reef safe invertebrates...

[chrisdamage]

I am looking to put some interesting reef/fish safe invertebrates into my new tank I am starting up... I was thinking of a "pom-pom" crab, maybe some sexy shrimp, a skunk cleaner shrimp or maybe a coral-banded shrimp... thoughts? Of course, I know that not all of these would be safe together... just throwing out some ideas I've been mulling around...

[matty0206]

Get a mantis!

[FLcracker94]

NO!! no mantis! They can destroy the glass of your tank and kill fish.

...Crazy person...geeze...*ehem*

 

Your should get one or two bloodshrimp, very beautiful.

Get an emerald crab.

maybe a coral banded shrimp or some skunk cleaners.

 

arrow crabs are cool looking, and I've seen it live in a 12ga with a coral banded shrimp and other fish.

 

turbo snails are good help, along with redlegs hermits

 

Dont listen to anyone that sais a mantis shrimp, those things are dangerous. along with shattering the glass of our tank and killing all your fish, it can slice your hand/finger wide open if your not careful.

[Joe b]

I wouldn't go with the coral banded or emerald and not a mantis. Everything else you named would do well together given enough space. How big of a tank? Oh yeah arrow crab is iffy

[Argent]

hee hee hee FLcracker94 is funny

 

a mantis will not destroy the glass of your tank - unless you have a 8+ inch which is rare in the trade they will however consider your fish as food under certain circumstances.

 

All crabs are inherintly evil and opportunistic predators

 

you also neglected to tell us how big of a tank you're going to set up.

 

sexy's are happier in odd numbered groups just as an FYI

[FLcracker94]

If you properly feed and take care of a CBS and an E crab, they'll be fine. My teacher kept an emerald crab, and arrow crab, and a CBS together in a 12ga tank, not a single thing died.

 

You just have to be carefull with them. I might get an emerald when I get my big tank.

 

edit: not my tank.

Mantis shrimp's claws move faster than bullets. If the glass is thin enough, it will shatter it.

[kkyyllee]

*chants* mantis mantis mantis, i wouldnt get an arrow crab like joe said there iffy, or some sexies

[FLcracker94]

if your experienced enough you can keep all the inverts I said alive.

Arrow crabs are practicly harmless under right conditions. I hate when people take down somthing cause of ONE experience with it.

[kkyyllee]

arow crabs kill and eat feather dusters, and attack slow moving fish sometiems

[chrisdamage]

all of the stated above i mostly know... and no, I am not considering a mantis haha... I have kept emerald crabs and I don't care for them... arrow crabs will eat small fish and other inverts... I have blood shrimp and a skunk cleaner... I was more interested in a coral banded cleaner shrimp just because I think they look pretty cool but I do understand that they can be quite the carnivores... and I don't really like sexies, but my fiance loves them and you know how that can be sometimes... haha

[c est ma]

Pom pom crabs; porcelain crabs; brittle stars; serpent stars.

[ReadyReefer]

coral banded shrimp can become nasty when they are not fed enough i.e. they can corner and attack sleeping fish, kill hermits snails etc. if you keep up with regular feeding though it should be fine

[this1fish]

i have 3 sexies and 1 pom pom in my 15gH. None of them has caused any trouble at all. They make a good part of the clean up crew. A few days ago my temps spike to 90*+ and killed off some of my corals, the sexies went to work and cleaned them all up. No ammonia from it at all. They left all the live ones alone and the corals are slowly recovering.

 

I also have a mantis shrimp in a 5.5g. no glass shatter or what so ever. They are truely unique and interesting creatures, those that don't like them have probably never raised one before. Those that do are pretty much hooked on it.

[FLcracker94]

I'd love to have a mantis, but I'd like to keep my thumb intact, especcially with zoas in the tank! lol

 

Their beautiful, but just too dangerous for me.

[TEBMSU97]

I currently have a pom pom, emerald, and a lettuce Nudi in my AP12. All are doing just fine, but I only see the Pom Pom once every couple of days. She (has eggs now) spends most of her time in the rock work where you can't see her.

[Uploadead]

Get some mini brittlestars, they grow to the size of a bottlecap and clean up your tank.

[FLcracker94]

what about serpant start? their nice too, and I don't think they eat any coral.

