Just got into shell dwellers a couple months ago and very much enjoying them. I have both Gold and Multi's. The gold seems to be away more territorial and aggressive than the multiple's. I've found they will use vertical space as well. I've installed acrylic shelving units in my tanks and filled them sand. They took to them within a day and how vertical territories as well as the ones on the bottom of the tank.
colinbarsby In mine as well. I've never had an aquarium larger than 55 gallons, so many of the larger cichlids haven't been an option for me...at least, not yet. 😊
Great point about the sub-dominant multis using vertical space. I've seen this too. My favorite behavior is the parents shaking to herd young back to the shells. Have you seen the golds?
The Turtle Girl Thank you Turtle Girl! I use a Durbpro Audio lavalier mic. it's nothing fancy, but it produces better quality than the native iPad mic. 😊👍
Kc Vu Great question-I just did this. When you add the new multies, mix up and move around the existing shells, and add some new shells. This gives the newcomers a better chance of being accepted.
EfrainAcevedoJR That ought to get you off to a great start!,I had the opposite problem--almost, with 1 suitable female and lots of males, but the second generation is more balanced. 👍
Trignate Great question! Whether or not multies will do well with tiger barbs depends a lot on the setup. If you have a fairly large tank with vertical space, it may work, although many of the multie fry could get eaten. In a smaller, shallower tank, it would be more risky. I can’t I would recommend keeping clown loaches with multies because they tend to use the same areas of the tank. Multies will aggressively defend their territories, and clown loaches could damage the multies with their defensive spines.
Sharron Miller you have some options. Some crushed coral would help, and a thing layer of aragonite sand would work too. They do seem to like to dig in the substrate, so if you use some crushed coral to buffer the water, using in conjunction with something that has particles fine enough for them to pick up in their mouths would be ideal. 👍
Ham Mah I have never tried to collect the eggs, I just leave them in the shell to hatch naturally, it seems to work quite well, and the parents leave the fry alone. 👍
Hi! I have 10 gallons of water, very fine white cichlid-sand excluded. It is a 24x12x12 inch tank. I'd like your advice on the number of multies. One male with 3 females? Two males with 3 females? One male with 2 females-are 2 females enough, or would they be too harshly pursued by the male? I do not want to overcrowd the tank. I am hoping for multies to breed. Thanks in advance!
melodies2013 lots of combinations can work, as long as there are plenty of shells, but if I were to start in a tank that size, I would probably begin with 2 males and 3-4 females.
Aquarimax, thank you very much. I thought 4 cichlids were already crammed in a 10 gallon. Apparently multies are much smaller than I imagined and/or need much less space than I thought.
You’re welcome! Most cichlids would definitely be crammed in a 10 gallon, but multies are pretty small, and used to living in fairly high densities. As long as you can maintain water quality and lots of shells, , you can keep a good number in a 20 long...you will eventually need to find new homes for some of them. 👍
I am hoping for a cichlid invasion.. The tank has good filtering. If the little shell dwellers do multiply as hoped for, I figure it will take some time before I will have to farm them out: I have a number of tanks, mostly smaller than 10 gal, but also a 20 gal and outdoors a 48 gallon, good for the long warm summer. Escargot shells are difficult to come buy here. I saw a YT video where a professional breeder (in the US) said she used plastic pipe - even without any substrate. Hopefully my coming multies will adapt as easily as hers.
melodies2013 I think your multies will be fine in the 20, even with substantial population growth. 👍 You are probably referring to Rachel O’Leary’s video...with the PVC elbows instead of snails shells. Those should work well for you. Escargot shells are easy to get by mail order, but PVC elbows make it easier to collect fry. 👍
Michael Hendriks That depends largely on your water maintenance regimen, filtration, how many shells you add, and whether you include only adults or fry in your numbers. You could probably have a dozen adults at least...more with more frequent partial water changes.
@@Aquarimax Thank you! It will be my first aquarium. I was thinking about adding one male and 3-4 females and see what happens. I'll make sure that there are enough shells and weekly water changes.
Just got into shell dwellers a couple months ago and very much enjoying them. I have both Gold and Multi's. The gold seems to be away more territorial and aggressive than the multiple's. I've found they will use vertical space as well. I've installed acrylic shelving units in my tanks and filled them sand. They took to them within a day and how vertical territories as well as the ones on the bottom of the tank.
These are going to be the first fish i've ever kept. Beyond excited!! Awesome video thanks man!!!
