She is outnumbered Mumsie isn't she. Perhaps you'll have lots of girl fry to even up the numbers. I like the Peak name, perhaps she has a twin? And Hyde ..Im thinking their territory is like a map with Parks and driveways and the compass names...

One question, how do you keep the tank so incredibly algae free? The shells look polished- the tank always looks so pretty!

Thanks Trinket! Honestly, I don't know how the tank stays so algae free. I think it must be the salts. I think algae has a tough time growing in salty water. I don't know for sure though. I also change the water as much as I can to keep them cleaned up from all the uneaten food. I can usually tell by smelling it that it needs to be cleaned.
Feeding them drives me nuts. I am feeding small particles for the babies which of course goes everywhere and gets buried, and I feed brine shrimp for the big ones. But if it isn't moving around suspended in the water it is usually ignored.
live foods are probably best for them, they would keep moving in the water. I am going to try my hand at raising some brineys for them. I am a little worried that their diets will become so one-sided that they will not get the proper nutrition. They seem to like the frozen brineys but they will not touch the brineys that are enhanced with spirulina. They like the ground up flakes the best.

I guess the mess is just a fact of life with these fish.

Buton, button who's got the button??? That's the burning question in the shellie's tank these days. That, and "What the heck is this thing in my territory?"

My honey popped a button off his shirt and it flew God-knows-where in the living room. We looked for it, but never did find it. Well, it landed in the shellies tank! Eastwood must have buried it in his long-running battle with the landslide and then dug it up again because there it was lying on the sand. Eastwood has been moving it around ever since. It's so funny! He picks it up in his mouth and swims as far as he can (it's hard to swim with a button in your mouth) and drops it on the sand. He will pick it up again and again until he has moved it away from his shell. He seems to prefer that the unsightly thing is behind a shell where it can't be seen cluttering up the landscape that he has worked so hard on. Of course I do not help matters by moving the button back out into the open.
The urge to put more buttons in the tank was more than I could resist. My honey decided to replace all of the buttons on his shirt because he couldn't find any that would match the color so he cut off the 4 buttons that were left, and I put them in the tank.
I put an extra button in Eastwoods territory, I assumed he buried his old button because I couldn't see it. His reaction was priceless!! He swam over to the new button, then went to the other side of the tank behind a shell , then over to the button and back to the shell. He did this several times. I thought he was not interested in the button, but later when I was coming out of the bedroom and the other side of the tank was visible to me: There was the old button! It was right behind the shell he had been visiting!
Now his going back and forth to the button and the shell has taken on a humerous note. It seems like he was trying to say "Wait a minute......didn't I take care of that thing?????" When I came home from work both buttons were out of sight behind that shell!

Brad's reaction to his button is much different. He ignores it completely.

Mumsy and Rickey have declared war on the two that I put in their area. They hovered over them and nipped at them and moved them as much as they could, but they had fallen down into the crevices around the group of shells at the bottom of Mumsy's pit. I figured I would have to dig them out later (I was having regrets about teasing worried parents) but I needn't have worried... The next time I looked in the tank. There they were: neatly stacked on the ridge between the happy couple and Brad's territory!

Of course I moved them back again. at this moment they have moved one of the buttons back to the same spot on the ridge that they put them in the first time!!

This is so much fun! I have read that they moved their shells with their mouths, but I have never seen them do much of it. They move their shells mostly by moving the sand around them. I have seen them burrow right through the sand and underneath the shell and come out on the other side. That is mostly how they do it. I have read that they can move small rocks with their mouths too. I just don't have any rocks in there for them to move. Buttons will have to do i guess.

I am dying to get a video of this! So far they have been uncooperative. But I am off tomorrow and will devote a part of the day to watching them... hopefully I will get something!

LOL I can just imagine!

THAT'S HILARIOUS!!!!!!! OMG Mumsie and Rickie actually stacked the buttons on the sand wall dividing territory? They are so intelligent!!! Next, the one with best -honed entrepreneur instincts will be piling them up in a no-mans land corner with a for sale sign .

I can see them doing that!!! They did stack the buttons but I am sure it was not on purpose, I'm sure it is just the way they landed. Then again....Eastwood's buttons were on top of each other too!! Hmmmm....

