I have a 12 gallon Eclipse system that is going to be my next project. I plan on doing making a pile of rocks in the back with lots of ledges to place some shells. The substrate will be sand and I will be keeping the pH around 8.5 and the temperature at 80 degrees. I plan on making it a biotope for neolamprologus multifasciatus. My questions are; how many of these fish could I keep, and what should my ratio of males to females be since I would like to breed them, also is there any bottom feeder that is compatible with the fish and water paremeters. I looked at possibly some petricola synodontis but they ar eto big for the 12 gallon. Any help is greatly appreciated.
new shelly tank
- Thread starter Plantedtank12
- Start date
I wouldn't bother with the ledges, the fish like the shells on the substrate. You can use a few small rocks between areas of shells to create sight breaks, If the males don't have to look at each other they won't get aggressive. I would start with 6 multies, that should get you males and females, and get a small ancistrus catfish.
6 is a good number to start with, but not really in a 12 gallon. Multies are very peaceful on average. They will naturally tell you how many fish will be able to live in there. You would be better off with a pair. Then they would raise the offspring to the correct number for your tank.
Where did you get the sand?...Does it look very white like you see in saltwater aquariums?...All I have seen at my LFS is cichlid substrate and saltwater sand would be the closest im looking for. -Quote
I live near Charlotte and there is a rather massive LFS there called Fintastic. The sand I am using is just some standard "cichlidsand" which includes an 8.5 pH buffer. This store has a very large variety of substrate but you can find the same stuff online. If you do go with marine sand make sure its not crushed coral as the sharp fragments will tear the multis mouth when they dig. Also make sure its not live sand because the marine sand will kill the multis if it is live.
I live near Charlotte and there is a rather massive LFS there called Fintastic. The sand I am using is just some standard "cichlidsand" which includes an 8.5 pH buffer. This store has a very large variety of substrate but you can find the same stuff online. If you do go with marine sand make sure its not crushed coral as the sharp fragments will tear the multis mouth when they dig. Also make sure its not live sand because the marine sand will kill the multis if it is live.
J.Lake;4978652; said:
I understand what you're saying, but most places don't sell "pairs" of multies, you buy six, watch them until you can pick out the nicest looking male, keep him and two females and give the rest away.
All right I think I will be purchasing 8 multies from one of my LFS's. If I were to lower that number to 4 would I be able to get another small species of shelly or are the multies better off alone.