[justinl]

FLcracker maybe you oughta do a lil research before you continue to spew that crap about mantids. the term "thumbsplitter" applies only to mantis that are large. we're talking 6inch peacocks and foot long L. maculata. G. chiragra can break standard aquarium glass at 4inches. the rest, not until they hit 6inches and over. spearers cant break glass unless you get a specimen of a super rare species... which ive only ever seen happen once. and even if you have a large mantis capable of breaking glass, the odds of it actually happening are VERY slim with the right precautions. line the bottom with strips of acrylic, dont taunt it from outside. problem solved.

 

fish and mantids is a debatable question... depends completely on the mantis' personality. some destroy fish as large as themselves, some are scared of small gobies. ime, mantids are scared of giant hands but will strike if a finger is blocking the entrance of their burrow or if that hand is trying to catch them intentionally. a small mantis (3inch, max size of most mantids we see) cant do much damage at all.

 

the small ones that max out at 4 inches are semi-reefsafe. they will eat various CUC obviously including shrimp, snails, crabs and hermits but cannot deal with thick shelled members like turbo snails and conches. make sure all small frags are glued down or else a mantis may steal them. i have a 3.5 inch G. smithii in my 8gal reef and he is the coolest invert i have EVER seen. ever seen a mantis take out a small crab? heyo.

 

so obviously i would recommend a small mantis for you chris. however if you dont feel like a mantis, then i'll say that i am quite partial to a tank with a bunch of sexies and a few pom pom crabs. Ive also always wanted to try out a goby/pistol pair.

[this1fish]

FLcracker maybe you oughta do a lil research before you continue to spew that crap about mantids. the term "thumbsplitter" applies only to mantis that are large. we're talking 6inch peacocks and foot long L. maculata. G. chiragra can break standard aquarium glass at 4inches. the rest, not until they hit 6inches and over. spearers cant break glass unless you get a specimen of a super rare species... which ive only ever seen happen once. and even if you have a large mantis capable of breaking glass, the odds of it actually happening are VERY slim with the right precautions. line the bottom with strips of acrylic, dont taunt it from outside. problem solved.

 

fish and mantids is a debatable question... depends completely on the mantis' personality. some destroy fish as large as themselves, some are scared of small gobies. ime, mantids are scared of giant hands but will strike if a finger is blocking the entrance of their burrow or if that hand is trying to catch them intentionally. a small mantis (3inch, max size of most mantids we see) cant do much damage at all.

 

the small ones that max out at 4 inches are semi-reefsafe. they will eat various CUC obviously including shrimp, snails, crabs and hermits but cannot deal with thick shelled members like turbo snails and conches. make sure all small frags are glued down or else a mantis may steal them. i have a 3.5 inch G. smithii in my 8gal reef and he is the coolest invert i have EVER seen. ever seen a mantis take out a small crab? heyo.

 

so obviously i would recommend a small mantis for you chris. however if you dont feel like a mantis, then i'll say that i am quite partial to a tank with a bunch of sexies and a few pom pom crabs. Ive also always wanted to try out a goby/pistol pair.

 

i couldn't have said it better myself about the mantis!

 

oh and i have a shrimp/goby pair and love them very much! most interesting thing to watch in my tank!

[Uhuru]

sexy shrimp will definitely eat dead/dying coral tissue, I've seen it many times now. I think if they get hungry they will eat live tissue as well, which makes sense since they are more than willing to eat the dead stuff. I've seen mine pick on healthy sps tissue a few times, leaving little white spots where they fed. Luckily they are so small that the coral seems to recover from it quickly. If you have LPS they will eat the mucus coating off of those as well, which may be beneficial to both shrimp and coral.

 

my em

[phil_ip]

staghorn hermits are pretty cool

[thejanitor86]

i second on the pistol goby pair. i have a carribean pistol with a bummble bee goby and there the coolest things in my tank

[Chebon]

I'd say go with the Sexies and the pom-pom crab. The sexies add a bit of life and movement to your tank plus I've found getting your gf/wife interested and involved in your tank will make life much easier in many ways. I've got 3 Sexies on order from the LFS. I'm told they make a great addition to your CUC and if you have any nems or LPS they'll do great but if they don't get enough to eat they can take parts of healthy (and expensive) corals, they'll scavange just about anything even mysis or eachother if one should die. Pom pom crabs a just cool... I'd go with your first choices.