Malawi Shell Dweller

[Boilermaker]

Have any of you ever kept these? If so whats there tempermant breeding habits etc...
I just purchased a male and three females (Lanisticola)


Thanks,Scott

[Scotty]

You're going to love them :D For the most part, shell dwellers are versatile and easy to keep. I've kept them in everything from 10 gallon "shellie" tanks right up to 70 gallon community tanks. They are tougher than you might believe, and will be OK as long as there are no giant Malawi Hap/Utaka sized fish in the tank. I currently have N. Brevis and N. calliurus in my 70 gallon with lots of mixed Tangs and Vics. If you mix them, keep an area of the tank rock free (I have a sloping wall that ends about a foot from one side). Create a "littoral zone" there for them with at least two or three shells per fish. They will pretty much stay there and be ignored by the other fish. When you feed, make sure enough food blows down to them, and they should eventually start coming up boldy with all the other fish at feeding time.

Breding is simple. Start hatching some BSE's when you see a pair aggressively guarding a shell. In a few days, you'll see the babies start poking thier heads out. Feed the fish, and hopefully, snag the female in a net when she comes up to eat. Then just lift out the shell, babies and all, and drop it into a small tank, and add the BBS. Let me know if you have any more specific questions, and enjoy your new fish 8)

[Chet]

Ok, I hope I'm not the only one whose confused here. He did say "Malawi shelldwellers", right? I've only heard of Tanganyikans. Can someone please clarify, and maybe point me to a pic?

[Boilermaker]

Chet, I did a google search last night there are some pics, but all the info was in French,Russian etc.... wich is a hard read even translated.
Psuedotropheus Lanisticola. bigger than tang shell dwellers, look like little footballs.

And Scotty thanks for the info, do you have any thing on the Malawi shell dweller? The lfs said there as mean as an ocellatus but will slam one another like a Psuedo.

[Scotty]

Whoops :oops: Read right past the "Malawi" part. All is not lost however 8) I think your problem finding info lies in the fact that you're using an outdated scientific name. Go to the link below, and look at the pic for "Metriaclima livingstonii". I believe that will be your fish. If it is you should have more luck looking it up under that name, or possibly "Tilapia livingstonii". Check it out!

http://www.cichlidae.com/gallery/Metriaclima/species.html

[SGypsyMermaid]

actually, there are 2 lake malawi shell-dwellers--we had some info on one of the other incarnations of this site. i'll do some checking and get back to you guys.

[SGypsyMermaid]

hmmm...curiouser and curiouser...there seems to be some disagreement as to whether or not pseudotropheus/maylandia/metriaclima lanisticola and livingstonii are the same species. apparently konings believes that they are the same, but trewavasae felt that they were distinct. boilermaker, i'll go though my malawi books and see what i can scare up over the weekend.

[Boilermaker]

I wondered why Konings refered to them as a Livingstoni when I asked him about them. He did mention they grow to a fairly good size and that the juveniles hide in the shells but they breed in the rocks and are a mouthbrooder. He said technically there not a shelldweller at all there just sold under that name.
Thanks for clearing that up Scotty and Sgypsy let me know what you find.
Seems they get along with everyone in the 125 there not full grow though.


Thanks,Boilermaker

[SGypsyMermaid]

i did run across another fish that is said to be related to the lanisticola/livingstoni, but which gets very large(larger than any other mbuna)...the pseudotropheus/metriaclima/maylandia elegans--this fish also lives in shells as a juvenile.

[SGypsyMermaid]

while looking for info for boilermaker, i came across an interesting story about them in an old book(nineteen seventy-five):mbuna(rock-dwelling cichlids of lake malawi, africa) by p.b.n. jackson and tony ribbinck. the first specimen was collected by david livingstone in eighteen sixty. no more were found until nineteen twenty-five, when seven specimens were collected. around nineteen fifty-four, over a period of two years, only four specimens were found. not long after this, while doing some experimental trawling of deep waters, it was finally discovered that the habitat of the fish was empty lanistes shells! at the time of the book's printing, the fact that the juvenile elegans also lived in the shells was still unknown.

[SGypsyMermaid]

according to konings in back to nature guide..., non breeding individuals hang out over open, sandy areas as long as shells are around for shelter. breeding does not occur in or near the shells, but instead in the rocks. "feeds fom the sediment on the sand"(i'm not sure what that means.) grows to about 7 cm when found north of monkey bay, to 14 cm in the southeastern portion of the lake. also occurs in lake malombe where specimens can also reach 14 cm.

[SGypsyMermaid]

apparently, konings did not always believe that they were the same species. in the 1989 edition of malawi cichlids in their natural habitat, he makes distinction between them. he presents photographs of five different populations--2 livingstonii and 3 lanisticola. they eat inverts found in the upper sand layer. as well as aufwuchs, some eat small snails by winkling them from their shells. incubation period is only sixteen days.

[SGypsyMermaid]

in offshore cichlids of lake malawi, george turner indicates that the livingstonii fry are smaller than those of any other mbuna that he has seen.

in cichlids and all the other fish of lake malawi, konings indicates that breeding adults of the likoma population occur in schools. this book also provides photos of several different populations.

in the most complete lexicon of cichlids, axelrod indicates that the livingstonii is "not very aggressive in the aquarium".

ok boilermaker--that's all i've got.

[Boilermaker]

:D S.Gypsy thank you! I think that about covers it, lol. The hell with google just go to S.GypsyMermaid .com.
I also looked them up in Konings third edition, from what I can tell they look like the smaller version north of MonkeyBay, Metriaclima Livingstoni (lanisticola) Ngara. I will post pics in www.cichlidgallery.com in a minute, Thanks Again, Boilermaker

[Boilermaker]

Also Konings stated the females don't hold for any longer than 16 days because there's so many shells, wich could account for the small fry size.
Woops :shock: You already mentioned that :wink:

[SGypsyMermaid]

i won an auction for 8 juveniles, and i'm getting 4 adults from another source after the holidays, so i'll have a nice breeding colony, but where to put them?... :?

[Boilermaker]

congrats on the cichlids :D You'll be amazed on how fat they get they really do look like little footballs or basketballs :shock: . Mine seem to have a pretty even tempermant. I did notice the smallest female in a shell the other day.