Poor Brad. He has become the recipient of all the buttons in the tank now. Mumsy spit a button onto his turf and Eastwood spit one of his down onto his side of the slope. He is ignoring all of them and his home is starting to look like a junkyard. If he were human, he'd be the guy on the block that has grass a foot high and old rusting hulks of washing machines and automobiles all over what is left of his lawn. There would be a raccoon or two nesting in his attic.

I took all the buttons I could find and put them in Eastwoods territory. At least he still cares about the way his house looks. I f he were human, he'd be the Hank Hill type with the perfect lawn and shiny rain gutters.

Mumsy and Rickey still have a button somewhere, I can't find it. They may have buried it, or it fell down between shells again. I'm sure it will be evicted when discovered by them.

The babies are visible almost all the time now. The don't hover very high but they are always there in the shell's mouth. Two of the larger ones appear to have chosen what shell they will stay in. The third is still playing the shell game.

I'm sitting here with the camera waiting for Eastwood to get tired of the buttons and move them.............

Here it is! Finally... someone moved a button while I had a camera rolling. So here's Rickey making the tank a safer place...one button at a time

The Button Movie

Can you see all three of the big babies ?? Peek, Hyde, and Sissy are all in this one. It also looks like Mumsy is tending that shell she went into. That means more babies. There are 4 small ones already in the big striped shell (Mumsy's home shell).

After dealing with the button, Rickey went back to his bachelor pad by the scallop shell. Brad is threatening to claim them.

LOL what cool little fish!!!!

Here's Eastwood tidying up. Eastwood's buttons
For some reason it is very important to him that the buttons are either out of his area completely, or out of sight completely. The big shell at the bottom of the heater is where he has been trying to hide them. My most recent cleaning in there opened up a space behind the scallop shell and now he tries to hid them there but he can't quite get up the slope with them.

He is a bit like an Elf coming to your house to cobble shoes in the middle of the night. You don't know how it got done, but it did. When I look at the buttons tomorrow they will all be together in the same spot.

Like this: Eastwood's button pile. That is Brad in the photo, the buttons are on the ridge between him and Eastwood.

There is a story behind that pile of buttons... originally one of the buttons belonged to Brad who finally decided to clean up his dumpy pit. Brad spit the button out on the ridge, and Eastwood, who cannot tolerate any buttons out in the open or in his territory, added his two buttons to the pile!!!

I am flabbergasted!

Are they Neolamprogus multifasciatus?

Kets, I think Chickey said they are African ciclids, the smallest kind..

I think they are organising a mutiny. These buttons must be collected by you "the hand" and they will continue to change the collection place until you notice and remove them Oh please remove them Rach, I am beginning to feel sorry for their obviously futile efforts! Perhaps you could exchange them for a new shell as a reward for their tidyness. You could teach them, 4 buttons in a pile= new shell

I am so amazed at their compulsive organisational behavior. It is incredible. Do any of the other cichlid owners on other forums have as much fun and games with their fish?

Yes, they are N. Multifaciatus.

The buttons don't seem to bother them once they are moved to where they want them. I think it gives them something to do. In a natural environment things would be changing all the time and they would be moving all sorts of rocks and bits of wood and what-not to keep their territory clean. they are constantly patrolling their shells. The buttons just give them a chance to do what they would do naturally. Eastwood did manage to move the buttons away, one is behind the shell, one is on a slope that he must not consider part of his property and the other 2 have been put back in exactlly the same spot as his previous button pile.

They also provide me with some fun. I love seeing what they are going to do next. I have stopped putting buttons on Mumsy's side of the tank, I don't want them to get nervous. They are definitely raising another clutch (is that the right word??) Mumsy is fanning and standing guard over the shell and Rickey is staying very close to her. He has moved into her shell, and kicked out 2 of the babies that were inside. I was shocked at how big the babies have gotten.

I put some smaller brown buttons in the boy's area and they have been moving them all over the place. Eastwood has quite a pile behind the shell now. Brad has spit all of his buttons into Eastwood's pit.

Hey maybe I should rename this thread "Annoying" my little shell dwellers.

don't worry I don't think I would be able to contain myself either!!! it sounds very amusing.... poor eastwood those buttons must be starting to look like a pile of tires..

Lol, is this male rivalry? Too funny .
And this thread has to be re-named -not annoying- but "most entertaining fish thread"

Thanks for joining my little adventure! I can't wait to see how the babies are going to fit in when they grow up. They have such a long way to go. I am dying to know if there are females in the bunch.

