Hi! I'm very new to the hobby and am carefully planning what I want to put in my tank. Its a 46 gallon bowfront with 4X39 watt t-5 lighting. Right now I only have water, sand, and rock in it. I am at least a month out from buying livestock, but it never hurts to plan ahead! My plan is a few fish(3-5), with a lot of coral. I love inverts as well. I was curious and didn't see a sticky about reef safe inverts. Is there a general rule of thumb when it comes to inverts and reefs? I would love for my tank to be full of all kinds of both but do not want to put things in my tank that will harm each other. Thanks in advance!
Reef safe inverts
- Thread starter txfan
- Start date
d2mini
Reef enthusiast
Live Aquaria is a great place to research reef safe inverts. Or reef safe fish for that matter. They have very good descriptions. I think most inverts are reef safe though. Trying to think of ones that are not. Some starfish maybe. But not the common ones.
little_fish
Moderator
The database on this site also has a pretty complete invert section
Smitty
Reef pro
+1 Dennis and Hannah
little_fish
Moderator
shrimp and crabs you can add anytime, as well as brittle stars and serpent stars. I would stay away from other starfish until the tank is well established. Clams I would wait until you have good water quality. Inverts I would never add to a tank are scallops, sand shifting and horseshoe crabs.
Sweet! I love the banded coral shrimp so one of those will be in my tank very soon! I've got a decent amount of diatoms showing up, and it seems to double everyday, so my CUC will at least not die of starvation! I've talked to john and they will be here tomorrow. They should entertain me for a while until I can get one of my fishies at the LFS. I've e-mailed them a list of everything i'm interested in. I would buy online but it seems like if you are only ordering one fish the shipping is a lot more than the fish itself. And i've never ordered anything living online, so i'm still gun-shy about it. Thanks again!
little_fish
Moderator
I would consider adding a CBS very carefully. They are known to be model citizen until they get larger and then they go after fish and other inverts
Oh wow, I had no idea. You have saved me alot of headache! ha. Sorry for the never ending questions I reply to every post you make....BUT, what kind of shrimp would you recommend?
little_fish
Moderator
Cleaner shrimp or fire shrimp. They are both very large and active.
SarahSmile
:)
Cleaner shrimp are the best!
Also, there are some random CUC to watch out for, like crabs and bumble bee snails that eat other snails.
Also, there are some random CUC to watch out for, like crabs and bumble bee snails that eat other snails.
I was actually thinking of adding a dozen dwarf hermits and a single emerald crab. Is that not a good idea?
little_fish
Moderator
Nope, that is fine to add. make sure you have some extra shells in there for the crabs for them to upgrade homes
SarahSmile
:)
I just meant, crabs can eat snails so add with caution. I personally wish I hadn't added 1 as I always see him wearing new shells and I know where he got them, that jerk :)
Live Rock
Reefer
That is fine, but I would add the hermits slowly to avoid overstocking them. Also keep an eye out for the emerald crab and make sure he is fed enough.
I have both the Fire Red and Skunk Cleaner shrimp in my tanks (Fire only in 36g, Fire and Skunk in 60g and 2 Skunk in 180g) and while both like to spend there time under an overhang or in a cave the Fire Red's are a bit more reclusive. Not sure about other people but I have never seen my Fire Red actually clean any of my fish. My Skunk shrimp will when the fish swim up to them. Also the Skunk Cleaner Shrimp get along well in groups (if you want to have more than one) where the Fire Red is a bit more territorial and will chase others out of its area. Just my :twocents:. :sfish:
