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hey guys,well i got a nice surprise today when i visited my lfs.he has 6 multis waiting for me!
however,atm i had nowhere to put them.
some of you mite remember my niece got a 5 gal,and she wanted fish,so i tracked down some multis,but they were VERY dear!
well,my guy a the fish shop,said wait,i can get em cheeper for ya,well that was ages ago,then today he sprang it on me.
a customer brang them and for free,so i got them for 10 bucks each!
now in the mean time,my niece's parents are getting a divorce,so the tank i had setup and all planned for multis has been packed up.
so i had to start from scratch.
so i dug one of my old small tanks out the shed!
now the tank (10gal )is up and running underneath my 55gal,i used some water from my 89 gal,and some tap water,i also used the media out of the 89 gall tank too,so the water could cycle.
now the only thing is,there is no sand in the tank,i only could russel up some fine gravel.
also i have no shells,the 12 i got b4,were in the tank awaiting the multis!the plan and tank all went to hell,so i wasnt real preppared.
so can someone throw me a link for some snail shells.
also i do want to get some sand,what sort should i get?
now i got 6 multis,but from what i can see,everyone is ok except 1,he has a dud eye,and isnt doing to well.
he has also been kicked out the group,all the others are very social.but not this 1,he on his own,so i dont no how well he will do.
they have had something to eat,so thats a good sign.
theres 2 in there who a real close,they havent left each other side.
is there anything else i should do for these guys.
i have a peace of dw,with some fakes plants and a small flowerpot.
when i get the sand ill tie some of my anubias plant to the wood.that way they can have a live plant in with em...
well so far thats about it.
oh the ph is 8.0,should i bring it upto around 8.5,or will 8.0 be ok?
any help guys,will be great...

well i got up and checked the multis today,and so far(touchwood)everyone is ok,even the 1 that has the bad eye.
i think i mite have to up the filtration a bit.
the water still has a yellow colour,like its a bit dirty.
so im thinking a good quality HOB filter!
also its a bit dark underneath the 55gal,do yous think i should mount a light up under the 55gal,to shine down into the 10gal?its just ive gotta go and get a torch each time id like to check on them,and the light shinning in is spooking them a bit.
still waiting for all them multi keepers to drop some multi info on me

Congrats on the multis I've wanted some of them since the first time I ever saw them.
$60 though ! That's a heck of a profit for the shop

For right now I wouldn't worry too much about the lighting, the subdued lights may help the new guys settle in a little better.

Had a quick google search for snail shells and didn't find anything quick. Have you tried looking at a craft and fabric store? I know I've seen some there, they tend to be on the slightly small side, though it may work while they're still young. Till then I'd get as many places to hide into the tank as you can.

Small HOB with some carbon should clear up the water pretty quick.

I'm so jealous .


^_^

Would unpainted hermit crab shells be okay? I think I may have some around if you want them Hokese. I got mystery snail shells from the lfs when I had multis.

I used a fine gravel for my multis, and they were fine. I dont know that I would be changing their substrate now, but it depends on how fine the gravel is I guess.

I would up the pH to around 8.4ish.

Have fun with them

---

Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

yeah they made good dollars,but $40 of it was store credit from the green terror babies,so really i only came out of pocket with $20!
mmm,im not real sure about crab shells,im pretty sure it was sin in style that gave me a good link for es cargo shells,in packs of 12..cant quite remember %100!
well i mite pass on the sand then,the gravel is pretty fine,so that should be ok.
so i think i still have some store credit at another lfs i use,so im thinking ill get the HOB from there 2morro.
but untill i do find some shells,they do have alot of places to hide,the peace of driftwood in the center of the tank,its shapped like a bannanna,so they can get rite in underneath it,also they have a small pot on its side they can get into,they have alot of fake plants for now aswell,they can hide in them too!
so ill bring the ph up over the next few days,get some sheels,and hope for a pair
and as sin in style says,sit back and watch the soap opra unfold,a day in the life of a multi tank

http://www.chefswarehouse.com/Catalog/DisplayDetail.aspx?prd_id=GF101

3 dz for cheap money and ship very well. i have 102 shells (they add extras incase of breaking) and only one has come broken.

also the water prolly looks kinda dirty cuz you used old water and used filtration. some of the filthprolly is still in the water column. wouldnt worry to much about it. being yellow it could also be tannings from driftwood or something like that.