Oh, and Eastwood has now decorated his pit with the buttons. He had them behind the shell all in a heap, now he has them strewn all over... and they do look like old tires!

you know he is only doing it to bring down property value in the neighbourhood ...that will erk his neighbours!!!!!

hi-d: that was funny! I should make some little "for sale by owner" signs

The button moving has become interesting. Eastwood had placed all the buttons in pairs, and they were paired tan and blue. Then he moved them all again and now the blue buttons are together and the brown are together. is this a coincidence??? he has spit one of the brown buttons onto the ridge but the other three are together.

Eastwood is a mysterious little guy. I am going to mix the buttons up again and see if he sorts them.

Awwwwwww. I have had my first Shellie funeral. I found a tiny fry body on the sand today as I was cleaning. It did not appear to be damaged and seemed to be a fresh body.

Now I feel I should take a census of my fry because this is one I didnt know about! I have 3 large fry, and four smaller fry still in Mumsy's shell. That is the number I thought I had all along. Now it seems I have this little mystery fry from out of nowhere. The fish was about the same size as the ones in Mumsy's shell. The new fry that Mumsy is tending are still not visible to prying eyes, and anyway the fry woud be too small to be this one.

It goes to show you that I may have more fry than I think!

Speaking of Fry..... I finally got my close-up lens. Here are some of the babies!!Cute Babies

Well, Mumsy has increased the population in the tank by 5. I have 5 little fry peeking out of 2 shells near Mumsy. I am hoping there are more in there but Mumsy has been having small niumbers all along. These fish can have 20 to 40 eggs in one laying. Each fish is different though and young fish have smaller numbers of eggs. Mumsy is definately a young fish. She and the others were still growing when I got them. 12 fry!!!

I wish she would take a rest! I really need to get into her nursery and do some cleaning. There is excess food all down in the cracks, but little ones make it impossible to use a siphon in there. I hate to upset them like that but soon it will get nasty.

Eastwood has stopped playing with the buttons. He dosen't try to move them now, he just buries them or leaves them where they are. He must have got tired of my moving them around.
Oh well, I'll see if I can find him something else to move around.

your going to have to get her a shoe to live in !!!!!!!..you should put a little statue of some sort and put it on eastwoods lawn !!!! when he gets up in the morning to retreive the paper he'll wonder how it got there...he might think it was mumsy's delinquent children...I can't help but to speak as if their human !!!!

this has to be one of the longest going threads on Koko's outside of the threads in the Chatter Box lol

Hi-d, I am going to start looking for a suitable statue.

More news! Another tiny fry has been spotted in another shell!! and one of the shells I thought held 2 actually holds 3 so it looks like 7 new ones. And Mumsy's older babies are moving out into new homes. I put a whole bunch of shells in the tank to give them room.
I'm going to try to get a close up shot of a tiny fry in the shell so you all can see what I see when they show up for the first time: tiny little eye dots peeking out at me.

Here's a little video that shows my triplets. I call them that because they stay together in Mumsy's shell. Mumsy moved out, and is now rooming with her brand new tiny babies. These 3 seem quite happy where they are.

Triplets The big fish is Rickey not Mumsy.

Eastwood has found a secret passage to Rickey and Mumsy's territory. He discovered it while hiding buttons.

The scallop shell that stands upright in the middle of the tank has a space behind it that is wide enough for Eastwood to get through. He looked like Alice through the looking glass the first time he used it. Rickey did not see him the first few times, but he was bound to be discovered and now Rickey is keeping vigil closer to the shell.

The babies have been doing some tail waving at each other. That is their way of letting each other know who they are. Mumsy can defuse an attack by any male just by waving her tail at them. It says "see, I'm a Girl" and the boys stop in their tracks. The babies are starting to feel a little cramped in such close quarters, hopefully they will spread out into the surrounding shells.

Here is a good shot of Rickey's mouth. Now you will see why I worry about the babies Rickey yawning

Holy Moly!!!! How many fish and fry do you have in there now, total?!?

LOL "There's was an old lady who lived in a shoe...."

