Sith Posted December 28, 2003 Share Posted December 28, 2003 I currently have a 4' by 14" tank, dont worry about the height obviously i previously had 4 N.caudopunctatus and 4 L.occelatus living fairly happily together, infact i think one of my caudos has eggs (first shelly brood so im not quite sure..) but to the point.. i couldnt resist a colony of L.multifsciatus today (a pair and some of their kids.. 6 i think?) So i placed them at the empty end of the tank with their shells and a few more around them, thinking that once they come out they should be ok.. Well after half an hour they finally reunited with each other after doing laps of the tank and they are at the end i want (need?) them at.. Problem is the occasional occy comes along and trys to take a bite at one of the babies.. my problem is the multis dont do anything about it.. i think ive already lost one So ive put a divider in so the multis are alone for a while... The tank has shells everywhere with rocks dividing line of sight around the tank (how i acheved harmony with the others) My question do you think once they settle in they will be able to defend their area? Or am i just better off setting up a spare 2ft and moving either the multis or occys to their own tank.. (The caudos seem interested in the multis but have yet to take a bite at the fry. I was under the impression multis could defend against things much larger then themselved.. Is it just the occys and caudos are too aggressive? I dont really want to setup another tank as the only filter i have seeded and ready to be moved is a AC300 bit big for a 2fter... but then i dont want to lose fish over this.. What do you people think? Is it possible? Suggestions? Thanks.... -Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Lee Posted December 28, 2003 Share Posted December 28, 2003 i think the divider was a good idea because the multi parents will have to settle in for a few days and then will go back to their old personality,ie protecting the colony. So i suggest u leave the divider in for a week and then remove it after u think they are ready,ie, digging and preparing shells etc. I think once they are comfortable they should be fine with the other shellies. I have many shellies and i had to place a colony of occies with small tetracanthus the other week and they had a go at them and then gave up, i have found that occies are pretty lazy compared to caudos which will target a fish and never stop after it! IMo anyway HTH lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazimbwe Posted December 28, 2003 Share Posted December 28, 2003 As is the case very often, my experience has been different to MrLee's...just as yours will be different too, more than likely. I have multi's and caudo's in the same tank and they are fine together. Their territories are maliable to some extent and you can control where they call home, within reason of course. You may find that the Dad woo's the female away from the fry and starts again rather than picking up where he left of...this was what happened to me. I would have been more hesitant to put the multi's or caudo's with the ocellatus because my occies seem to be relentless when they decide the don't like em. However, every fish combining experience works out different you just gotta try a few things and experiment with your "Rock Art", etc. HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulva Posted December 28, 2003 Share Posted December 28, 2003 If you had a couple more larger multis, they would be able to defend a bit better. My 25 member colony used to keep away fish 4 times larger then themselves. Also like Lee said it might take a few days for the multis to establish a territory to defend. When I first put mine in the 55 gallon, there wasnt much action, but on about day 2 or 3 they were all diging in the sand, setting up pits, so Im guessing that was when they started figuring out territorys. After that they didnt let anything inside that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_thefish_man Posted December 29, 2003 Share Posted December 29, 2003 Well I believe every tank is different and no matter how hard you study fish and their co-existance with each other, in different tanks and different environments they will act differently. A mate of mine who is also on this forum (EfC) has a tank with both mulifasciatus and blue and black occelatus and they live in perfect harmony. But i still don't think it is a good idea to have the multi babies in with the ocellatus. Are the Ocellatus currently parenting? Perhaps that 2ftr is a better option(if it is an option)! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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