Shellie help!!!!

[lonlangione]

I have never kept shellies before. I have 3 pair of [FONT=arial,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]neolamprologus multifasciatus in a 20 long. They all have their own little pit. I saw 6 fry a few weeks ago and I siphoned them out. Well they didn't fair as well as the central american fish I have done this with. Can I leave the fry in this tank with 3 pairs? Should I give each pair their own tank? As some of you know they are very timid fish and I have found they DO NOT like change of any kind. Also how often should I change water on them. I have been doing 25% every two weeks.
Next question - at the January meeting I bought a pair of shellies, I believe they were ornatapinnis but I threw the bag away before I could get a location description on them. If the seller reads this can you let me know.

Thanks, Lonny
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[Cichlidiot]

Shellies sure are great arent they? Leaving them in the tank will be fine. A big part of the fascination with these are their parental behavior. Sit back and watch them protect their little pits and do what comes natural to them. Your water changing routine is fine as well. You have a light biological load in that 20g and 25% should work well. Always keep that test kit handy just to be sure though.

 

[rsretep]

i have a pair of multies in a five gallon and they do great

have had mutiple breedings and all fry are fine...

one good thing they are colony breeders

 

[dogofwar]

I've had great success leaving shelly babies with the parents... I can't imagine the difficulty of trying to catch them out.

I'd go with a bigger tank than a 20L if you plan on letting them populate the tank. In less than a year, I had 2 pairs and their offspring take over 4 sqare feet of substrate with probably 8-10 pairs each staking out a spot.

 

[phishphorphun]

I have had good luck keeping the entire brood from depleting by removing the shell with the parents and fry into a holding tank. Once in the holding tank, remove the parents back into the original larger tank. With a little luck, you can do this in a couple minutes.

Feeding the fry baby brine shrimp and crushed NLS pellets on alternate days for about two weeks gets them to eat and grow quickly. After a couple weeks, just the crushed pellets are their main diet.

I also have a breeding pair of L. Brevis in a 10g that produce new fry about every three weeks. I let the fry stay in the tank. But I only get about five to ten out of the twenty or more fry brood to survive. I think the bigger fry from previous broods feed on the new born. I now keep about twenty tiny shells in that tank and remove the bigger fry that have claimed a shell into a 5g grow out. Once they get big enough, they go into the 20L grow out.

I currently have about thirty-five 1/2" to 1" juvies in the 20L. About fifteen fry in the 5g grow out. And the breeding tank currently has about five older fry and a new brood that became free swimming two days ago.

Here are few links:

Brevis Breeders

New Home for Breevis

 

[lonlangione]

Great - thanks for the help.

Lonny