Stocking Limit for Inverts?

[Samhain]

Ok, I'm all set up for a CUC wit reefcleaners.org, but I'm wondering about other inverts. I would love to have a variety of crabs, shrimp, and stars, but I don't know if my tank would support the # of critters I want. :spider:

Here's a list of what I want, assessments and recommendations are welcome and wanted!

2 Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
2 Blood Fire Shrimp
1 Pistol Shrimp (to pair with my Yasha Goby)
1 Brittle Star
1 Serpent Star
1 Blue Hermit
1 Red Hermit
1 Halloween Hermit
1 Porcelain Crab
1 Emerald Crab
1 Pom Pom Crab

I have favorites in and amongst this list, so it can obviously be trimmed as necessary, but I hope hope hope I could keep all these! However, I know that my inverts are critters too. And no matter how good they are at cleaning up the detritus associated with the tank, they are going to produce waste too. And I don't want to overload my tank's bioload, nor do I want my critters starving. I know they will eat the fish food as well as the waste, but I don't want to take any chances of being a bad tank mama!

TIA!

 

[BL1]

Inverts won't add to bioload like fish do but, you need to make sure that you don't add too much at one time and end up having some starve to death. I would add some snails to your cuc as well as they should be the majority of your crew. For the shrimp, I would suggest you choose between either the fire or cleaner shrimp. In such a small tank, if you add both you will probably end up with only one pair.

 

[little_fish]

I would also pick either the brittle or serpent star, i think it would be difficult to feed both of them.

 

[SarahSmile]

Sounds like a lot of fun stuff to watch. I personally love my cleaner shrimp and crab. A lot of people have crab issues, they can be little killers so I would watch having so many, maybe start with the blue legged crab and one of the others...plus, you have to watch those emerald crabs-they can eat corals and small fish. Eek. Also, you might not have another algae for all of them and then you have to feed your clean up crew which seems counter productive to me. And a pain in the pa-toot.
Maybe get one of each of the shrimp and see how that goes. And you might want to wait on the stars, then do the brittle.

 

[SarahSmile]

And snails! You need snails.

 

[Samhain]

Yes to snails. I already got a recommendation from John with regards to snails. He recommended 50 dwarf ceriths, 17 floida ceriths, 7 large nerite, and 9 small nerites. I plan on adding those next week. He said start with that, see how it works, and go from there.

 

[Smitty]

+1 everybody...

 

[SarahSmile]

Whoa....that's a whole crap ton o'snails.

 

[Samhain]

Mostly the crabs and shrimp aren't going to be CUC per se, although if they perform that function, great! The arthropods are more for my entertainment and appreciation. I find them beautiful and fascinating.

 

[Samhain]

Whoa....that's a whole crap ton o'snails.

Yeah, I was thinking that too. I was going to start out with about 10 dwarf ceriths and maybe 5 small nerites and work my way up. Those were John's exact numbers for a custom recommendation, but I figured start small. I can always add more as necessary!

 

[Mr.Diggler]

A lot of people have crab issues

:shock:

 

[SarahSmile]

Hee hee!

 

[Sir Alex]

I would also pick either the brittle or serpent star, i think it would be difficult to feed both of them.

Feeding starfish isn't difficult at all. I feed my brittle star and cc sea star a little piece of shrimp every 4 days or so and they both seem to be doing very well. I don't think the brittlestar gets much food from the sand since it literally spends all of it's time in one place hiding. Maybe it comes out at night? :12:

 

[cms722]

Feeding starfish isn't difficult at all. I feed my brittle star and cc sea star a little piece of shrimp every 4 days or so and they both seem to be doing very well. I don't think the brittlestar gets much food from the sand since it literally spends all of it's time in one place hiding. Maybe it comes out at night? :12:

My serpent star does the same thing. They come out at night. I caught him once. And then the next time I looked he had changed hiding places lol so I guess they have their own agenda.