Which shellie do you prefer ? N. signatus or N. multifasciatus?

[HansE]

Both species are available from members of my local club. I know N. multifasciatus are like, the standard, when you Google shell dwellers, that's what will come up first. But I'm curious about N. signatus, what's up with them? Anything neat about them that I should consider before flipping a coin to decide or just going for the cheapest? 

Tank is a 29 gal with generic shellie set-up; deep layer of aragonite sand, XL escargot shells, some rocks for breaking up lines of sight, and I may add some floating plants later on.
I'm an experienced fish keeper but this shellie set-up will be my first venture into African Cichlids. I'm most familiar with South American catfish and characins.

[Lennie]

I would lean towards which I like, and which is easier to rehome.

Shell dwellers basically almost never sell good at my LFS. They are always there. Also they always need a species only tank set up for them, and quite agressive commonly. Rehoming might be problematic.

So if any is in demand at your region, I would go for them, as shell dwellers are  fairly easy to breed overall and you need future plans to what to do with the babies.

[mynameisnobody]

I love the world of Shellie’s. So technically signatus is a mud dweller, not a standard shell dweller. As multies would dash into their shells when startled, signatus will just look for a hiding spot. They are definitely not as attached to their shells. They are also not as outgoing as multies are. You may get aggression levels where the female will be bullied to death. I have a 75 gallon with multies and I’ve never seen anything die of being bullied in their aquarium. I’ve housed them in as small as a 29 gallon all the way up to a 75. Signatus are pretty fish, but if you’re looking for set it and forget it, go multies. If you want a bit of a challenge that may get stressful at times, then go signatus.

Personally I’d only keep signatus if I really loved them. However, if it’s a general “which shellie is better?” Then there’s a reason multies are the most popular of the group. Hope this helps a bit. 
PS I sell my multies to a large facility in Florida and it’s my most profitable aquarium by far, followed by Staeck endlers. 

Edited July 14 by mynameisnobody

[Tony s]

On 7/14/2024 at 3:04 PM, Lennie said:

Also they always need a species only tank set up for them

Actually not quite true. You can set up a lake Tanganyika community tank. Easier to do with multis. Then add in Julidochromis or leleupi. Top it off with something like an ink fin calvus. You get little breeding with either the julis or multis. Some, but not much. You will get some though. But you still get the behavior from all the inhabitants. Very interesting setup. Ask me how I know. I just picked up a new setup and am very tempted by this combo. Also tempted by a gold ocellatus tank or straight multis tank. 

[Tony s]

@HansE Here is a video on various types of shell dwellers. I’m kind of torn between 3. Gold ocellatus, multis, and caudopunctatus. All are good. The gold and caodopunks are stunning. Golds are little balls of rage and I may need steel gloves for them.

 

@HansE here is the community tank setup for a 40 gallon. Slightly bigger than yours, but gives you the idea 

from start to about minute 3

 

Edited July 14 by Tony s

[mynameisnobody]

Correct in not requiring a species only setup. Everything I keep is now species only because of the behaviors, not because they aren’t adequate for a community. 

[Tony s]

On 7/14/2024 at 8:36 PM, mynameisnobody said:

Correct in not requiring a species only setup

On that line, would a compressiceps be interchangeable for a calvus?  Calvus are a bit less aggressive I believe 

[Lennie]

On 7/15/2024 at 3:36 AM, mynameisnobody said:

Correct in not requiring a species only setup. Everything I keep is now species only because of the behaviors, not because they aren’t adequate for a community. 

 

On 7/15/2024 at 2:35 AM, Tony s said:

Actually not quite true. You can set up a lake Tanganyika community tank. Easier to do with multis. Then add in Julidochromis or leleupi. Top it off with something like an ink fin calvus. You get little breeding with either the julis or multis. Some, but not much. You will get some though. But you still get the behavior from all the inhabitants. Very interesting setup. Ask me how I know. I just picked up a new setup and am very tempted by this combo. Also tempted by a gold ocellatus tank or straight multis tank. 

Wait, So they can keep multiple potentially breeding shell dweller species or one species of shell dwellers in a community that includes them in a 29g tank or smaller mayhaps? 

Not many people are willing to spare huge tanks for such small sized fish usually. I see people commonly keep them between 10g to 29g tanks.
 

@Tony s I have no first hand experience with these guys as it would be very problematic to rehome (nobody here really likes shell dwellers that much, they are very unpopular), but oh man breeding cichlids can be pain to keep in a community tank in general anyway. I would think a lot before really considering giving the tank you want a shot. There was a breeder hobbyist guy in my city I wanted to get gold ocellatus from, and he was even removing slightly bigger sized juveniles as one male one female all into new aquariums. Probably ocellatus are much more aggressive but yea

If they are in demand and you can find homes easily like @mynameisnobody then I would still lean towards species only tank and observe their behavior better and play safer

[Tony s]

On 7/15/2024 at 1:08 AM, Lennie said:

Wait, So they can keep multiple potentially breeding shell dweller species or one species of shell dwellers in a community that includes them in a 29g tank or smaller mayhaps?

One species in a community tank. So if you were talking about multiple species of shell dwellers in the a tank, my apologies. That’s not the way I read it. Although with an 8 ft tank you might be able to do that. Just have to have 2 separate piles of shells. You can do leleupi and multis together, and their both Neolamprologus. 
 

we have the opposite problem here. They’re relatively popular here. Near Chicago. But they breed like convicts and you can’t really even give them away anymore. That’s why I was considering the community tank. They still breed like crazy, but the fry disappear. 
 

I was actually talking to the lfs this afternoon about them. They don’t carry them but can order them. Everyone they sell to is into South America, planted, nano tanks. I have so many of those, I believe I’m done doing that for a bit. I believe my tanks are going to get fewer in numbers, but bigger in size from now on 😃

[mynameisnobody]

@Tony s that’s what I did and my hobby has improved dramatically.