jonah Walks Amongst You

[jonah]

A little introduction of myself. My name is Michael Dennis, I go by "jonah" on most forums and I found this site from a post on Fishgeeks. I was drawn by the cool avatar of the poster and the Oklahoma location. My main hobby interests are cichlids and livebearers. I've been married for 15 years. My biggest interests are my family and sports. My oldest son, Brian, (14yo) plays football for Mustang Mid High School and my younger son, Kevin, (11yo) plays little league baseball and football. I've also got a 6 year old daughter, Christina, who would be playing football if she weren't such a girl.

I grew up in San Diego, California. If I still lived there I'd be running for Governor now. After high school I enrolled at SDSU, majoring in journalism. I had an Army ROTC scholarship at SFU, but I turned it down to be near my girlfriend in SD. Good choice since I'm still married to her. After a couple of years of school I dropped out and joined the Air Force. I spent a half year training in Texas and Mississippi and then went to Korea for a year. I was a communications computer systems operator, mostly working in data processing and comm centers. After Korea I spent 2 1/2 years stationed in Western Washington, then I was assigned to the White House Comm Agency and decided I'd rather be with my family instead so I got out. It was right after the first Gulf War, so it wasn't hard to get released.

We moved back to SD, but decided that Oklahoma had a lot more promise. Housing is amazingly expensive in San Diego and we wanted to be able to buy a home. Now 8 years later we've been homeowners for 7 years already. That doesn't seem like much of a dream, but it's good enough for us.

[someguy]

wow! interesting life! i guess il introduce myself 2! my name is jonathan, i live in toronto *and no, i don't have sars or mad cow!* and i go 2 high school, im into cichlids also *convicts and rams, also looking into shell dwellers* and livebearers *feeder guppies* and i love loaches! clowns, yo-yo's and weather *dojo* loaches r my fave. nothing very interesting happens 2 me...i know a thing or 2 about the army though! and im pretty good w/ computers, taking 2 computer courses in september!

[Heather]

Very interesting I'm sp glad to have both of you with us here on the board! I really hope you guys have fun and learn some stuff while your here!! ;D

[jonah]

Jonathan: If you can get some shelldwellers you won't be disappointed. Mine have all of the cichlid attitude inside a 2" body.

[someguy]

lol, so i take it u collect african cichlids? im more into new world myself but the shell dwellers r just the right size 4 a smaller tank *the only thing i can afford* what kind of shells r u using? i've heard of ppl using mystery and apple snail shells but i wasn't sure which was good, and what substrate r u using? im thinking of coral sand *makes the water's ph go up i think...?* and r there any special needs? r they good 4 beginners? and thanks 4 the help!

[jonah]

I do have some Americans (angels, Apistogrammas, pikes, trimac, convict), but in different tanks. Most of my cichlids are Tanganyikan.

I use turbo snails, apple snails and some of the shells come from those craft baskets they sell at Walmart for $3 a basket. Escargot works good too. I use sand in all of my shelldweller tanks. I was at a convention awhile back when Pam Chin was talking about sand and shelldwellers. She said they can be kept without them, but they never bred for her until she put them with sand. Mine breed pretty regularly. I would consider them a good beginner cichlid. Pretty easy to keep, just keep up on the water quality.

[someguy]

bad news...they don't sell them at the LFS! i asked the guy just as i was buying a 10g tank*slipped my mind untill then* and he said they used 2...which gave me he impression they don't anymore but i'l look around 4 a while, set up the tank, and sooner or later i might find some! so r they strictly bottom dweller? or do they venture off once in a while, otherwise i want 2 keep some other fish with em *feeders* so if they stay at the bottom they won't get caughtby accident! should i feed em sinking pellets? thanks 4 the help!

[jonah]

In a 10g they'll swim most of the tank. I have some brevis (more shy than multifasciatus) that stick to the lower half of a 55g. The brevis and multi's wouldn't eat a feeder fish, but the feeder might eat the babies of your shellies if the cichlids aren't protective enough, but probably not. A couple of zebra danios would work good as dithers, they'll make the shelldwellers more comfortable and more likely to come out.

Go ahead and set up the tank. You'll want it to cycle first anyway since you don't want to kill off your fish, especially fish that are hard to find. Try your local aquarium club, I've found many unusual species this way and it's a great way to meet people with the same interest in your own area.

Toronto right? Here's the Toronto Aquarium Club
www.pricenetwork.ca/fish.asp

[someguy]

thanks!1st off, im surprised u remembered! and 2nd, u r really helping me out here, i really apreciate it! il set up the tank, get it cycled, then get some, so would the cichlids eat live plants...or is that the other lake? malawi is it? and would plants grow good in crushed coral?

[jonah]

I don't think most plants would do well in crushed coral. Maybe you could attach Anubias or java fern to a piece of wood or rock. Most of the more commonly found Tanganyikans (including shelldwellers) are plant safe. You're probably thinking of mbuna from Lake Malawi. One problem you might encounter with brevis or multifasciatus is their tendency to bulldoze the sand in their tanks. That will disturb most plants in the substrate.

There are some plants that do well in higher pH and harder water, I think hornwort is one of them.

[someguy]

i posted about shell dwellers but i don't think anybody wants 2 part with theirs! but i might get a huge anubias from this 1 guy, hornwort...is that the stuff that looks like seaweed?

[jonah]

someguy said:

hornwort...is that the stuff that looks like seaweed?

It's a stem plant that looks a lot like a thinner version of cabomba or ambulia. Very fine needle-like "leaves" coming off the stem. Grows very fast under medium light. It can be held down with a rock, stuck in the sand or you can free-float it. It's one of the most commonly found plants in the stores, usually pretty cheap too.

[someguy]

ya i know what ur talking about now... that stuff is usually around beaches *which is cheaper!* but i've seen it at my LFS, it also comes in red i think?

[someguy]

FINALLY FOUND EM! i went 2 big al's and they had a whole row of em, these r the names i jotted down, i dont think it's all of them but maybe u could tell me which is the best beginner of them! and i think 1 or 2 have a spelling mistake! so whatever is close 2 that name is probably it! lol
lamp kiritvaithai
lamp speciosus
lamp multifaciatus
lamp brevis
lamp caudopunctatus

and which wold be the best 4 my 10g *i want 1's that r small and easy 2 keep!* still lookingh 4 crushed coral though!

[jonah]

someguy said:

FINALLY FOUND EM! i went 2 big al's and they had a whole row of em, these r the names i jotted down, i dont think it's all of them but maybe u could tell me which is the best beginner of them! and i think 1 or 2 have a spelling mistake! so whatever is close 2 that name is probably it! lol
lamp kiritvaithai
lamp speciosus
lamp multifaciatus
lamp brevis
lamp caudopunctatus

and which wold be the best 4 my 10g *i want 1's that r small and easy 2 keep!* still lookingh 4 crushed coral though!

WOW! You hit the mother load. You can't go wrong with multifasciatus. They're the smallest of the shelldwellers. Males only get to 2 inches and females about 1 inch. Get 1 male and 2 females. Get 2 shells per fish, minimum, so at least 6 shells. More is even better. One female will claim a shell on one end, the other female will claim the other. The male will go back and forth between them. I'd put about an inch of sand on the bottom. They'll push it all over the place anyway. They'll also probably bury any shells they aren't using.

One of the good things about the multis is they aren't as shy as some of the others.

I wish we had a big als here. We get the great online prices, but they don't sell fish online. The only shelldwellers I've ever seen in an LFS here are multis and brevis, and the brevis was mislabeled at that.