Invert dominant pico/nano livestock compatibility

[StealthPrix]

Hello everyone. I designed an intricate acrylic build for the 9to5 challenge but due to my health and having to work from home, I was unable to get access to the CNC I normally use to make my builds and was unable to officially enter the contest. Now I'm planning on building a simpler acrylic setup or purchasing a glass or acrylic aquarium around the 10-15 gallon range. I built a 2.75 gallon sump a few months back and will use that along with the equipment I was planning on using in the challenge. I'm fairly new to the saltwater world, but I did have a mixed reef biocube in my office and a 40 breeder FOWLR setup in the past. Perhaps my favorite tank inhabitant was a very personable scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, so I would like this new tank to be invert dominant. I have the hookup on SPS and LPS corals from a buddy which I will be adding eventually and he is also currently cycling my aquascape. I would like for any experts to chime in and review the livestock I would like to acquire for this tank (see below) because most of these guys I have not kept. Full disclaimer....I will be upgrading to a 30ish gallon system in about a year once my youngest daughter moves from the crib in our bedroom to her own room. A new tank will occupy the space the crib is currently sitting lol. Anyway:

 

- Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. (I know these get fairly large, so I may wait for the larger tank or try to find a small one locally)

- Fire shrimp. (On the fence about this one. I know they like to hide, but their coloring is striking, but also get large)

- Sexy shrimp. (I wanted a few of these in my office biocube, but it never happened)

- Pompom crab. (oldest daughter fell in love with these guys while doing some of our own research. This may be a MUST have)

- White porcelain crab.

- One small fish (i'm leaning towards a tailspot blenny, but my daughters may swing me towards a single clownfish which would also help occupy the open water instead of the aquascape)

- Possibly a pederson cleaner, yellow line, or venus shrimp? 

 

I would probably add some rock flower nems for the porcelain crab and/or sexy shrimp. Are there any other interesting inverts that would keep the peace and not destroy corals? Also, aside from the sexy shrimp, are there any other inverts that I can have multiples of? Please excuse my ignorance, that's why I'm posting and researching long before a tank is even wet.

 

Thanks!

[M. Tournesol]

2 hours ago, StealthPrix said:

Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. (I know these get fairly large, so I may wait for the larger tank or try to find a small one locally)

- Fire shrimp.

Not an expert but from what I read on this topic on another site, Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp may fight in a small tank since a Fire shrimp is territorial.

 

Other link:

 

[M. Tournesol]

2 hours ago, StealthPrix said:

- Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. (I know these get fairly large, so I may wait for the larger tank or try to find a small one locally)

- Fire shrimp. (On the fence about this one. I know they like to hide, but their coloring is striking, but also get large)

- Sexy shrimp. (I wanted a few of these in my office biocube, but it never happened)

- Pompom crab. (oldest daughter fell in love with these guys while doing some of our own research. This may be a MUST have)

- White porcelain crab.

- One small fish (i'm leaning towards a tailspot blenny, but my daughters may swing me towards a single clownfish which would also help occupy the open water instead of the aquascape)

- Possibly a pederson cleaner, yellow line, or venus shrimp? 

Have you thought about Saron Shrimp?

2 hours ago, StealthPrix said:

I would probably add some rock flower nems for the porcelain crab and/or sexy shrimp. Are there any other interesting inverts that would keep the peace and not destroy corals? Also, aside from the sexy shrimp, are there any other inverts that I can have multiples of? Please excuse my ignorance, that's why I'm posting and researching long before a tank is even wet.

Normally, it is possible to keep a pair of Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp or/and a pair of Fire shrimp. But since your tank is small, I don't know if you can.

Pompom crab and pederson shrimp can live in group.

I did see tank with multiple white porcelain crabs but I don't know if the size of the tank or the number of anemones is an important parameter for such a situation. 

 

If you don't plan to have cerithium snails, you could go for a group of dwarf blue legged hermit crab. I have 5 in my 7 gallons. 

Edited January 4, 2022 by M. Tournesol

[StealthPrix]

28 minutes ago, M. Tournesol said:

Have you thought about Saron Shrimp?

Normally, it is possible to keep a pair of Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp or/and a pair of Fire shrimp. But since your tank is small, I don't know if you can.

Pompom crab and pederson shrimp can live in group.

I did see tank with multiple white porcelain crabs but I don't know if the size of the tank or the number of anemones is an important parameter for such a situation. 

 

If you don't plan to have cerithium snails, you could go for a group of dwarf blue legged hermit crab. I have 5 in my 7 gallons. 

No, I overlooked the saron shrimp. Do you have any experience with saron shrimp? Sounds like they are pretty peaceful. My dad raises freshwater marbled crayfish, and the saron shrimp have similar coloration, so that would be a pretty sweet option.

[M. Tournesol]

3 minutes ago, StealthPrix said:

 Do you have any experience with saron shrimp?

No, but @Snow_Phoenix has one in her 10 gallons tank:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

I can vouch for the saron (Saron marmoratus, to be more specific). 😊

 

The species is mostly shy and nocturnal, but in an environment in which the shrimp feels 'safe', you can sometimes catch it perching on different corals or walking about, scavenging for microalgae & tiny pellets. 

 

They can also change colors - especially during lights out. Sometimes green or red, sometimes a mix between the two. 

 

Just make sure you get the *correct Saron. There are many types out there, and not all are reefsafe. 

 

Here's mine: 

 

 

 

 

^Males have cirri on their back and elongated claws. Most of the specimens acquired in stores over here are males, for some reason. Not sure why. 🤷‍♀️

[Nixperience]

All these look good. The scarlet and fire, I’m not sure about because they both get large. I would stick with one large dominant shrimp and all the rest of your choices are fine. Good luck finding a pom pom crab. I’ve been looking all over for one. 