Let's see..... There are 3 bigger fry, the 4 that were in that video (the triplets and the one that popped up in the front) and as far as I can tell, there are 3 more tiny ones. She started out with more, but I am only seeing 3 now. That doesn't mean anything though... they could be living in the crevices out of sight. So, 10 for sure from 3 different hatchings, possibly more. One of the tiny ones has been in at least 3 shells since yesterday.
Oh, and 4 adults.
Mumsy! She's unstoppable!

Mumsy is tending another shell. I haven't seen any eyes yet. (is there a fish birth control pill?) The tiny babies are doing fine, I just don't know how many of them are in there.

The triplets have been evicted. Daddy Rickey tossed them out. Only one is still in what was once Mumsy's shell and seems to belong to Rickey now.

I have noticed alot of teeny tiny worms in the tank crawling up the side of the glass. I think they must have been from the microworms I fed the babies at one time. I don't know how they could have lived in there. Now that they are in there... How do I get rid of them??

Attack of the Brown Algae! My cute little tank is getting very brown indeed. Oh well, it was bound to happen. I felt the need to clean it off though. I took out all of the shells that I knew had no fish in them but I did not touch anything in Mumsy's area for fear of disturbing the fry. They don't have too much algea over there, it's mostly Brad and Eastwood.

So I got all the shells cleaned off and stuck them back in the tank. The fish were a little disturbed and there were some small skirmishes over territory. When I came home from work I found the tank all topsy turvy and one of my babies is now living with Brad!

I think it is Hyde. I don't know if this is a boy or girl, but Brad is completely tolerant of the little fish in his domain. He hovers above it and neither of them is too concerned about the other. He seems to be protecting it too. He gave Eastwood a bad nip for getting too close. Could it be he has found his little Angelina?

Peek and Sissy are in new shells too, but they are still close to home. I do think Brad has Ideas about Peek, he Keeps sneaking over to the edge of Rickey's shells (staying low so he can't be seen) and checks out Peek. Maybe he is gathering a harem? It would fun if he managed to steal a sweetie or two. Peek has lovely coloring. A good deal darker than the other fry.

The triplets are scattered hither and thither too. It took me a while to track them down. All four are well. (o.k. I know... Quadruplets not Triplets)

At last count I had 4 tinies, I only see two of them regularly, but I know there are two smaller ones in there somewhere. Mumsy has been shell sitting again. I am not sure if it is because of babies or a water quality issue. I have been having some problems with the cleaning lately and it was kinda icky in there. They are all spankin' clean now though.

Maybe we will have a Shellie wedding if Hyde turns out to be a girl. I do think that Brad is robbing the cradle. This fish is still very young (shame on him!)

The boys are keeping watch. I didn't know it but when I turn out the light, all three of the boys are out of their shells and watching each other. They can still see because the tv is still on. Mumsy and the babies are all tucked in for the night.

Good heavens, the neighbourhood is getting very full of the sound of pattering fins. The video was adoreable, the babies huddling in the doorway peeking out and Rickys yawn reminds me of a recent trip to the dentist..amazingly clear with your new close-up lens (I am so jealous of your photography skills).

I'm sorry about the little funeral. But there isn't much time to grieve when Mumsie is so busy increasing the population. I understand it must be worrying cleaning as the numbers increase but you are doing an incredible job. I laughed so many times reading these last posts and wonder if your Pleyton Place troup have any idea how famous they are or how totally fascinating. Keep us invited to all upcoming weddings and events

So cute!!! I love the little shellies. As for the tiny white worms, do they look flat? They may be planaria, just a sign that your tank was being overfed and not cleaned properly. But you already knew that! As long as you can get the gravel cleaned out the planaria will go away and won't be harmful. The fish will probably eat some, too.

I am enjoying your updates.

My big fat shell dweller wedding !!!!!keep us posted !!!

Thanks everyone!

some troubling news: I haven't seen my tiny ones lately. I hope my recent intrusion did not induce one of my larger fish to attack.

My Big Fat Shellie Wedding That would make a great video! hmmmmm.............

Well, Mumsy's shell sitting has produced another 6 or 7 babies. I hope these will survive. The little ones I had have vanished. Two of them were last seen on the edge of Brad's territory ( I suspect him) They may still be alive in there, but they have not shown up for feedings in a while. I have noticed that Mumsy seems to respond like our goldies with nice fresh water: She gets the urge to spawn! Rickey is always happy to accomodate her.

