into a 3ft.
Thanks for the help everyone, il let you know if things work out.