[StealthPrix]

7 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I can vouch for the saron (Saron marmoratus, to be more specific). 😊

 

The species is mostly shy and nocturnal, but in an environment in which the shrimp feels 'safe', you can sometimes catch it perching on different corals or walking about, scavenging for microalgae & tiny pellets. 

 

They can also change colors - especially during lights out. Sometimes green or red, sometimes a mix between the two. 

 

Just make sure you get the *correct Saron. There are many types out there, and not all are reefsafe. 

 

Here's mine: 

 

 

 

 

^Males have cirri on their back and elongated claws. Most of the specimens acquired in stores over here are males, for some reason. Not sure why. 🤷‍♀️

How do I identify which ones are reef safe? Your saron is very cool! definitely adding it to the list!

5 hours ago, Nixperience said:

All these look good. The scarlet and fire, I’m not sure about because they both get large. I would stick with one large dominant shrimp and all the rest of your choices are fine. Good luck finding a pom pom crab. I’ve been looking all over for one. 

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I'm definitely getting another scarlet. Once I upgrade tanks I will consider a fire shrimp. I haven't really looked into availability of these guys yet so hopefully once I'm ready I can track one down. My oldest daughter has been showing more and more interest into aquatic life and shes big into cheerleading and dance so she thought the pompom crab was the coolest thing lol. Hopefully I can find one.

[DaJMasta]

Personally, I wouldn't do the skunk cleaner nor the fire shrimp along with the sexy shrimp - the size difference is massive and while they may not predate on each other, shrimp tend to be fairly greedy/ornery, so I would worry about losing some to the larger ones.  The smaller cleaners (pederson, venus anemone, spotted anemone, etc.) should be safe with the sexy shrimp no problem, but I'd worry again about the larger ones - also worth mentioning that they all seem to be somewhat less hardy than the larger ones or the sexy shrimp - not sure why, but they've been more challenging for me to keep alive in the long term.

 

The porcelain anemone crab would get along fine, as would regular porcelain types, but they are filter feeders, so you'd need to add some kind of particulate food and it may be more difficult to keep up water quality in a small tank.  Also worth considering territory - the porcelain anemone crabs, sexy shrimp, and most of the smaller clear cleaner shrimp all live in anemones, and at least with the case of the crab, it will stick directly to the anemone.  As shrimp are prone to quarreling, if you want a number of them all in the tank,  you probably want several anemones, minimum.  Instead of rock anemones, you could also do maxi mini nems, either should be small enough for the tank, but I wouldn't do both as eventually they will run into each other and go to war, whereas nems of the same type don't sting each other.

No experience keeping saron or bumblebee shrimp, but either are probably good to consider and are about the right size.

[Critteraholic]

Have you looked over Reef Cleaners? (reefcleaners.com)  I love that place!

[StealthPrix]

9 minutes ago, Critteraholic said:

Have you looked over Reef Cleaners? (reefcleaners.com)  I love that place!

I've been browsing all over lol. That was one of the 1st places I looked. Iv'e never purchased anything from them though.....yet.

[Critteraholic]

I loved the crabs and snails I got. Everything was packed nicely and in good shape. I really like the small decorator crab I got.  Some days I can't find him. I was pulling algae one day and yanked him right out.  He had covered himself in algae so well all I could see were is toe tips! 😊

[Nixperience]

1 minute ago, Critteraholic said:

I loved the crabs and snails I got. Everything was packed nicely and in good shape. I really like the small decorator crab I got.  Some days I can't find him. I was pulling algae one day and yanked him right out.  He had covered himself in algae so well all I could see were is toe tips! 😊

Decorator crabs aren’t reef safe. 

[Critteraholic]

@Nixperience I have one of the pelia sp, He will get about 1.5 inches and if he steals a zoa or two to decorate himself, I'd think it'd be cute. 😄  So far he's been a good citizen (did I just jinx myself?????).

[DaJMasta]

From what I've heard about them and experience keeping one for a bit, the reason the small decorator crabs aren't considered reef safe is that they'll harvest polyps to wear, not because they'll actually kill other inhabitants.

There's a chance they'd go after something small if they could, as crabs are generally pretty opportunistic, but I don't think that's any different than a mithrax crab or similar.

[Snow_Phoenix]

11 hours ago, StealthPrix said:

How do I identify which ones are reef safe? Your saron is very cool! definitely adding it to the list!

Thanks. S. marmoratus is relatively reefsafe. Try to avoid S. rectirostris (the beige one with purple legs) - doesn't ship well and not exactly reefsafe, although it does look pretty. 👍

[WormLicker]

I have sexies, a peppermint shrimp and a tail spot blenny. They get along really well. (So far)

I was told by someone with experience that fire shrimp, cleaners and most other larger shrimps will eat sexies. 

I did have two peppermints, but when one of them molted it got predated and eaten. I can't say if it was the sexies or the other peppermint but everyone joined in by the time I found it 🤷

 

I also had a sponge decorator for a bit. He absolutely terrorized all of my corals and destroyed about three colonies of various softies in only two days.

[Nixperience]

I’ve had a skunk cleaner with 2 sexys in the past and they were all fine. I have 2 sexys now and plan on getting a skunk cleaner after my tank upgrade. 

[StealthPrix]

4 hours ago, Nixperience said:

I’ve had a skunk cleaner with 2 sexys in the past and they were all fine. I have 2 sexys now and plan on getting a skunk cleaner after my tank upgrade. 

If I get a skunk and some sexies (which is the plan) I will be sure to keep my eye on them. The last skunk I had didn't bother anybody. He would be scouring the top of the water any time I was in my office waiting to be fed lol.