Rickey had a little tiff with all the babies and scattered them. ( He was doing the fishy equivalent of pacing back and forth and tearing his hair out) He was really agitated (shellies do not like to be disturbed, and the babies are competing for food now). I guess this is the shellie way of getting them to all spread out. They reach a certain age and are driven away. The triplets have moved back to the big shell and are being pesky around the new babies. Every time I put the tube in to feed them, they are trying to hog the food. Mumsy is no better, she is always trying to get ahead of them.

Poor Brad.... he has inherited Peek and Hyde. Sissy may join them soon. He is starting to look a little crowded too. I see myself buying more shells to give them more room.

Eastwood is still a happy bachelor. No bratty little fry have found their way to his area yet, but if they continue to spread out he will get some company. I am happy that they are so tolerant of the babies.

I still don't know what sex the babies are, but if I were to guess on the oldest I would say 2 girls (hooray!) and 1 boy. The one I think is a boy acts very much like the adults when another fish approaches (they put up their dorsal, and spread out all their fins) He is also kinda stocky. The other 2 that I think are girls are a little more reluctant to show off like that and their bodies are smaller and more gracile. Mumsy is less heavy in body and lighter in the jaw than the males. She actually looks female.

Of the other 4, I have one that is a good deal smaller than the others and could be female or may have some health issues. I notice this fish "rests" alot on the top of a shell. they all do it to some degree, but this one seems more inclined to it. Time will tell I guess.

I am so upset about the algae!! the whole tank looks disgusting! the fish are even darkening to blend in with the yucky brown. I could just cry! My sweet little tank is all overgrown. I will have to wait it out for the more pleasant green that will someday follow. I really don't want to take pictures of it in this condition. =bleah=

O.K. this is really just too much! Mumsy's latest shell-sitting has produced 6 fry in the shell and at least that many more that are living in the crevices. Yikes. I saw them peeking out at me today.

I should explain..... you never see the babies at all , and then one day THERE THEY ARE. The whole bunch of them all at once. It's as if they take a vote on when it's time to make an appearance.
for the first few weeks of life they stay in the shells and crevices and bottom feed on stray scraps. They are transparent and you can actually see them better when they have had a good meal because it is visible in their stomachs. You do need a magnifying glass though.

I call them "darters" when they are past a couple of weeks old. By then they start to leave the shell openings and "dart" out to get the food that floats by. They have fins and all, but are still tiny enough that you can't see any details on them.
They have stripes early on, but they don't show until they grow into them. As old as mine are, they are still only about a half inch long.

sorry pretty soon it will be your shell dweller pond !!!!!

You could be right! Or it could be a Shellie Lake. ( if Mumsy gets her way)

I asked this question once, and I am not sure where, so I will ask it again: How much does anyone have to worry about inbreeding in fish? I am not sure if mine are all related or not. I bought the original 4 together and they were the same age. They could very well be from the same brood. If any of the fry actually get comfortable with either Brad or Eastwood, they could be dating an uncle. Mumsy and Rickey could be......siblings! (for shame!)

What are the results of inbreeding in fish? Will Mumsy, Rickey and the multitude of fry end up on Jerry Springer?
?

Click to view attachment Here's Rickey modeling the latest Shellie fashion: A algea-brown pinstripe suit.

Here's a sort of blurry video of Mumsy's new ones.tinies

I have been watching Mumsy lately and I have discovered she is a very good mom indeed. The babies are really spreading out in the crevices, everywhere I look I can see little eyes looking out at me. Mumsy has been making room for them! She has been seen digging in the sand and threading her way around between the shells. She goes under and is likely to come up anywhere surrounded by a cloud of sand, and babies are living in the spaces that she makes, and enjoying the scraps of food that come to them on the current. Mumsy has improved the flow of water too.

living in the crevices is a smart move for the newbies. It keeps them safe from the large fish who would want to eat them. It make sense to me that they would not live in a shell right away, a big fish could go in after them and they would have no where to go and become lunch. In the crevices, they have the advantage. They will stay there until they are bigger than a mouthful. It will be a while before they choose shells for themselves.

The crevice where they spent the first week was getting too crowded, there were about 10 fish in there at one time, all growing. Now they have to seek out new homes. Luckily, I have a new shipment of shells due to arrive. But unfortunately it makes cleaning more difficult. now I can't siphon any of the crevices, I might suck up a baby.

