Re: All things Shell Dwellers
they wont really move the shells so much. the neothauma shells found within the lake are really light and even then only certain species actively "steal/move" shells. its pretty isolated behavior, mostly what you will see is them burying shells the dont want any unwanted neighbors moving into. as for salt water vs land snail shells it doesnt seem to matter much. ive noticed the land snails degrade far faster then the salt ones plus the salt shells end up buffering the PH quite a bit. Whale eye are a freshwater snail as are the escargot. the shark eyes and turbo shells are both salt water types. really the only important factor is a nice sized opening and space enough for them to move around within the shells but not get stuck (cuz it will happen with certain shells) ive used babylon and then some random shells from michaels grab bags.
@ lloyd Melagris are really a tough species to start out with. the pug looking shellies tend to be high on the aggression side so a larger space would be ideal to isolate down to a pair / group. id reccomend you not try them in anything smaller then a 20g long. even then you may run into issues getting a pair to form. theres some really good articles on cichlid-forum for shellies in the library section. its all pretty much the same, just shell and tank size differences really. as for mixing calvus/ shellies its really not a great idea, in the wild they naturally prey upon shellies and in aquariums have been known to do the same thing, sometimes even killing females as they attempt to protect their young. it will take a WHILE for this to occur but sooner or later they will give it a shot.
@poke those big shells would be perfect for some of the brevis cory just picked up. if you do get some just get one of the biggest in there and then two or three of the smallest. size is a pretty good indicator of sex within shellies, most females barely get past 1/2-3/4''
@fishnabowl in your pictures pic 2 almost looks like a similis rather then a multie. the tighter stripe pattern is the only real difference between the two species and its quite common to get them mixed up. just wanna make sure youve got what you think you have