[Jk49230]

hey guys i have a 30 gallon long right now and i want to go with a tanganyika setup here are the fish i have in mind:

1-2 calvus
4 multis or L.Meleagris
maybe a couple julies

im going with a sand substrate but need advice on what type to get. im going to make a rockpile with some caves at one end of the tank covering about a 1/3 of the bottom and then a shell bed, if i end up putting julies in here to i will make another rock pile at the opposite end of the tank as the first one. what type of rocks and plants should i use? does this set up sound alright thanks for your help.

 

[Jk49230]

after doing more research instead of a calvus i will be going with a "sumbu shell" compressicep

 

[Hoosier Tank]

Sounds like a winner to me, I have 2 Black Calvus, 4 Occies and 1 Julie in a 29. The Calvus grow extremely slow so this should be a good mix for a long time.
If you plan on getting more than one Julie I suggest start by getting 5-6 juviniles and the Multies you want. Once (if) 2 of the Julies pair off then take the others back and exchange them for whichever Alto you want :wink: .
My Julie is alone by his / her choice. Never could find it a mate it didn't chase into the corner away from the rocks, even when 3 or more were introduced at a time.
Check out "My Tanks" for the playsand, shells and rocks I used.

 

[Jk49230]

cool, would a sumbu shell be a better choice then calvus? and i only saw your 40 gal in your tanks

 

[Darkside]

I have Sumbus and they work fine with my other shellies.

 

[Hoosier Tank]

cool, would a sumbu shell be a better choice then calvus? and i only saw your 40 gal in your tanks

I have no experiance with the sumbu, Thats wierd about my Tang tank, I can see both... plus I have gotten feedback on it so others have seen it as well.

 

[Jk49230]

works for me now thats a really nice tank. what kind of shells are you using? and if anyone can help me out about choosing either calvus or sumbu shell that would be great because *** heard calvus will and will not work with shellies.

 

[Hoosier Tank]

Thanks! The shells are escargot shells from the "Exotic foods" section at the grocery store. The only reason I can think of why someone would say Calvus would not work with shellies is they could feast on the fry... otherwise mine are very mild on an aggression level.

 

[renegade545]

As long as the shelldwellers aren't small enough for the calvus to eat you should be fine. Many have had success keeping them together. As for the choice between the A. calvus and the A. compressiceps 'sumbu shell'. The Sumbu shell would be a better option for stocking purposes but you may find problems with keep the two species of shell dwellers together as competition for shells between the two species may cause problems. This problem would be much more minimized if you simpply provided a ratio of 4-5 shells per fish vs. the typical 2-3 shell per fish recommendation. Its a lot of shells but it would give enough of a selection to minimize conflict.

 

[Jk49230]

thanks, well i dont know yet which im going with out of the two but i think i have a setup in mind, ill go with either play sand or pool filter sand and some type of granite, are plants necessary or are they mostly used to cover up heaters and stuff?