8.0 is perfect dont mess with it. best thing to do is let the ph remain at tap and honestly if you got 8.0 out your tap your good to go for any african lake cichlid. and multis will be more then happy in it.

sorry for the delay on the link i dont normally check this site daily anymore. very rarely any new posts to get my attention as i only care about cichlids.

thanx sin,i too only really care for cichlids these days too!
yeah the water is still a bit yellow,the dw didnt even cross my mind,i would have used all clean water and media,however it was kind of all thrwon together at the last minute.
so i wont mess with the ph,and yeah its 8.0 flat out the tap,for my sa/ca cichlids i have to use a 7.0 buffer to keep it down on 7.0!
but lucky for the multis,good tap water on hand...
also later down the track im already planning a bigger tank for them,but this time i want to use white sand!
any ideas on that?

ill tell ya what,i just got back home,and for such a tiny fish,they dont muck around.
they have already dug down to the glass on the bottom of the tank,i can see the white foam underneath!
from what i can see,there seems to be 2 sharing that little dugout!
at what size do these guys become sexualy active?
well i went into the site for the escargo shells,and i cant get throo the checkout,because 1 of the required feilds is a us state,ie new york!
so ive emailed the company to see what they can do for me!
hopefully they can still hook me up with some shells..
also ive had another look at the gravel,they seem to be able to shift and move it around ok,but when i seen some pics of multi setup tanks on the net last night,im thinking i mite need to go to a finer gravel,or switch to sand!
what do you guys think..

sounds to me like they arnt haveing any issues digging in it. So unless you dont like the look then your prolly fine the way it is. keep in mind its easier to clean sand as its so fine it doesnt allow nasties to get below the surface.

as far as sexual maturity if they have a full body of stripes then they are ready and willing for sure. digging is usually a good sign but not required. they dig to produce a bowl in the sand around the shell so the fry dont wonder to far off. so lots of digging usually acures when they are thinking about it.

couple tricks some people have used with success to not see the glass on the bottom. once of them is to just paint the bottom of the glass from the outside black. this is really easy to reverse if you decide you dont like it. Another that i personally like is paint the bottom of the tank with a thin layer of cement inside the tank. when they dig down you wont see the glare and it will look like the top of rock completely natural. Just have it dry for a couple weeks and then add water and do PH tests to make sure its fully cured. this is the downside...waiting.

About the shells if its your state thats the issue and you live close to the border you could setup a PO box over the line. Maybe have a friend receive it if they live out of state? relative? They will prolly get back to ya and tell you its just a web based issue and have you place the order over email or phone or something.

Hokese, I hope the email with the company works out. I like the apple snail shell idea too. When mine die, I keep the shell, just in case.

Sin, Hokese is in Australia. He can't input a "State".

Hokese, do you have anyone stateside that you can have them shipped to and then have them send the shells to you?

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

For French escargo snails in Australia I got mine online from http://www.snailsbonappetite.com.au/order.html

They were very helpful and quite fast on emails and sending the shells. They had a bit of a giggle when they found out what I wanted the shells for.

na i dont have anyone that can do that for me,but i think ill give the link from brengun a go,im still waitin for the company to email me back...
i really want to get some shells in there for them,i want them to feal nice and comfy,with a good ol shell to call home.
the diggin down the glass never really bothered me thoo,guess im just used to it,%97 of the fish i keep are cichlids,thus avid diggers.
but once again,jee wiz for such a tiny fish,they are bulldozers.
the dugut i mentioned in the post above,has trippled in size,they are quite smart,they have dugout rite around a fake plant,like i mean the dugout is in the back corner with a fake plant smak bang in the middle of the pit!
also,they do have clearly visable stripes!
as soon as my arm is back in action,im guna get started on trying to get some multi babies!
however,i think the driftwood,used media and avid digging has already demanded a higher filtration rate,the water is stil a yellow colour,and im only running a small internal filter.
so i think i had better get the HOB filter!
do yous think this should be enuff filtration for these fellas,and to keep the water clean and clear....

well i clicked on the link(thanx again brengun)ive filled out the order form,so now im just waiting for them to get back to me with price and postage cost.
i asked for 12 shells,thats 2 per multi.enuff?