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I'm getting ready to start setting up my 29 gallon shellie tank and I was wondering....how many L. occellatus could I comfortably put in there? Anyone with experience want to chime in?

I also plan to scape it with plenty of shells and some rocks, and mabe java fern attached to the rocks, but really nothing else. I'm going to go with a simple cannister filter set-up like the Eheim ECCO 2234 so as to limit the stuff in the tank.

Any advice would help. I saw 12 occies for auction on Aquabid and I didn't know if that would be too much for a standard 29.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

12 would be way too many. I would think about maybe 3 pairs, if given enough shells. You could try and get the group of 12, raise them up, let them pair off and sell the extras. Those guys are one of my favorite shell dwellers.

I kind of thought so.....man , they seem to always sell in quantity on Aquabid. Usually, I email the seller and ask if I can just buy a few. They are usually glad to accomodate. 3 pairs sounds like a great number. Thanks for the advice!!

I have fallen in love with the looks of those little occies. They have the cutest little frog faces!!

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Occe's are pretty aggressive little buggers. If they are small jeveniles and havn't paired off yet, I would put up to 10-12 of them in the tank, but watch carefully as they pair off so you can remove unpaired fish, or they will get beaten up. In the end. I wouldn't keep more than about 3-4 pairs in there, but you may have luck with more, or possibly not enough luck and have to separate them further.

You should aldo have a plan for the inevitable fry. I keep a 10 gallon tank going along with my Caudopunk tank to move fry to once they've "left the nest" and mom & dad are starting yet another brood.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Whats an "occie"?

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Lamprologus Occelatus, or neolamprologus occelatus (I can't remember which). I remember seeing a video of them somewhere, try going to cichlid-forum. It's an awesome video

Sorry... Occe is short for your L. occellatus. I'm horrible with spelling and even remembering the full names of things, so sorry for the short hand.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

I put the full name in the first paragraph of the OP. Sorry about the breviations.....just shorter.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

I know the scientific name, but what kind of fish is it? It seems really interesting, and im guessing its either a Cichlid or a hermit crab.

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Here's a crop from a pic I took about 14 days ago of the gold colour form of Lamprologus ocellatus (or is it neolamprologus ocellatus now?). This is what CrazyRed wants apparently

Attached Image:


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

u could put 6 in a 29G mabey 7 if given enugh shells

These are more of a harem spawner than pairs. In a 29 gal, I would recommend two different areas of shells, one on each side of the tank. Then just 2 males, and about 2-6 females. The females will pick the shell piles they like best and the males will spawn with all the females in their area.


***As for the genus name Lamprologus, well look for many to most all of them to be changed down the road. According to Ad Konings and many other marine scientists, there is either no fish in the Lamprologus genus, or they are all riverine species and not specifically of the Lake Tanganyika. Those still in the Lamprologus genus are considered to be there only as a temporary placement.

The ossified group. The Lamprologus genus is considered to be the ossified group. As this is the number 1 characteristic to define a species into this genus. Originally, all the ossified group were placed in this genus until they were placed in their respective specified genus. Though most of the ossified group are shell dwellers, not all are. Some are substrate spawners.

What is the ossified group? Within the cichlid family, all the cichlid fishes have a ligament that stretches across the lower jaw from side to side. This is called the labial filament. In all the other cichlid fishes of the world, in the middle of this ligament is cartilage structure (has been compared to a knee cap of a human in shape and form). The "ossified" group however, also has this ligament, but the structure is not made of cartilage, but made of bone.

To the best of my knowledge at this time, the only species still remaining within the Lamprologus group (genus) presently, are; callipterus, finalimas, kungweensis, lemairii, ocellatus, ornatipinus, signatus, speciosus, and stappersi (meleagris).


Interesting facts about the Lamprologine tribe.
Did you know that not all are shell dwellers. Many in this tribe are cave spawners and even pit spawners.
Did you know that this tribe of fish are the only substrate spawners, in the cichlid family, in the entire Lake Tanganyika?
The total number of species of cichlids in Lake Tanganyika only totals somewhere just over 250. And did you know that in total, there are over 80 different species in the Lamprologine tribe. This means that just under a third of all the cichlids in Lake Tanganyika are Lamprologines!
The smallest Tanganyikan cichlid is the Neolamprologus multifaciatus.


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There is always a bigger fish...

To add somemore pics, I took these last week;






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There is always a bigger fish...