Why Won't Multies Breed?

[jambo1238]

Hi everyone, I have 5 Neo Multies who live in Shelldweller paradise.

They live in a 30 gallon tank by themselves. The water is always perfect and set at 26 degrees. Sand is the substrate, there are about 35 large shells in the tank.

I have had them for about 2 months now, and there is no fry activity, they are all protecting their shells, but i have seen no fry.

Has anyone got any advice on how to make them breed?

Should i look in the shells or is that disrupting their homes?

 

[dthoffsett]

What's your male to female ratio? I wouldn't worry to much, sometimes it takes them awhile to get started (and 2 months isn't really that long), but once they do, you'll have a tank full of fry.

 

[jambo1238]

I'm not too sure about ratio, they are all similar size. But by behaviour alone, i think i have three females and two males.

Thanx for your help.

I'm not too sure about ratio, they are all similar size. But by behaviour alone, i think i have three females and two males.

Thanx for your help.

 

[stang1]

The chances are that they will pair off and rearrange their "territory". Mine bred after a month but they did spend that time scooping sand about and getting the tank how they liked it.
The female tends to darken quite a bit and have a swollen belly when she's getting ready to breed, so keep an eye out for this.
Give them time and you'll have some fry in no time!

 

[aberdeen aquarist]

I'm not too sure about ratio, they are all similar size. But by behaviour alone, i think i have three females and two males.

Thanx for your help.

If they are all the same size, chances are they are all the same sex.
If they are more than 6 months old then there should be a size difference
between the males and females.

 

[ctrif]

I'm not too sure about ratio, they are all similar size. But by behaviour alone, i think i have three females and two males.

Thanx for your help.

If they are all the same size, chances are they are all the same sex.
If they are more than 6 months old then there should be a size difference
between the males and females.

I have had my multies for maybe two years now. I had four multis to start with and nothing happened (I posted various questions about breeding them but nothing worked). They were all about the same size so I think I had all females.

About 6 months ago I exchanged 1 and got two new multies ( I choose the largest two to make sure they are males). After about 3 months
I saw my first babies (only 2) but they quickly dissapeared. A month later I saw another couple next to a different shell. Again they quickly dissapeared... Now I suddenly got about 15 babies (4 to 6 around each shell)! I need to buy a bigger tank and I am starting to do the research now (will post questions in separate thread).

However with my Multies I don't really see pairing, I see a dominate male which visits all the shells...