L. Ocellatus - Journal Articles

[Kwatics]

All,

I started my first Gold Ocellatus tank after picking up some at BFD.

I ran across the following journal articles on the interwebs that discuss their breeding / shell-defense / shell-building behavior.

They may be of interest to others who are keeping / breeding occies, or may be an interesting read in general.

They gave me a couple new ideas as a newbie - for example, I was placing shells with the opening on the bottom (i.e., at sand-level). I didn't realize they prefer to bury the entire shell and so it would have been better to place the shells with the openings facing up. I also started with escargot shells, which seem to be only sold in the "extra large" variety on Amazon / eBay. These ended up being a bit too big / difficult for them to move and re-orient, so I will likely pick up some smaller apple snail shells at some point (or PVC elbows if I ever move some to a specific breeding tank).

If anyone has any other good articles to share, let me know!

 

[jonclark96]

What size tank are you keeping them in?

I'm on the look out for some more shellies after picking up a group of multifaciatus fry at the BFD. My son wants to empty his tank and work with shellies now!

 

[Kwatics]

I've heard 10 gallons is big enough for a pair, and I've heard of people using 15 gallons for breeding. I'm using 20L's, though.

Here's my standard tank set-up:

Tank: 20L
Substrate: 30 lbs Caribsea Aragamax Oolitic / Sugar-sized Aragonite Sand (0.2 - 1.0 mm grain size)
Shells: Escargot
Light: Finnex Stingray 30"
Filters: Aqueon QuietFlow 30 + Azoo Oxygen Plus Bio-Filter Size 2
Air Pump: Tetra Whisper Size 40
Heater: Aqueon Pre-set Heater 100W

You only need a short tank (~12-in high) since they mainly stay at the bottom. Likewise, you want to maximize floor area, so the longs and breeders are good choices.

As far as L. Ocellatus, they breed in harems of one male to 1-4 females. The two largest males in my tank have claimed "territories" on each end, with the females and juvies currently living in the middle. The 2-3 largest females have each claimed their own shell and tend to chase others out of the (smaller) territory around their shell. The rest float around the tank / intermediate areas during the day, and tend to only hide / sleep in a shell at night when the lights go out.

The males tend to "claim" all shells in their territory - they bury them and won't let others live in them. Once a female is ready to spawn, she will move into the territories of one of the males and he will clear out a shell for her to spawn in .

It looks like a 20L would be sufficient for two territories / harems. When they're adults, you can usually tell sex by size and behavior - the males are bigger. But, when they're juvies, you typically can only guess at sex based on behavior after observing them for a bit.

 

[Leffler817]

Thanks for sharing the articles.


There was a guy named Ben at the BFD. He donated the cyps to the rare fish auction and has a shop out of Connecticut called Fish To You. He specializes in shellies and claimed to have "every shellie known" in stock EXCEPT the holy grail that I'm looking for Lamprologus Kungweensis!?!

 

[lkelly]

Thanks for sharing the articles.


There was a guy named Ben at the BFD. He donated the cyps to the rare fish auction and has a shop out of Connecticut called Fish To You. He specializes in shellies and claimed to have "every shellie known" in stock EXCEPT the holy grail that I'm looking for Lamprologus Kungweensis!?!

That's weird, Shawn. As soon as you walked away he told me he had tons of them and even gave me a big bag. I've been using them as feeders.

I also picked up a big bag of Amphilophus margaritifer from a vendor while Eric Hanneman was giving his talk. We kept it quiet so as not to interrupt his presentation.

 

[Leffler817]

That's weird, Shawn. As soon as you walked away he told me he had tons of them and even gave me a big bag. I've been using them as feeders.

I also picked up a big bag of Amphilophus margaritifer from a vendor while Eric Hanneman was giving his talk. We kept it quiet so as not to interrupt his presentation.

Oh really?!? Picts or it never happened. And none o’ that trick photography stuff you do either!

 

[lkelly]

Oh really?!? Picts or it never happened. And none o’ that trick photography stuff you do either!

 

[Frank Cowherd]

I have been breeding them in 10s and 20s. Sold a bunch at the BFD.

 

[jonclark96]

Does Ben have a web site?

 

[Kwatics]

Does Ben have a web site?

Fish To You, LLC (link)

the holy grail that I'm looking for Lamprologus Kungweensis!?!

L. Kungweensis looks really cool. I checked the internet sellers I ran across when I was looking for my shell-dwellers, but no luck - If you ever find them, let me know

 

[jonclark96]

Thanks for the link!

 

[CichlidDan]

Thanks for sharing. Thinking about turning my 46 gallon into a gold ocellatus tank.