Alec Cope Excellent! You’re welcome, and enjoy your multies, I am sure you will! 😊👍
I don't have Multies but I still watched it because I like this channel so much!
Andrew Chen Thank you Andrew! 👍👍👍
Thanks for tracking me down to answer the question I asked about having these guys set up in a section of a tank.
Green Thumb Aquariums No problem! Have you decided for or against yet?
I love these little fish. Everytime I see a video on them I want to get some. Thanks for all of the information.
Kimberly Smith I know exactly what you mean...before I got mine i watched lots of videos of them...they are very intriguing little fish! 👍
Shell dwellers are a very beautiful fish to keep. Love them a lot. I use a grinder to break it up. Works great. Great video.👍✌️😎🖤
Matthew Moore Cichlids Thank you! A grinder is a great idea for working with pellets for shelldwellers! 👍
great video...thank you! They would love my 'rock' hard water...the PH out of the tap is 8.4 on a good day.... ;-)
Sean Meister Thank you, and yes, it sounds like your water would be ideal for multies! 😁👍
Thanks😊
Highly enjoyable review. All the fun of cichlid keeping in a small package :)
colinbarsby Thank you Colin! A great way to put it!
Dwarf cichlids are so very enjoyable and accessible for lots of people.
colinbarsby So true...so many of the bigger cichlids are great fun, but really need large accommodations that many can't provide.
Absolutely true in my case.
colinbarsby In mine as well. I've never had an aquarium larger than 55 gallons, so many of the larger cichlids haven't been an option for me...at least, not yet. 😊
Great point about the sub-dominant multis using vertical space. I've seen this too. My favorite behavior is the parents shaking to herd young back to the shells. Have you seen the golds?
Gold multies??
started with 4 shellies no breeding yet in a couple months. going to add about 3 more and hopefully they take off
That mY do the trick! Make sure to add and/or mix up shells as you add the new shellies.
@@Aquarimax awesome@ thanks for the tip will do!
Love it! These fish are so interesting.
varanidguy Thanks! Glad you find them as interesting as I do. 😄👍
Can u please keep making fish videos...
Yes, I hope so!
Great video !!!!
EfrainAcevedoJR Thank you Efrain!
Keep up the good work aquarimax!!!!!😁👍
Dinosaurs terroir World Thanks, I will try. 😁👍
Aquarimax I love your fish😊
Aquarimax do a update on your mealworm farm!!!!
+Dinosaurs terroir World Good idea!
+Dinosaurs terroir World Thank you, me too!
Great video on multis! What type of microphone do you use for recording voiceovers?
The Turtle Girl Thank you Turtle Girl! I use a Durbpro Audio lavalier mic. it's nothing fancy, but it produces better quality than the native iPad mic. 😊👍
Cool video nice info
Cool video!!!!
Dinosaurs terroir World Thanks!
Aquarimax your breeding your fish???
+Dinosaurs terroir World Yep! Or, at least, I'm providing them tpwith an environment that encourages them to breed...☺️👍
Aquarimax is it possible for the male to eat an unrelated offspring,to get rid of the competition???
According to the captions, the smallest cichlid in the world is Neal Emperor Louis.
Tyler Block 🤣 Now I need to name my smallest multie that!
I have a 19”x24” height 12”
Lowboy do you suggest a cover on top.
Will the Multies jump
I would definitely suggest a cover. They occasionally attempt to jump.
How would you go about adding new multies into the tank and would they eventually accept the new comer?
Kc Vu Great question-I just did this. When you add the new multies, mix up and move around the existing shells, and add some new shells. This gives the newcomers a better chance of being accepted.
Hey really plan on getting these fellas , will a tank with the dimensions 35 in by 15 and a height of 12 tank house maybe 5 multies .
Im sad because im finding online shop that sell escargot shell but they dont ship to indonesia:(
flamebyxis gt does amazon ship,to Indonesia? I bought mine on Amazon.com.
I found out that well I have all female multi in my 55gal.. need to get 3 more female and 2 male..
EfrainAcevedoJR That ought to get you off to a great start!,I had the opposite problem--almost, with 1 suitable female and lots of males, but the second generation is more balanced. 👍
Aquarimax
If all goes good I get a male or two by tomorrow. It's hard to find them in Chicago if you dont know a lot of people but I'll manage..
EfrainAcevedoJR They can be a little tough to find, best of luck to you!
Aquarimax
They cary exotic fish should not be hard for them to get.. hopefully they can.. excited to get them..
Do you sell Multies. If not do you know who does
nik96 I do!
