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I know Im doing the shelly tank. I got some good shells for it. I have my tank set up and it looks good! But I kind of want to use the rest of the tank for an other fish or two. The shellies will stay mostly at the bottom but I set the rocks up so good (not to sound arrogant) I dont want the rest of the tank to go to waste. Its a 20gal with rocks to the top. pH will be around 8-8.5. Im going to have 4-6 shellies. Are there any fish that will go well with this set up?

That depends on whether you'd like the fry to survive or not!
Tankmates will invariably devour most, if not all of the fry, especially depending on which species you get. (Some are more vigilant parents than others.)
If you aren't bothered too much about the fry surviving, a good tankmate could be A.Calvus or A.Compressiceps or one of the Julidochromis species.

Yeah, I do want some of the fry to survive. I guess I could just seporate them if I see a fry. Which shellies are the more vigilant parents? Also will the shell-dwellers go after the other fish's eggs? Most likely huh.

L. ocellatus and N. multifasciatus (I think) make pretty good parents. I know that ocellatus vigorously protect their fry from just about anything, from other fish, to nets, and even fingers!

Yeah, I'd think that they would eat up any eggs that tankmates would produce. Shell dwellers can be pretty greedy fish at times.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

So the only way to have any fry survive is to do a single species set up? I dont know why I want a verity. I guess its just part of being a man.

Shellies are unlikely to eat the eggs of any other fish sharing their tank, as they don't venture that far to investigate their neighbourhood - at the risk of leaving their 'family' in danger. However, in a 20g there is not enough room for two breeding Tanganyikan species to share, without both suffering at the jaws of the other!

Ocellatus would be the most ferocious defender of its area, however this might work to your disadvantage with the likely risk of the other fish being killed.

It wouldn't be practical to "seperate once you see a fry" - you might as well either not put the other fish in, or set up another tank!

I've tried adding a julie or two in with N. multifasciatus in a 20 gallon tank, and the multis attacked the julies in waves - they were like dwarf, finned wolves! It really didn't work out at all. If it had worked out, those multis would have taken care of the fry - trust me on that.

Multi's by themselves make a fun tank. Sometimes they split into two different groups and have mini-rumbles (i.e. - gang activity).

If you want to do two species in that tank, I'd suggest brevis and one of the dwarf julie species...but species only tanks with shellies ARE fun by themselves. Brevis are peaceful for shellies and defend small territories. They are really, really bad parents though, so any fry that survive are just plain lucky.

Eric