These were taken immediately after the sand was added and a few hours later. I haven't gotten the shells for it yet, they should be in the mail by now and the shelldwellers themselves should be ready for shipping next week. This is at an office hence the "DO NOT touch glass" sticker.

Sweet setup, can't wait to see it with fish!

There are actually 7 Zebra Danios in there right now but they're fast, tricky little guys. :lol: If you look carefully, you should be able to see them swimming around the top.

Shells arrived today and I got them in there already. Next is the shellies themselves and some rocks and fake plants. First picture is with the lights on in the room, second is the "natural" lighting in the aquarium with the room lights out.

Is that real drift wood? If so, it can soften water and reduce pH... I would consider removing that.

Other than that, the tank is coming along nicely!

Can't wait to see some shellies in it. :)

Real wood, yes but it won't do much to this water. It's got a high pH and the shells in there will keep it buffered high. Thanks for the comments too. :)

very nice set up indeed Teelie.:tup:

Thanks, here are some pics of the fish that arrived today:

Got some new pics of my fish. :D Some are quite large so I'll link those instead at the bottom.






<--- pale one who might go into a seperate 10g.


Nearly done with messing around the tank.
Busy this is one guarding the middle shell that may have already spawned (doubtful but one can hope).
Sparring pair, these two seem to always be going at it.
Lots of sand work they've been busy doing. Look at the first post of the set up to see just how much they did in two days. It was all mostly flat sand with shells on top.
More busy business.

Very cool! Active little bulldozers aren't they?

They could put professional bulldozer drivers to shame with their speed and skill.

very cool Teelie, thanks for sharing. looks like you got some interesting new fish. what kind of shellies are they again?

Sorry, thought I'd added the name but apparently didn't. :o They are one of the few fish I know with one "common name" which is Pearly Ocellatus. They're more commonly listed by their scientific name; Lamprologus stappersi or meleagris. I don't know which is the current correct name though.

I may already have had a spawning too. Turns out I have a pair who are either spawning or "practicing" it since they're still kind of young.

congrats on the spawning. i think i posted on shellldwellers.com that i am thinking of converting my 55 to an all tang tank, and am trying to decide on which type of shellie i want to start with. these guys of yours sound very interesting to me.:)

They're certainly an active bunch. They love to dig, dig, dig. They took a lot of shells and have begun to bury them, they like to spat over food and territory and other than minor fin-nipping, nothing serious comes out of it most of the time. Shelldwellers.com is a great site to get information about whatever species you end up with. There are a few other species I'm thinking of expanding into once I find the room. :lol: