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Sadly I have a 10g with no stock. Due to untimely loss of work-tank companions. Not wanting to dwell nor seem callous I am asking for some assistance in building some knowledge about shellies.

Have for some time dearly wanted a small shellie setup for company at work.

I have a 10g with light and filter

Need info on:
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advisable shellie stock (don't want deal with offspring)
temperature & size heater?
substrate to bring up pH
where to buy shells in Aust (good price online? equarium doesn't list 'em)
foods
appropriate type light tube for existing light
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Should the setting up take about 2 months? Tank still running but had illness in there (first time ever in 5 or more years! my technique hasn't changed so must be water source)

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

advisable shellie stock (don't want deal with offspring)

Most likely you will, or at least may have to deal with some to many new additions, depending on the species. I would advise you get something in there that will eat the fry and control them well. Something that is more of a suface or midlevel fish. As for the specific species, well it would be better if you gave us a list of what you can get where you live. Check out some and let us know which you can get and we can go from there.

temperature & size heater?

Depending on the room temp, a 50 watt will prabably surfice. Temp ranges from mid 70s to low 80s. Though I have bred most of mine in just the upper 70s.

substrate to bring up pH

They prefer sandy substrate, but a good calcium or crushed coral would be best. If you can find a good calcium based small size sand, it would be great. However, they will do fine in lower than their normal ph, and you might also find they won't breed as much. You may want to consider some common type sand, and just keep the ph above 7.5 or so. They will live fine in this ph.

where to buy shells in Aust (good price online? equarium doesn't list 'em)

You can use most any shells. Try your lfs. Or go to the beach. Don't know where to buy them, as I got all mine at the beach.

foods

They will take any foods you give them. They love frozen foods and other whole foods. But will gladly take any prepared flakes and such as well.

appropriate type light tube for existing light

They do not require any level or type of lighting. For the size tank you have, any common aquarium lighting will do fine.

Should the setting up take about 2 months?

It takes only as long as your tank needs to cycle. No special needs for setup.

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There is always a bigger fish...

Acid Rain thank you so so much for all the time and care you put into helping me. Not the first time I might add. You have been a part of my education since I first joined this site in 2001. Thank you so much. Appreciated.

I hope to get to my lfs this weekend for research. Will write down the names of the shellies.

I will have to do things bit by bit due to finances. So setting up will take at least a month. Probably longer. May stretch to getting some substrate this weekend. Then some shells the next pay in a fortnight and so on.... stock the last to add and the cherry on top....



My fish I had to euthenase had white spots on their fins and boogalie had some on his eyes too.
I did a 25% water change today. Anything else I should do? Full media change? Gravel vac? How do I know that the yucky will not be there when I add my shellies in a few weeks?

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Not really sure of the disease you had, as it could have been several things. In the past, when I had something wipe out a whole tank like that, I either bleached the tank or dosed it heavily with treatments.

If your tank does not have anything living in it, like plants and such, I suggest a heavy bleach treatment. Either break it down all the way and soak the decroations and substrate etc in a bleach solution of about 10-25% bleach for several days. Then just rinse them very well and let them dry. If they have many pores and crevices that are hard to get to for rinsing, you can soak them in a bucket of plain water and add about 4 times the recomended dose of dechlor. Then let them soak like this for a day or two. This is the best way. You can also just add the bleach to the already set up tank and water, and follow the same proceedure.

The other way just includes dosing the tank with 2-3 times the recomended dosages of medications. Use both parasite and bacterial type treatments. I prefer something with formaldihide in it, and something with pennicillin in it. These most always to do the trick. This way is if you have a plant setup as the bleach will kill the plants. With this, just treat it for a week as the directions say, and use multiple amounts of the recomended dosages. Then just do heavy water changes of 100% for a few days in a row.

Either way you have to start your cycle over. And basically you are starting with a complete new tank setup. Also, treat anything you have used in the tank the same way, such as nets, traps, already removed decorations, filters, etc. As any and all of these can have the disease on them. Many parasites can have a cyst stage. And many of these cysts can survive for years dried out. So you must treat all things that have been associated with the tank.

HTH...

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There is always a bigger fish...

As for the specific species, well it would be better if you gave us a list of what you can get where you live. Check out some and let us know which you can get and we can go from there.

I have started another thread with a list of species available at my lfs.

Thx for all your help maybe you can swing by that thread and take a peep?

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Right, can i just hijack this thread for a short while please

How many multis could I keep in a 24*12*16 aquarium (20 uk gallon, bout 15 us)

A 15g is a good size for a colony of multies. With others you could have a pair, possibly two.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

The more the merrier Bonny. Come on in the shellie water's fine!

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Ok, so I'll probably get about 5, this should leave me space to keep some fry when they breed and the rest I can take out and sell/give away.