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I have a 20-gallon long tank that I'm thinking of converting to a shell-dweller tank.

A couple of questions:

1) presuming I use a sand substrate, what's the best filter? I know a lot of people use sponge filters, but the hood already has a cutout for the biowheel I used in there previously. Is a sponge filter a better idea? Would the biowheel suck in sand even if the intake was well above the bottom?

2) I'm thinking N. brevis or N. multifasciatus. Whichever I choose, I'll probably keep it a species tank. But are there any smaller fish that mix well with either one of them that would inhabit the upper regions of the tank? Just for thinking purposes!

3) If your LFS doesn't take fry from hobbyists, and you're not a member of an aquarium club (because your work schedule doesn't permit you to make any of the meetings) what do you do with the fry? How fast do they multiply? And how many can a 20-gallon-long tank handle? (In other words, am I going to be trying to find homes for fry every six weeks? Or once a year?)

Thanks!

1) The biowheel's absolutely fine with sand. Just keep the intake a few inches (or more) off the substrate. If you start to have problems, put a sponge over the intake. It shouldn't suck up sand unless the sand is being kicked up into the water column.

2) With brevis, you could keep them in very nearly a community tank - danios and livebearers are good tankmate bets. With multis, it's best to leave them alone. The colony won't tolerate intruders, plus, once you have plenty, you won't need anyone else in there to take up unused space!

3) No LFS around you will take juvies? Not fry (who would?) but 3/4"+ fish? Hmm. I'd say, just use Aquabid. Shipping's not too bad and the buyer usually pays. Or, advertise locally, ask to put up a flyer in the LFS, feed the fry to other fish once you've hit a maximum, and try to sell your friends on shellies. Multis multiply very fast, especially given the usual high female to male ratios. Brevis can produce quite a lot of fry per spawn but don't tend to pop out spawn after spawn after spawn with quite the regularity of the multis. OTOH, the multis cohabit a bit better, so they might be the better bet in the end. And their fry stay in the shell longer and are easier to catch - brevis fry tend to leave/are kicked out at very small sizes and are nearly impossible to catch. A 20 long: about three to four pairs of brevis and some juvies or about 40 multis of various sizes and ages (obviously, watch weater parameters and provide plenty of shells). Fry: If actual homes, the nice thing is they mature slowly. Expect, once you're well into the swing of it, to be finding homes for variously-sized fry about every few months. But fry can go as feeders as frequently or infrequently as you like.

Also, once you've got good-sized juvies, it might be worth taking a bag of them to the LFS and saying, now, what makes you think your customers don't want these? Worst case scenario is you have to bring them back home.

Brevis are lovely fish (especially older males) but for a 20 long I think you'd get more out of keeping multis.

-Molly
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