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stocking advice
- Thread starter Inquisitive
- Start date
3- emerald green mythrax crabs Stick with one or two.
15- red scarlet reef crabs OK I would only have 5-10 personally.
20- Mexican red leg hermits (or blue hermits) is there a difference aside from color? I am not sold on any other then the red ones...the small blue ones are sort of harmless/worthless.
20- nassarius snails 10 of these good snail though.
4- Trochus snails ...these are the ones that can right themselves correct..good addition 10
20- cerith snails 10 I think
1- fighting conch OR 1 Queen conch I love the conch family cool snail watch their little sword operculum..can eat cyno if you can get a smaller family member 2 would be OK...no queen for you.
1 - Lawnmower blenny ...this is up to you...not my favorite fish personal preference IMHO.
2- Fire Shrimp ....1 or a mated pair of cleaner shrimp would be ok.
Over time, I would like to add a coral banded shrimp, a few peppermints, a pom pom crab, a porcelean crab, and a blue tuxedo pin cushion urchin....
What do you all think?
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I answered with my opinions...I am somewhere in the middle of the two opinions you have gotten so far. If you get cleaner shrimp I would skip all other shrimp. Peppermints have eaten aiptasia for me then were promptly eaten by my pseudocromis. Smaller shrimp can definitely fall prey to some fish just something to think about. I liked my tuxedo urchin. Hawkeye gave you some of the pitfalls of all the other crabs and shrimp...I think less is better with most of them.
If you can wait until the Feb group buy you will get a great deal with good selection of inverts.
15- red scarlet reef crabs OK I would only have 5-10 personally.
20- Mexican red leg hermits (or blue hermits) is there a difference aside from color? I am not sold on any other then the red ones...the small blue ones are sort of harmless/worthless.
20- nassarius snails 10 of these good snail though.
4- Trochus snails ...these are the ones that can right themselves correct..good addition 10
20- cerith snails 10 I think
1- fighting conch OR 1 Queen conch I love the conch family cool snail watch their little sword operculum..can eat cyno if you can get a smaller family member 2 would be OK...no queen for you.
1 - Lawnmower blenny ...this is up to you...not my favorite fish personal preference IMHO.
2- Fire Shrimp ....1 or a mated pair of cleaner shrimp would be ok.
Over time, I would like to add a coral banded shrimp, a few peppermints, a pom pom crab, a porcelean crab, and a blue tuxedo pin cushion urchin....
What do you all think?
[/quote]
I answered with my opinions...I am somewhere in the middle of the two opinions you have gotten so far. If you get cleaner shrimp I would skip all other shrimp. Peppermints have eaten aiptasia for me then were promptly eaten by my pseudocromis. Smaller shrimp can definitely fall prey to some fish just something to think about. I liked my tuxedo urchin. Hawkeye gave you some of the pitfalls of all the other crabs and shrimp...I think less is better with most of them.
If you can wait until the Feb group buy you will get a great deal with good selection of inverts.
JR...thank you very much for giving your opinions....yes, it seems that you are in the middle...grins......
I thought the trochus were the bigger variety of snail...you don't think 10 would be too much for a 55 gallon tank?
I thought the trochus were the bigger variety of snail...you don't think 10 would be too much for a 55 gallon tank?
I don't know the exact number...I think it sort of depends on the total number...10 would not be bad if you had less of some of the others. The rough number I have heard is one snail per gallon but to me that is excessive. I think if you had 25-30 different snails and crabs total that would work out well. Diversity is good as they all do different things. In our group buy some of the snails are min 10-15 so you will have to make a choice...as someone pointed out you don't want to add all at once. Maybe buy a few now and then add some at our group buy?
I am big fan of the conch family as you can tell to me they more interesting then turbos etc.
The thing to remember about shrimp and crabs is they are opportunistic if they want food and your expensive coral is available they can have an expensive meal. There was a good couple articles in TFH a few months ago if you can find them, it was a good read. Though maybe a bit more conservative then me.
I am big fan of the conch family as you can tell to me they more interesting then turbos etc.
The thing to remember about shrimp and crabs is they are opportunistic if they want food and your expensive coral is available they can have an expensive meal. There was a good couple articles in TFH a few months ago if you can find them, it was a good read. Though maybe a bit more conservative then me.
You might want to look at mexican turbo snails. They eat algae at a rate much faster than the other snails so you don't need to stock as many. However, they can and will knock things over so be carefull. I also like chestnut snails, I have organe ones that look great and he is always moving around and eating algae.
We both have a mated pair of cleaner shrimp in our tanks and are really nice. They are pretty much out all the time and it is always cool when they clean your hands in the tank. It is also funny watching them try to clean my clowns when the clowns are not interested in the cleaning service. The fire shrimp are cool, but go with a pair or you will rarely see them.
Be carefull with a coral banded, they can and will eat anything small enough for them to catch, and they molt fast.
Love
We both have a mated pair of cleaner shrimp in our tanks and are really nice. They are pretty much out all the time and it is always cool when they clean your hands in the tank. It is also funny watching them try to clean my clowns when the clowns are not interested in the cleaning service. The fire shrimp are cool, but go with a pair or you will rarely see them.
Be carefull with a coral banded, they can and will eat anything small enough for them to catch, and they molt fast.
Love
emerald crabs usually always hide but i have witnessed them eating bubble algae
blue legs and mexican zebra snails eat hair algae
never saw peppermint eat aptasia
coral banded usually doesnt serve much purpose unless a fish dies,in which case serpent stars would get it anyway
watch out for certain conches, they eat other snails
if you go with an urchin,make sure your smaller pieces are glued!
porcelain and pompom crabs are mainly for show.
to complete your package, i would go with a bristleworm eating creature: orchid dottyback(freidmani),six-line, or arrow crab. dottyback is most peaceful.
good luck
blue legs and mexican zebra snails eat hair algae
never saw peppermint eat aptasia
coral banded usually doesnt serve much purpose unless a fish dies,in which case serpent stars would get it anyway
watch out for certain conches, they eat other snails
if you go with an urchin,make sure your smaller pieces are glued!
porcelain and pompom crabs are mainly for show.
to complete your package, i would go with a bristleworm eating creature: orchid dottyback(freidmani),six-line, or arrow crab. dottyback is most peaceful.
good luck