5 Gallon Stocking Ideas?

[Teebo]

Not that I am anywhere near ready to even think about adding inverts, etc, but I wanted to touch on this as I was at the LFS again today. Since I decided on a no-fish approach I do want to add as many living things as comfortably able to. Lets start knocking things off the list, remember 5 gallons...

 

-I saw spiky black urchins but they look like they get wayy too big. Are there any dwarfed urchins?

 

 

-Seemed like there were 2 types of shrimp, cleaner shrimp and these others with big claws, they were still red and white like the cleaners but the white was true white not the yellowy off-white the cleaners are. Not sure if they eat coral but they seem like they could eat anything I put in the tank if they wanted and their claws seem far too large to be effective at eating algae.

 

 

-Starfish? Any small starfish I can keep?

 

 

-I did not see any but, sea slugs look pretty colorful on Google...and they are small! Do they eat algae?

 

 

-Hermit crabs! There are all sort of types, I know they kill snails though. I saw some tiny ones with red feet that seemed cool.

 

 

-Of course snails, many options to choose from here which will be where I expand the most. From a FW standpoint Nerites are obviously the best not only are they the most colorful but the most effective at eating algae, then Mystery/Apple snails which do eat algae but less of it and are less attractive (except for the Pearl snail I like keeping one of those in every tank for contrast). MTS I do not use because I do not like my substrate being messed with (gravel topped dirt) but in a sand aquarium they would be great. So, can you help me start somewhere with SW snails? I only saw a few types at the LFS no idea what they eat, but there was a bumpy colorful looking one in almost every tank.

 

 

I have some preference/order in which of these I would keep and why to help with your suggestions; algae eating capability and color diversity. If something is really colorful and worth keeping to look at I would like it...but if there is something that is extremely good at eating algae but dull I suppose it does not matter having one of whatever it may be could help but my intention here is not to clean my tank for me. Also I do not plan on adding everything at once, I will progress the same way people slowly add a bio-load of fish to their system.

 

 

 

 

 

[Belmore]

I have 2 sexy shrimp in my Marineland tank and I'm picking up a pom pom crab tonight. The sexy shrimp are pretty awesome and from what I've read, you can put quite a few in a 5 gallon tank, more than you would think anyway. I only have zoas and GSP in my tank and they've yet to pick at anything. They spend most of their time dancing around the GSP.

[Rural]

some chitons would look neat

[Teebo]

Chitons remind me of potato bugs, may not be a great thing to fall asleep looking at haha.

 

​I heard peppermints can be a bit aggressive during feeding time I would not add more than 1 of those.

 

Pedersons anemone shrimp was also suggested along with a Halloween hermit (generally peaceful?)

[Tamberav]

I would do a petersons, pom pom, anemone crab, and sexy shrimp. A candy cane pistol does fine too without a fish partner if you have sand.

 

Asterina starfish are cute imo. Most eat algae but there are a few that eat corals, so just keep an eye on them. If they are on the glass, you are probably safe.

 

The Halloween hermit I believe gets pretty large. If you want a hermit I would just add something tiny and probably only 1 since they can be boisterous.

[Teebo]

Would it be too much to have all 4? Peterson, Fire, Peppermint, and Sexy shrimp?

[Thormoto]

no but they might fight for territory depending on the specific shrimp. I once had a peppermint that was very territorial.

[Teebo]

Maybe I should choose 2 of the 4 based on color and effectiveness. I will do research into all 4 since they are my choices so far.

[ScubaPooch]

Lots of great suggestions!

 

Sexy shrimp are incredibly entertaining and a good excuse to get a mini nem for them. Only bad experience I've had and heard from others is them eating zoas... seems more common in small tank where they dont have a comfortable coral/nem to host on. Their dancing is hilarious.

 

Blood red cleaner shrimp is a bit big but very colorful and in a small tank you really get to enjoy them as they can't hide. They are also very unlikely to nibble the other livestock. I hand feed mine which is fun!

[ajmckay]

my guess is the shrimp you saw at the LFS was a coral banded shrimp. Big claws and big attitude.

 

 

So umm... I totally understand the desire to fill your tank to the brim with stuff - but not sure that's the best idea. At least not the way we're going about it on this thread. Invertebrate compatibility IME is a much less common topic. Just like fishes - inverts can also display territorial behavior.

 

So honestly I don't have enough experience with these specific inverts to say that they would co-habitate in a 5g - but IMO (and as you also state) you should probably do some additional research on any recommendations made here and decide what level of risk you're going to take. It would suck to spend $30 on a fire shrimp (that's what they go for around me) only for it to be killed/kill something else due to incompatibility. It would help to find an example of a similar stocking list that's been around for at least a year. While that still isn't a guarantee (with inverts many times there can be significant differences between individuals of the same species!) it may help you.

 

IMO an example of a low risk setup would be several sexy shrimp along with a mini carpet anemone. Sn

 

Snails: Astrea are always popular though can be a pain if they fall upside down. There are SW nerites that work decently. IME trochus would be suitable for a 5g and they're awesome. Ceriths are also excellent choices for that size aquarium. Turbo snails would get too large.

 

A porcelain crab would certainly be cool. Pom-pom crabs are also awesome - not completely sure of their compatibility though.

 

Good luck as this continues to progress - the tank looks awesome!

[Teebo]

Abandoned this idea for a 36 gallon reef. I turned it into a low-tech FW planted tank.