# Pair of shellies?



## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

I have 8 brevis in a 10gallon tank, most of them are quite young and there a couple big guys. Two of them have been sharing a shell and chasing other fish away from their little territory. Have I got myself a pair, or just aggressive roomies?


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Sounds like you have a spawning pair. Congrats!!!


----------



## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

That's wonderful! I know brevis are easy to breed but I'm still very excited.
Should I evict the remaining 6 fish now? Obviously, I won't be keeping more than one pair in there, but should I hang on to the others and sell them as pairs if they pair off, or keep my 'favourite' pair, or something? Or will they step on each other's fins if I keep them all in a tank with an established pair?


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

If you have another tank for them then yes. If not let them be as most shellies will not bother fry. They will live together until they run out of room in which they may kill juveniles to make way for the new spawn. That shouldn't happen for a month at least. You can always sell the others. Shellies are not always easy to find and getting rid of them shouldn't be a problem. I would keep at least 4 just to be on the safe side untill you see fry.


----------



## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

My plan was to keep one pair, and sell the rest (I got 8 babies for that purpose). I don't want to keep too many together, I might hold on to two pairs until one 'proves' itself (I certainly don't want to keep more than 1, maybe 2 pairs, plus their fry, in a 10gal). It's just that there's a mini-auction next Monday at the my local aquarists' society club and I think that would be the best place to bestow them upon someone who knows what they're doing.


----------



## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

always have a pair of spare fish. in case one died, you still have a chance to spawn them instead of just have a male or female in the tank. who knows what happen, maybe the male will kill the female and the fries. it happened before and i got a spare fish to keeps it going.


----------



## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

aaa said:


> always have a pair of spare fish. in case one died, you still have a chance to spawn them instead of just have a male or female in the tank. who knows what happen, maybe the male will kill the female and the fries. it happened before and i got a spare fish to keeps it going.


Really? It's very rare for any lamp to show this kind of behaviour.
Most are very loyal once paired. Only if the environemental circumstances change for the worse things can get nasty.


----------



## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

Cichlid Man said:


> Really? It's very rare for any lamp to show this kind of behaviour.
> Most are very loyal once paired. Only if the environemental circumstances change for the worse things can get nasty.


i don't really know what happen... i didn't change anything, but it just do. i went to sleep with a loving pair and the next morning the female was beat to half dead. the female never recover. i was wondering why it happen but i guess stuff happen, who knows....


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

Marital issues, but yea was reading and been told especially with brevis once they pair, they're paired for life usually....


----------

