Amelia

I was planning on stocking with white silica sand, holey rock and LOTS of shells and running some shells through the filter or mixing into the substrate to buffer the pH and hardness up a bit. I didn't know about the slow acclimatization, I'll do a drip loop in that case. So IYE is a 60 x 30 x 30 big enough for one male and 2-3 females? Or is this going to end in tears? I'm getting mixed opinions from different people regarding their suitability for a tank this size.

That's what I was planning on doing Matto. Hopefully I don't end up with a heap of males! Not sure who would buy them if I sold them though... Not many people have shellie setups. I wonder if my LFS would be keen on the spare males...

I feel put off now. Maybe I should just go with something easier, aha...

I wasn't planning on doing 10 but I was thinking a colony? I have read that 10 US gallons is acceptable for a colony, and mine is 15 US gal. Would you disagree? I was hoping to start out with 6 or 8 and end up with 1 male and around 3 females. Will this not work?

Yikes -- did they kill each other off or die all by themselves? :tears: Where did you get yours from? Maybe it was a bad batch?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... ermanent=0 I FOUND SHELLIES. :happy1: :happy2: I stalked through old listings until I found the expired listing from a few months ago, requested a relist and the next morning it was up! Happy me. Trying to persuade the guy to ship for less than 10, I think that's a bit many. Got the tank and cleaned it all up (annoyed as the people told me it was a Rekord 600 but it's actually a Korrall 60 which is 10l smaller). Anyone have any advice as to how many I should start with (if he agrees to ship less than 10). I was thinking 6 or 8? Hopefully I end up with more males than females so I get a good ratio. Fishguy this means I'll probably be buying those shells off you soon. :nilly:

I'm about to convert my planted tank into a loach tank with Polka-Dots, Yoyos and Zebras. I'll upload pictures when it's done!! :bggrn: Slightly unrelated, but has anyone kept Loaches and Red-tailed or Rainbow sharks together before?

ALL botine loaches are gregarious -- they like to be in groups. Most loaches in general are gregarious except for a few species like Chinese Algae Eaters (yes, they're loaches). Camtang: Tiger Loaches (not very common in NZ -- also highly aggressive) -- http://www.loaches.com/species-index/sy ... ymenophysa Polka-Dot Loaches (also know as Angelicus or Burmese Border Loaches) -- http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-kubotai Also here's a great article talking about the most common botine loaches available. http://www.loaches.com/articles/an-intr ... ping-botia

I hear skunks do okay with Tiger Loaches and Tiger Barbs. It's a shame they're so agro because they are super cute. And cheap as chips compared to other loaches. $6 each at my LFS, compared to $18 for Yoyos, Polka-Dots and Dwarf Chains.

He jumped into the Pain-In-The-A** alright!!! :an!gry Still hoping he turns up. Female N. anomala is swimming around with the German Blue Ram.

Thanks guys! Now that I've done that I'm not satisfied with the left side! :digH: Might attack it again. I have heaps of cool driftwood in my garage but most of it still requires waterlogging which is a PITA. This is likely to continue to change a lot before I finally settle on something. On another note, I LOST a fish during the change. Like actually lost it. My beautiful male Nannacara anomala is nowhere to be found, I'm spewing. :tears: He's too big to go up the hose, checked around the tank and can't find any signs of a jumper. There is literally nowhere in there he could be hiding. :dunno: It's so strange. He's not a small fish so if he had died I'm sure I would have at least seen him! I was just about to set him up his very own tank too. :an!gry &c:ry

I had to throw out the "tree" in my 240l tank due to it starting to rot, so it was time for a new aquascape. Here's what I started with (day 1): Day 2. Everything out and new wood going in. Taking shape. Done. Or not -- I wasn't satisfied. So the next day I attacked the right side again and came up with this (I have an endless supply of driftwood fyi). Will post more photos when it's cleared up. Still not satisfied but it'll do for now. I'm still after the "perfect" driftwood but it was been evasive thus far...

Deciding between Loaches and Cories was a HUGE decision for me Sophia, but ultimately it had to be one or the other. I am now planning SEPARATE loach and cory tanks. Sold my Dwarf Chains but dedicating my 240l to Yoyos, Zebras and Polka-dots and planning a 100l approx SA tank with tetras and cories.

I have never heard of keeping them in large groups causing nippiness -- I have heard of keeping fish in SMALL groups causing nippiness?? :dunno:

I should mention I also kept Peppered Cories with my Dwarf Chains. They didn't kill any but used to chase them quite a bit and a few of the Peppereds had pretty badly nipped fins by the end of it. I will never mix loaches with other bottom-dwellers again -- my loaches now have their very own tank. Oh I should also ALSO mention I had 2 baby (like 3-4cm) bristlenose ancistrus with my yoyos once and they nipped their fins up pretty bad -- adult ones might be okay though. IME every loach I've ever had has been a **** to other bottom-dwellers. Except stuff which is way bigger than them or fast enough to get out of the way (like other loaches). My 6 yoyos even nipped at my Red Severums, which are all several times bigger than them. Odd how sometimes it works, like in Sophia's case and others I've heard of, and other times it really really doesn't work. Again -- I have heard that Clowns are more placid and do well with cories but I cannot attest to this. My Dwarf Chains certainly weren't as "placid" as they were cracked up to be.

I DEFINITELY wouldn't recommend it. From what I hear Clowns are okay with more robust cories. Apparently they're more mellow than their smaller cousins. Wouldn't know though, I've only owned Yoyos and Dwarfs (and both have hated cories).

Sound like Skunk or Banditt Cories? What type of Loaches? I had 8 Dwarf Chain Loaches and 8 Panda Cories and the Dwarf Chains picked off the cories until there were only a couple left, took me ages to figure out who was doing it. Another time I tried to keep Yoyo Loaches with Sterbai Cories -- killed the WHOLE school in one night. :tears:

Aww that's such a shame about them not being on the list, I wonder why. :env: They are so cute -- I'll just have to settle for Occies then. Probably gunna be a while until I can AFFORD to buy a group of Occies. Gunna have to save my pennies! :nilly:

Thanks for all the replies! :bounce: I'll send Jennifer a PM, but does anyone know of anyone else who breeds these wee darlings? Also are there other shell-dwellers available in NZ, like N. brevis or N. multifasciatus?

Shhh, it's a pretty picture! :digH: Thanks, I'll have a look at that website. Is it expensive? Adrienne, what is Nosh?? alanmin, where sells snails? Do you mean like restaurants? Someone on my local fishkeepers group on facebook as a couple of L. occelatus. I asked him where he got his shells from and he said he bought a bunch of yellow Apple Snails from a pet shop and... yeah... :tears: Poor snails.

I've just bought a Juwel Rekord 600 (63l) tank and was thinking of making it into a lake tang shellie tank, with just a small group of Lamprologus occelatus. Has anyone done this before, do you think this tank is large enough for a couple of individuals? (1 male and 2-3 females, hopefully) It has a 60 x 30cm footprint. I'd have to buy a bunch of juvies and grow them up together but I think there's a guy in Auckland who breeds them. Also does anyone know where to get nice shells like the ones shellies use? My inspiration: :happy2:

:slfg: Now it's gone completely. No poll for us! :sml1:

:gpo2: Yup! I also have a 450l cichlid tank in the lounge for my sevs, parrot and EBJD. I'd love to do both but that isn't an option right now. However whatever one I don't go with will definitely go in the "one day" box.

Won't let me vote either. :tears: Not that I want to vote in my own poll.

Thanks Sophia! And what was your vote??