[Mustang Boy]

i will be setting up a 20 or 29 gallon tank soon and have decided i will prbably go with some sort of multi but i am not sure of all the types of multies(or other shell dwellers) so i can make a decision on which kind i want and would also like to know what would be some good tank companions for the multies

 

[MalawiLover]

Multies are a single species Lamprologus multifasciatus, not a category. The most commonly available sheldwellers (the category multies belong to) in LFS are probably

Lamprologus (L.) multifasciatus
L. ocellatus -several color varieties
L. stappersii
L. similis
L. brevis

Many more can be foud online and from local breeders/fellow hobbyists.
Here is the profile listing for a whole heap of shellies.

And here are some articles about keeping shelldwellers

I have a species tank of L. multifasciatus and just love the little buggars.

 

[Mustang Boy]

i was wondering if a 29 gallon tank is large enough to house more than one pair of shelldwellers like a pair of multis and a pair of say brevis or similar or would they be too territorial with each other and if not would i still be able to put other types of fish that would prefer the higher up regions of the tank like pair or trio of dickfeldi

 

[Rick_Lindsey]

i was wondering if a 29 gallon tank is large enough to house more than one pair of shelldwellers like a pair of multis and a pair of say brevis or similar or would they be too territorial with each other and if not would i still be able to put other types of fish that would prefer the higher up regions of the tank like pair or trio of dickfeldi

I wouldn't try putting more than one species of shell-dweller in a 29 gallon tank. If you wanted to mix shellies with a small rockdweller (like the dickfeldi you mentioned) then I'm sure you'd be fine. In fact, that's exactly what I'm planning to do with my 29gallon . I'm still debating the rockdweller species, but I'm going multi for the shelldweller.

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)

 

[Mustang Boy]

yea i was planning on only doing multi until i figured out how tall a 29 gallon tank was and found out multi dont regularly swim more than 4-5in about the shells so i got the idea to build a sort of platform to hold the rocks on to make caves for the rockdwellers and then a few plants good for hiding fry that i might miss or not see cause of the caves and shells

 

[aaxxeell]

some shellies wont use the whole water column but multies will.

 

[Hyperion]

I second that. When the lights are out or noone is walking around the room they swim close enough to the surface for me to almost be able to poke them in my 20 tall.