need help

[Nate Dogg]

Today i just bought (at auction) 1male 3 female Neolamprologus brevis minutus with 3 shells. I payed 9 dollars and one (at least) was holding.

1. Did i over pay (what is the retail cost)
2. What do I feed (NLS, frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp frozen baby brine shrimp, and tetra color crisps are what i have on hand)
3. will a 10 gallon with a sponge filter (and heater) be ok
4. How if at all do I separate the babys
5. what shells do i need to get (for all sizes of maturity)

sorry to post the amount of non-knowledge but i found out they were shell dwellers and I have been wanting some for a while, they were at auction so no time for research.

 

[joe jaskot]

Congrats on a nice pick up at a good price. Brevis do not hold. They are not mouthbrooders. They lay eggs usually attached to the inside of their shells. They will do fine in your setup as described. Feeding them should be no problem. Most will take flake food and other frozen or live foods. Some brevis do not eat their fry, so it all depends. Easiest way to remove the fry is to wait until they go in the shell and just remove the shell. Almost any type of shell that they can fit in will do. I use whale eye shells.

 

[Nate Dogg]

do i need to get Tanganyika buffer for a 9.0+ Ph

 

[mike dunagan]

mintus are not there true name, there is no such fish, they are a type of brevis. The ones I kept (same fish) eat nls growth and 1mm without issue.

 

[wantokeeptrout]

good price, most lamps where i live are around 6-8 bucks each, more if they're confirmed breeders

 

[swk]

"do i need to get Tanganyika buffer for a 9.0+ Ph"



Nope. If you're tap water is above 7 then there is no need to screw around with it

 

[Nate Dogg]

tap is above 7 and i will add cichlid sand
mintus might have been a auction labeling my mistake
where do i buy big shells (golf ball and bigger) and no full grown conch shells please

 

[Nate Dogg]

any other thoughts

 

[mike dunagan]

I buy all my shells at cichlidbreeder.com