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I have a 12 gallon Eclipse tank that's currenntly empty except for a baby bristlenose that I'm growing up to put in a 90. I want to possibly breed some sort of cichlid in this tank. 1.)Is it posbile? 2.) what can I breed in a tank of this size? I was thinking Shellies. Any ideas?

SHELLIES! Yes!

The ideal species for that size tank would be either N. multifasciatus, if you like friendly colony fish, or N. brevis, if you like pair fish. There are other choices but these are by far the best for a smaller tank since their territories are smaller and they're much less agressive than, say, L. ocellatus.

-Molly
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OK, thanks for the reply. How many shellies can I have in my tank and how many should I buy at once to have a good shot at getting a breeding pair?

For the multis, I'd suggest a male and 2-4 females - while you could fit more females than that, keeping fewer allows plenty of room for the fry, and since you're interested in breeding, that's important. Multis are VERY prolific - not Convict level, because their spawns are much smaller, but they certainly try. You can buy a group of six and remove the extra males once they're shunned.
With brevis, I'd buy a group of six and let them pair off. Pairs are quite dedicated, and because the brevis habitat unlike the multis' is sparse shell-wise, they cohabit. Very fun to watch.

-Molly
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OK, now for my next question. I'm new to shell dwellers, the only africans I've ever kept were 3 Venustus. My question is how hard are they to sex? Are males and females colored significantly different?

Multis are difficult to sex before adulthood, which is why it's best to buy a group and let them drive extra males out. Size can help, so try buying two of the largest available and four of the very smallest.

With brevis, sexing can be (but isn't always) somewhat straight-forward - in many individuals, males have more obvious stripes on their tails, and are larger. However, I still wouldn't buy just two because A) that doesn't always work and B) if they pair off naturally they'll have a much better time of it.

-Molly
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