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i have a 12G that will soon be free (hopefully!) and since the water in sydney is very alkaline at the moment i was looking for some interesting fish to suit the water conditions. i was thinking about shell dwellers but didnt really know much about them till i saw mez's article. btw congrats on a great article mez!

anyway i was wondering, if i get 1 male 3-4 female multis or Neolamprologus brevis and they breed, you said they can get aggressive. does that mean i have to remove the other females from the tank while they are spawning?

also it says shell dwellers prefer sand as a substrate, so i gues that means you can use the gravel cleaner! how do you clean the sand then?

I say go for it. You've done some good reading and the 12g is a good size for your choice.

Yes, the sand is a very important feature in a shell dweller tank as they dig to form pits around the shells etc and to fill the ones the don't want.
I would also get some fist sized rocks and make some caves etc at the back, as it gives the fish a hide away in a small tank.
To clean the sand, you can use th gravel cleaner, but just lightly wave it about 1/2 inch over the sand to stir up the detritus (try not to suck any fry up if you're lucky ).
If you go for the Neolamp. brevis just get a m:f pair.
If you go for the multis, I would suggest a m:f ratio of 2:4, and put a cluster of shells at either sides of the tank.
Whichever species you choose, go for 2/3 shells per fish.

And no, when they start to breed there won't be any agressiveness to speak of amongst either the Multi group or the Brevis pair. They will be collectively very defensive to outsiders.

brevis r very gentle on their females. there is almost no aggression between the pair. i have successfully kept an adult pair in a 5 gallon. they share a shell too.
multi's r very good with each other as they r very social by nature being colonial fish. u can keep several males together something that u cant do with most common shellies.
http://www.cichliddepot.com/african/brevis.html some stuff needs to be changed in that but all the info is good.

thanks for the links and your help guys! i cant wait to get started!

*starts feeding guppies in 2foot tank to his oscars
to help clear it for shell dwellers*

sorry one more thing! iv read that large escargot shells are the way to go for shell dwellars. do you guys use these? and where do u get them from?

Don't worry about the escargot shells..
Just go to a craft shop and buy some shells that haven't been coated with anything.