BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Cichlid journal

Jilly suggested I start a cichlid journal...and I was happy to ablige ! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I mentioned in another thread about my new shell dwellers that I purchased recently. What a cool little fish they are too !

Here's some pics just to give you an idea what they look like...

These two are the lamprologus "Brevis" species. The male is the larger of the two. The only way to sex these fish is by size. Usually the males are larger than the females. This type isn't as active as the multis. Pretty much just hang around thier shells and occasionally threaten each other..pretty fish !


This is a pic of my male Neolamprologus Multifasciatus..or "Multis" for short. Much more interesting than the Brevis...very active, not as timid and don't spend as much time in thier shells. They are a true community fish which does NOT cannibelize it's own. The young are raised within the community and there is generally one "alfa" male with several lesser males, which are usually his offspring. They act as guards on the edges of the communities. They like to have ALOT of shells to pick and choose from and they will move about from one to another...moving and rearranging thier "pile"...lol. I need to get more shells for mine !


They are a smaller cichlid and you can keep a group of them in tanks as small as 10 gallons. One pair of the Brevis will do well in a 5 gallon as well, since they don't move around much once they stake out a piece of realistate. The multis would need at least a 10 since they enjoy a community setting and are more active.

I definitely recommend these fish to anyone who would like to try cichlids, but feel they don't have the room for the more popular larger species. The shellies are from lake Tanganyika in africa, which has pretty hard water with high PH and sandy bottom. My water runs a bit soft so I have some crushed coral mixed with the sand to sort of help that out a little. Here's a site that has plenty of nice pics of some of the species. Check out the "Shell Dweller Species" thread... www.shelldwellers.com

I'd also like to share some pics of some of my German Blue Rams. These are a neat, colorful little dwarf cichlid. I successfully raised one batch of fry to adulthood and was able to sell the juvies to a lfs in my area. They were very pleased with them. These cichlids are from South America and prefer softer water with a lower PH...though mine do very well in my higher 7.8 and over PH. I'm thinking the softer water I have helps that some. Runs about only 80ppm out of the tap.

This is a pic of my original pair. The female has the rosy belly and is smaller.
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those are beautiful, Emg! Are you going to raise more?

I will have to look into getting some shellies when I stop moving around...I'm back in Flagstaff for awhile, then San Diego, then hopefully back in Seattle. My poor traveling bettas!

Did you make any decent cash out of your juvies?

Whoa Jilly....I sure missed THIS one !! LOL....

Anyway, to answer your question about what I made on the ram juvies....$1.25 each...which I thought was pretty darn good considering I had over 70 of them !! Right at this moment one of my pairs is hovering over a batch of eggs that will most likely hatch tonight. I don't expect them to survive though...they're now sharing thier tank with 1 dwarf gourami and 3 female guppies (had to get them away from the males !!) I don't have a tank to put any fry in at present...so...it's not going to happen this time around unless some of them manage to survive on their own.

I only JUST set up a 20long for a new type of shellie. I traded in the brevis for a trio of Stappersi/meleagris. The brevis were incredibly boring..lol..never went far from thier shells, not much happening in thier world. The Stappersi are BEAUTIFUL IMHO !

Here's some pics....lol...(I never seem to run out of them, do I !!)

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Well, I took out the castle and rock things. It was obvious they needed a bit more room to spread out and those just got in the way. Besides, one of them had taken up residence in a hole in the castle decoration. She apparently thought it to be a perfectly good place to settle in, I didn't agree so out it went...lol. I also added more shells for them, which I'll being doing on a regular basis as I find them for a reasonable price. (2.50$ is way too much for one crummy shell !!)

They are doing very well and seem to have settled in quite nicely. They've each staked out a particular space in the tank which they defend from the others. Quite interesting interactions go on all day long..and they just look so way cool when they flare at each other !!

Here's some more pics....since I'm such a fish photo bug, I ALWAYS have new ones on hand...lol....soon I'll be able to take that ugly bag of gravel out of the tank. I left it in as it's full of beneficial bacteria. I'll toss it in one of the other tanks to keep it 'live' for when I need it again.

Em...what kind of camera do you use to take your photos? Your tank is just beautiful!

It's a digital Kodak DC3800...nothing special but it does have a macro setting.... <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Click on this one !! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />


My Stapps have spawned..just today...and I have a 10gallon tank LOADED with multi fry !! <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> I've only had these fish for about a month now ! Man !! <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

That is a great photo....congrats on the babies! What are you going to do with all of those?

I have no idea !!! [imageBellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Love the little smiley face!

If the third fish is a female I wonder if it would foster the eggs and take care of them.