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Name: Multi
Other Names: Many-Banded Shelldweller, Multi Cichlid
Scientific Name: Neolamprologus multifasciatus (Lamprologus multifasciatus
Family: Cichlidae (Sub-family Pseudocrenilabrinae)
Distribution: Across Lake Tanganyika
Length: 1.2”
Water Temperature: 76-78
Diet: Anything; naturally plankton
Water Chemistry: GH 12-25
pH: 7.6+
Lifespan: 5 years+
Species Description
This fish is not called the Many-Banded Cichlid for nothing. It’s covered in thin, elegant stripes that extend into the unpaired fins. It appears to be a light-colored fish with dark-colored stripes, but as the stripes and the space between are similar sizes, it’s difficult to say – is a zebra white with black stripes or the opposite? However, the light-colored head suggests the usual interpretation.
The blue eyes are a striking and lovely feature—they aren’t visibly blue from every angle, but most of the time they’re hard to miss. Another subtle color that’s rarely if ever visible in photos but that is certainly present is the tinge of yellow-orange in the dorsal and the blue in the ventrals. These colors aren’t by any means vibrant and glorious; only the owner who already loves these fish for their behavior will see and appreciate it, rather like the prettiest fish can be ugly to someone who finds it boring.
Species Behaviour
There is one main reason this is the most popular shelldweller, and that is its colonial lifestyle. Not only is it easy to breed but it never seems to mind being surrounded by family and friends; even burgeoning males are rarely kicked out entirely. Many shellie lovers find that down the road they set up a large tank purely for these fish, because the small size means that one can keep numbers that allow for an incredible insight into their wild behaviors – dealing with one’s own colony, with that other colony, with one’s brother who moved to the colony at the other end of the tank. With an endless range of interactions and behaviors, this is a small fish that can make an incredible display in a large tank.
However, they also do very well in small tanks. Because they like groups and harems, it’s better to start with a trio in a 10 than a pair in a 5, although the latter is possible. In any space the owner will be able to observe digging (they will happily displace sand until they hit the bottom of the tank), shelldwelling (they will dart in and out, hide, sleep, and lay eggs in their shells), and displaying. All in all these are showy little aquascapers, and love to convince anyone who’s watching that they’re more skilled and perhaps more intelligent than the humans that keep them. After all, can you build a barrier of sand with your mouth or push your entire home somewhere else on your lawn?
Natural Conditions
In Lake Tanganyika, the Multi lives in colonies on shellbeds, which may be as much as four feet deep with shells, shells, shells. This is easy to replicate in the aquarium – rather than having a few shells per fish, blanket certain areas with them. Pairs and breeding groups keep to very small territories within the colony.
Natural Range
A Tanganyikan shelldweller, they are found in areas of the lake belonging to Burundi, the Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia. The Mbita area is famously a multi-filled zone.
Minimum recommended tank size
Five gallons is acceptable for a pair but ten is a much better choice for this species. And with a 20 long or larger tank, one can really begin to see colony behaviors. In a 240, you might as well be snorkeling in the lake—which is not a level of behavior one can see in most species. Even a 25-fish colony of Frontosa in that tank would be just a display of captive fish. With hundreds of multis instead, it’s as close to nature as tanks get.
Water Temperature
76-78 is a traditional temperature range. However, as with a few other species, it’s becoming common to keep them at room temperature, around 70-74. In many cases they seem to prefer this temperature, although of course one should watch for swings in temperature.
Water Quality
Multis are very forgiving despite the unmoving parameters of the massive Lake Tanganyika. However, do keep hardness and pH up and nitrates down to best suit your fish and keep them healthy.
Sexing
Sexing is difficult in young fish; the best bet is to pick the largest and smallest out of a group of age-mates. However, the prolific multi may have fry of several different ages swimming around, which makes it difficult to sex them. At adulthood, the male is significantly larger than the female.
Breeding
Like the Convict cichlid of the Americas, the multi is vertically striped. Also like the Convict, the multi is very, very prolific. Presumably the two traits aren’t linked, of course.
The female will lay her eggs in a shell. The male will hover above the horizontal entrance and spew milt onto them to fertilize them. She will generally remain in the shell for a period of time to fan the eggs. They hatch in a couple of days and soon enough little tiny fry like floating blue eyes with tails will start venturing out of the shell. They feed themselves very well on the crumbs of their parents pellets (if you normally feed once a day, this would be a good time to switch to frequent feedings) but are happy to eat anything the owner may care to supplement. Growth is fairly slow but the parents will distract the owner from this point by spawning again, and again, and again, usually every month. Luckily the spawns are fairly small (5-20 fry) and the young are greatly in demand. Also, the ease of breeding means that the multi is in no danger of extinction in the wild – but also that it can be difficult to find wild-caught examples, as they are much easier to breed commercially than to collect.
Feeding
Multis easily adapt to any food at all. Pellets are favorite, and as always it’s a good idea to supplement with live and frozen foods.
Miscellaneous Info
For some time the multi was considered the smallest cichlid in the world. At the moment it appears that certain varieties of N. brevis have stolen that title, but the people you brag to about owning the smallest cichlid in the world are unlikely to be able to call you on that.
The less common N. similis is called that because it’s so “similar” in appearance to the multi. To avoid confusion, just remember that the similis has light stripes on a dark body and some extra stripes on the neck and head that the multi lacks.
Because the multis are so prolific and because their shells offer them such excellent protection, some people actually keep colonies of multis in with colonies of Frontosa. As a natural prey of the Fronts in the wild, one would assume they’d be picked off and eaten, but in a large tank, started off with a large and well-established colony of multis, it seems to be a workable combination.
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