@@Aquarimax I am looking to buy a pair maybe two pair how do you want to arrange it.
nik96 send me a message on my contact page at Aquarimax.com and we’ll talk 👍
Could these guys work possibly work well with Tiger Barbs and Clown Loaches? I'd love a reply if someone gets the chance!
Trignate Great question! Whether or not multies will do well with tiger barbs depends a lot on the setup. If you have a fairly large tank with vertical space, it may work, although many of the multie fry could get eaten. In a smaller, shallower tank, it would be more risky. I can’t I would recommend keeping clown loaches with multies because they tend to use the same areas of the tank. Multies will aggressively defend their territories, and clown loaches could damage the multies with their defensive spines.
@@Aquarimax Thanks for the input man. Great video btw!
I have soft water should I use crushed coral or arganite sand ?
Sharron Miller you have some options. Some crushed coral would help, and a thing layer of aragonite sand would work too. They do seem to like to dig in the substrate, so if you use some crushed coral to buffer the water, using in conjunction with something that has particles fine enough for them to pick up in their mouths would be ideal. 👍
helo .i have a male and a femelle fish and i don't know how a can colecte ther eggs
Ham Mah I have never tried to collect the eggs, I just leave them in the shell to hatch naturally, it seems to work quite well, and the parents leave the fry alone. 👍
thank you my friend.i want to send you some picture to see the parents in order to give me more information
Ham Mah You're welcome! To send me some pictures, go to my 'about' tab and you'll,find my email address there. 👍
Do you think multis will eat mystery snails?
No. Multies don't even eat little ramshorn snails. They do bite off the snails' antennae, though. But the snails do just fine.
Hi! I have 10 gallons of water, very fine white cichlid-sand excluded. It is a 24x12x12 inch tank. I'd like your advice on the number of multies. One male with 3 females? Two males with 3 females? One male with 2 females-are 2 females enough, or would they be too harshly pursued by the male? I do not want to overcrowd the tank. I am hoping for multies to breed. Thanks in advance!
melodies2013 lots of combinations can work, as long as there are plenty of shells, but if I were to start in a tank that size, I would probably begin with 2 males and 3-4 females.
Aquarimax, thank you very much. I thought 4 cichlids were already crammed in a 10 gallon. Apparently multies are much smaller than I imagined and/or need much less space than I thought.
You’re welcome! Most cichlids would definitely be crammed in a 10 gallon, but multies are pretty small, and used to living in fairly high densities. As long as you can maintain water quality and lots of shells, , you can keep a good number in a 20 long...you will eventually need to find new homes for some of them. 👍
I am hoping for a cichlid invasion.. The tank has good filtering. If the little shell dwellers do multiply as hoped for, I figure it will take some time before I will have to farm them out: I have a number of tanks, mostly smaller than 10 gal, but also a 20 gal and outdoors a 48 gallon, good for the long warm summer. Escargot shells are difficult to come buy here. I saw a YT video where a professional breeder (in the US) said she used plastic pipe - even without any substrate. Hopefully my coming multies will adapt as easily as hers.
melodies2013 I think your multies will be fine in the 20, even with substantial population growth. 👍 You are probably referring to Rachel O’Leary’s video...with the PVC elbows instead of snails shells. Those should work well for you. Escargot shells are easy to get by mail order, but PVC elbows make it easier to collect fry. 👍
where did u get the shells
Matt Bauer I bought them on amazon.com as escargot shells. 😊👍
Anyone who can tell me how many multis I can keep in a 60x30x30cm aquarium?
Michael Hendriks That depends largely on your water maintenance regimen, filtration, how many shells you add, and whether you include only adults or fry in your numbers. You could probably have a dozen adults at least...more with more frequent partial water changes.
@@Aquarimax Thank you! It will be my first aquarium. I was thinking about adding one male and 3-4 females and see what happens. I'll make sure that there are enough shells and weekly water changes.
Michael Hendriks Sounds like a good plan! Congratulations on your first aquarium! You’ve chosen a fascinating fish to start with. 👍
5:27 Now there's an even better video of multies in the wild by that same channel: ruclips.net/video/u3hCZUL2nvI/видео.html
First!!!!
Dinosaurs terroir World You got it!
Aquarimax ☺️😊😁👍
Aquarimax how about a,update on your new isopod species that would be cool!!!😊☺️👍
Dinosaurs terroir World I ought to do that soon. IN fact, a new species may be on its way soon!
Aquarimax can the male fish of this species
eat or kill unrelated offspring,to get ride of the competition,like how African lions do in the wild??