Shellies input please

[hollyfish2000]

I have always wanted to do shellies and have decided to go for it. Here is what I'm thinking so far:

20 long tank
sand
shells (what kind of shells. I want pretty!)
A few rocks
sponge filter (I do these on all tanks just as insurance against a canister filter failure)
Fluval 405 or 305
light -- moonlights only? if I don't do plants what do I do about lights (haven't had a non planted tank in forever. Although I may put some java fern and anubias just for color

Questions:

What kind of shellies should I do? My requirements: not super prolific breeders; not nasty; fairly hardy
(I do not plan on putting any other stock else in the tank)

Do I need to do something to the tap water to make it harder? I'll have some lace rock in the tank.

Temps?

Thanks for the help!!

 

[F8LBITE]

I keep telmatochromis temporalis. They have yet to breed and are pretty feisty. Very fun to watch. Great for desktop aquariums. I ordered a bag of "escargot shells" off amazon and they seem to like them. Good luck.

 

[CSnyder00]

I keep 10 Ocellatus gold. Got them from DavesFish.com. They are awesome little fish. Cichlid personality in a super small size!

Tank 75 gallon (way bigger than needed)
Water: Tap with Prime, no adjustments
Temp: 79 F
Shells: escargot from Amazon.com (Christine builds her "shells" with pvc elbows, this prevents the fish and fry from getting stuck in shells)
Plants: Anubias planted driftwood. They never bother it.
Filter: I used sponge filters and power filters
Lights: Full Daylight LEDs plus light from outside (next to sliding glass door that gets a tiny bit of evening sun)
Substrate: black sand mixed 3-1 with black Cichlid substrate, although I would also do playsand.

What type to get:
I would go with the Ocellatus gold, black, or pearly in a heartbeat, but that's me. Multies or Brevis are also popular and pretty.

 

[hollyfish2000]

thank you!

 

[CichlidDan]

I keep multies they are very entertaining to watch. My water is at 7.8 PH used Caribsea argonite sand to raise it and temperature is 79-80 F

 

[YSS]

Another vote for Gold occies. Had them in a 20G H with bunch of escargot shells. Low maintenance and cute. They were prolific breeders. Fun to watch little babies in shells.