Shellies

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dovii88

dovii88

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 21, 2005
3,245
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rhode island of course
ok so i went to my lfs today and he had some really nice lamplongrus tetrachanthus...they were 12.99 a piece..just wanted some quick info on how to sex them, and there temperment...i had som leiluepie before ...so i know wat the water should be i just need to know how to sex them..
 
not really aggressive. bout the same at the leleupi you had. usually more aggressive towards their own kind. don't mix with fish under 3" as they will be eaten(if it is a mature fish). max out at 8". as far as i know, sexing them requires venting them, of course, when they are much bigger. 4" or so. the male gets a head hump. 12.99 is about avg price. grab a few.
 
yeah there about 3 or 4 inches
theres 2 but he can probly get more
are these the ones were the male watches over a ton of fmales
 
N. tetracanthus aren't shellies.
They form pairs. Can get to 8" and are pretty aggro. Part of the reason not too many poeple bother keeping them. They're beautiful fish though. I can't find them in enough numbers to assure myself a pair.
 
straitjacketstar is dead on about these fish, they're beautiful but very aggressive and not too common.

I bought 10 about a year and a half ago. As they grew they were VERY aggressive and by the time a pair formed 3 of the 10 and at least 2 or 3 fish of other species were either killed in the tank or chased right out of the tank (yes I had a cover on so they must have been jumping constantly to have gotten out of the small opening for the filter).

I kept my one pair and gave the other 5 to my dad who ended up with one pair also after they killed off the rest. My father's pair raised one group of fry before the male killed the female. His male is awesome looking but my dad wants the mean bastard gone.

My pair has fry growing right now. Check out a video of them guarding fry last year. Just click on the picture to view the video.

http://www.cichlidiots.com/tetracanthus.html
 
nice man.. i just wanna start breeding again and shellies are so cool to breed
 
What size tank are you able to provide these shellies?
There are several species and their keeping can range in tank size from 10 to 40 or 50 gallons.
If you can only provide a small space then Lamp. brevis or multifasciatus would be your best choice. The occie complex is better suited to tanks of at least 20 gallons (long preferably). Now the shellies I consider mini-monsters are the Lepidios. Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri or L. meeli/hecqui. They're vicious creatures in small packages. They're better suited to tanks of at least 40 gallons.
 
size isnt a matter i jst wanted to know how to sex them thats all
 
You asked how to sex a Neolamp. tetracanthus, which isn't a shelly and isn't easily sexable :) . Males are generally larger than females but other than venting, which can be very difficult in Neolamps, there's no way to be sure.
Sexing shellies will depend on the species, as some species are easier to sex than others. ;)
 
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