I read somewhere in this forum about the sounds that fish make. I often wonder if they communicate. Ha ha! anyone got a microphone??

A note on Brad: Another little fry has made it's way into his territory. This is the 4th of my next oldest fry (the one that is not one of the triplets, who are still at home by the way) This fry seems to bother him to some degree. He paid no attention at all to the other three who oiled thier way onto his turf, but this one has his attention. He keeps peeking into the shell as if he just can't believe there is a fish in there, and the little fish is so creeped out by his lurking just outside the door that it will not come out. I wonder if it is a male?

Of the three other fry that are with him, two of them are very close and I would say they are the females. (Brad has a harem! a very young harem though.) that would be Peek and Hyde. The other is not so close to Brad and has claimed a spot in front of the scallop shell. That area has always been a no mans land between the two territories, neither Brad or Rickey are interested in it. So this little one has claimed it. He is too young to be a threat now, but there will be some scuffles in the future I'm sure.

But this little new one is firmly in his space. It will be interesting to see what happens to this little one.

TIme to name the oldest fry (just the girls for now) I will name them Angelina and Nancy. This is subject to change in case they turn out to be boys. I am pretty confident they are not.
I need a name for the boy.....ideas anyone????

O.K. I'm naming the boy Bart. He is a little upstart! Has been causing trouble and both Rickey and Brad have been busy putting him in his place. Rickey has actually nipped his little son.

Bart has been foolish enough to strut his little bit of stuff in front of the big boys. He has been doing aggressive little displays: wagging his head, splaying out his fins and talkin' trash. He has a great escape tactic too. When Rickey gets really p.o.'d at him, he runs over to a spot underneath Brad's shell. If Rickey follows, Brad will attack him. You can almost hear him saying "nyah-Nyah".
What an instigator!
I can't imagine what the new little intruder cowering in the shell over at Brad's must be thinking of this. He's probably regretting moving into that neighborhood.

There is quite a bit of tension in this tank now thanks to that little tyke.

Do the Bart-man! Yeah! ( I think I saw a slingshot)

While we were all busy racking our brains for a suitable name for the little tyke- you came up with the best one. Bart! The whole family dynamics reminds me of my family actually.



You see, there are two male members of my family who do this a LOT !

Momsie is a supermom . She is so occupied with either making babies, making homes for the babies, running errands for the babies, protecting the babies I wonder if she has anytime left for herself & her own hobbies. I am starting to wonder how many babies she will stop at and how exhausting this tank cleaning is going to get for you! It's hilarioius that they are starting to change color to match the slowly browning decor where once they were so white and shiny!

Click to view attachment
I know! I know! My sweet little clean tank looks all dirty now! They are getting a big cleaning today because the brown scum is creeping up the sides of the tank, and in alot of places it just flakes off and falls to the sand which is all brown speckled now. It looks like the wreck of the Titanic in there, all rusted and crusty.
Angelina has gotten so dark I can barely see her against the algae. For some reason, my camera lightens everything I photograph so you don't really see how brown they are all getting. One thing has come out of the new dark hue- they have this lovely blue overcast. it is very slight but in the right light comes through strong. It is especially strong around the eyes and it makes them look like they have blue eyes. The name 'Lamprologus' means something like "bright eyes", so they were named for this feature and "multifasciatus" for their "many stripes".
Here's a little Photo of my small fry. This is the one I have been calling "Minnie" because she is so small. I am convinced it is a girl. You can really see her blue.

Oh, I made a mistake. the two little girl fish with Brad are named Angelina and Janet not Nancy. I must have been thinking of my friend Nancy. If the other little one turns out to be a girl, I will name her Nancy.

This is an unusual little problem that I need help with:
Today Rickey has been very aggressive. He is wagging his head and flicking against his shells to show who's the boss. Mumsy has been all attitude too. The little fry have been on the receiving end of his tantrum all day. I don't know how many I have left, but he may have just taken out a few today. The triplets are staying out of sight and daddy's reach. He really has the whole tank in turmoil.
He is trying to psych out his arch enemy- THE DREADED REFLECTION SHELLIE. That's right. He has been intimidating himself all day. I cleaned the algae off the side of the tank and now he can see that intruder wagging and carrying on (He is soooooo DEAD) and he has been abusing his whole family.

