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Okay, so this is a multi-part question. First, my boyfriend is thinking about getting a 10 or 20 gallon tank (not sure which yet) and was wondering what types of shell-dwellers he could put into this. Also, I have a 29 gallon that could be opening up in January and I was wondering what types of tanganyikans I could put in it.
What if any varieties of species could we put in these tanks? What kind of pH, light, filteration, etc would be needed? Any and all help would be super appreciated!

in the 10g, most types of available shelldwellers could go in there but numbers would depend on the species. with the 20g, you could have a couple of rockdwellers with some shellies, or a breeding pair of the dwarf species.

some of the more popular species to look up and research:

(20g)
altolamprologus calvus
altolamprologus compressiceps
lamprologus lelupi
lamprologus brichardi
julidochromis ornatus (golden juli)
julidochromis transcriptus

(10g)
neolamprologus brevis (1m/1f)
neolamprologus multifasciatus (1m/3f)
neolamprologus ocellatus (1m/1f)
neolamprologus similis (1m/2f)

For your 29 gallon, I'd stick with a pair or trio of rockdwellers. Usually if they start breeding, the tank crowds easily.

Some species I like personally are N. helianthus, N. leleupi, N. brichardi, N. daffodil, N. Similis, A. Calvus, A. Compressiceps.

For the 20 gal, I would suggest the Dwarf Sumbu Calvus (or was it compressicep?) or any of the neolamprologus species I stated.

BTW Malaikah, do you think A. Calvus and A.Compressiceps adults would work in a 20 gallon in pairs? I think they get quite big (a breeder showed me some 5-6" ones).

Well malaikah basically hit the nail on the head, but I'd like to second the multis and brevis, especially for the smaller tank. They are among the easier shellies and more common. Make sure u have 2-3 shells for each fish. if you havent already, read Mezs shelldweller article, it's really informative. Good Luck!
~FF~

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

You could easily keep 4 Neolamprologus Brevis (1 male - 3 females, even 2 males and 2 females). They're not usually considered harem spawners, but it does happen.
Also, one shell per brevis would be fine. They aren't as greedy as other shell dwellers.

As for the calvus and compressiceps in 20 gallons..
They're very slow growers, so you could easily pull it off for about 4-5 years. My main concern would be the stability of the water parameters. Neither of the fish will tolerate ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
I personally wouldn't recomend them for people starting out with tanganyikans.