Before I call a social worker....does anyone know of any tricks to get rid of tank reflections? I tried moving the light so that it shines on both sides of the glass and that seems to have calmed him down a little. Just a little....I guess I will let the algae grow on that side of the tank again, or I will be dealing with a never ending Domestic Dispute.

If you are a shellie, and you want the world to know what shells belong to you- you flick against them. If we saw our goldies doing that we would suspect parasites and run for the salt. The Shellies are making an aggressive show. This is MINE and THIS and THIS. all MINE!! I have seen Rickey go around the edge of his territory and flick against the landmark shells that are important to him, he even nips his shells. He rubs against them hard enough to rub off some of the brown algae and leave a little mark. He is letting us all know not to cross him. He will even pick up a mouthful of sand and randomly spit it out (Take THAT! and the Shellie in the reflection does the same) He goes wild! He wags his head back and forth and "chatters" his mouth. I think the chattering makes a sound that the other fish can hear. I have seen other fish chattering after he does, as if they are answering him. Even the little ones do it. I would like to find out if they really do make a noise.

Has anyone ever tried to record underwater sounds?

Well, now that the sand has settled, I can see that I have few fry left. 5 tops. Rickey is Psycho Dad. And I am sure Mumsy Dearest had a nibble or two as well. Oh well, I can't have the tank over-run with fry either. They are practicing birth control in their own way I guess.

Here are some photos:
Mumsy and Rickey keeping an eye on the reflection Shellies (look how dark they are!)

Brad and his Harem
Janet is on the left and Angelina on the bottom. No, I can't tell them apart. I only know who is who because Angelina sticks to one shell. Janet wanders around a bit. I can't wait till my new shells arrive, they will have more room to spread out. Maybe Janet will go live with Eastwood and perk him up a bit.

Eastie Beastie Poor guy, will he ever find love?? He is all alone in his end of the tank. He is about to get more shells and some new sand to dig in. (Girl Shellies think you're hot if you have lots of shells.) He has bottomed out and I have removed so much sand trying to keep the tank clean, he needs a refill.

He has the sad bachelor thing down pat. He barely even moves to eat. he just waits till the food comes within range of his mouth and then he snaps it up without moving from his position.I think that must be the shellie equivalent of balancing a beer on your belly.. Some sand will do him good. Force him to work a bit.

Bart He sticks out like a sore thumb! He has not changed his color yet. A rebel all the way.

Pesky this one will be known as pesky until I know whether or not it is a boy. It seems to be. No one wants this sweet little thing around. Brad has a big problem with him. Rickey shoos him off too.

I found out something interesting when I was reading up about shellies on the net: When Shellies are "Wild Caught" there tends to be more males available for sale because the males are more likely to be in view defending their homes, and are taken. This might lead you to think that males are more plentiful. When allowed to breed freely, they will produce more female than male. This seems to be true in my tank. Bart and Pesky seem to behave as males, I am betting all the rest are females. I would say the triplets are female. That would make it 5 girls. But it is still kinda early to tell, they are still so small and one of them seems a bit sassy.

Great pics!
I bet it is very fascinating to follow this family!

That is interesting about the boy girl ratio thing and reason! So funny about the reflection and all their personalities. I think Pesky is very cute - wonder why the others are annoyed by him! Poor Eastie...Brad on the other hand sounds to be and looks the popular handsome dude. Is that red thing another unexpected, interfering button ?

Yes, Eastwood is infested with buttons again. I was experimenting with the buttons to see if he could sort them because I saw some evidence that he was trying to.

He can sort them. I have seen him sort big buttons and small, and blue and red. He doesn't get them totally right but for the most part he will attempt to put them together. He seems to be inclined to move only 3 buttons at a time and he really does seem to make a decision about where to put them. He will pile them up in one big pile but it won't look random, one side of the pile will have red buttons and the other side will have blue. I saw one sorting that he did where there was a pile of blue with one red in the middle and a pile of red with one blue in the middle. they looked like flowers I know he didn't do that on purpose, but it was unique!
He will just randomly spit them all over the place too, but you can still see a little pattern. Because he moves them 2 or 3 at once you see little groups of buttons all around him. Sometimes the groups are exactly the same! they might have one button of each color in them. I am not certain that they can see color, but the can see some difference in the buttons for sure.

Or......all of this could be accidental and I just think they are being clever.