Do you have any nano addition recommendations for us?

[themartins]

We have a 10 gallon FOWLR that's well established. Currently we have a clownfish pair, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 scarlet reef hermit crab, and a few snails. We'd like to add in 1 small fish and maybe another shrimp or 2 - any thoughts?

 

[carey]

I would add more inverts but not fish. A 10g for a pair of clowns is really too small to begin with. :-(

 

[themartins]

What invertebrates would you suggest?

 

[carey]

I'm a big softie for shrimp, love them guys. Fire shrimp are really great, bright red but a tad pricey. Cleaner shrimp are nice too a bit cheaper than a fire shrimp and also red but not as awesome red as the fire shrimp. lol

I would also put in an emerald crab, a small one or maybe a porcelain crab or two. They catch food by waving their little claws with catchers on them. Very neat crabs.

 

[themartins]

I like the idea of cleaner shrimp and the crabs. I haven't seen fire shrimp before. Will fire or cleaner shrimp get along with the 1 peppermint shrimp? - or should I move him to the 38 gallon that we also have?

Do you have any suggestions for the 38 gallon? - currently we have a pair of occelaris clowns, 3 P.J. cardinals, 1 lawnmower blenny, snails, 1 scarlet reef hermit, & 2 peppermint shrimp.

 

[carey]

The only shrimp that isn't friendly with other shrimp are the coral banded ones, so you should be fine mixing shrimp.

You don't have a goby in the 38g you can get a goby/shrimp combo, they are very cool, they have a symbiotic relationship most times and hang out together.

 

[FlopNewsom]

If there is plenty of room, will a coral banded be okay with other shrimp?

 

[carey]

coral banded shrimp are known to be nasty to other shrimp as well as their own kind. You can only have one unless its a mated pair.

 

[FlopNewsom]

Glad to know that. I did notice he seems aggressive to my clowns...

 

[Starchar]

Love the cleaner shrimp! They have so much personality and spend a lot of their time out in the open not hiding. Mine jumps on my hand any time I do anything in the tank.

 

[AquaRick]

Love the cleaner shrimp! They have so much personality and spend a lot of their time out in the open not hiding. Mine jumps on my hand any time I do anything in the tank.

+1 Cleaner shrimp. They're always out and about. The Fire shrimp, though cooler looking, is always hiding.

 

[themartins]

I'll have to look into the goby/shrimp pair for the 38 gal. I've done a little reasearch, and their relationship sounds like it would be cool to observe. Do you know which gobies are more likely to pair with a pistol shrimp? I've seen pistol shrimp for sale every now and then at the lfs, but never a goby/shrimp pair. Is it possible for them to pair up even if purchased seperately, or should I look for ones already paired?

I also think the addition of some cleaner shrimp for both tanks to help eat up any leftovers would be a good idea as well. I'm thinking maybe 2 for the 10 gal. and 3 for the 38 gal. I'll need to do some more research on the emerald or porcelin crab....they sound really fun to watch.

Do you think a lg. featherduster would work out in the 10 gal.? One of the clowns in the 38 hangs out in the featherduster sometimes.

 

[Photoevangelist]

I have a Yasha goby and Randall's pistol shrimp. They're fun to observe. It took them 2-3 weeks to settle in. My tank hadn't quite finished the cycle, only phosphates were high, but we never get those where I am. I got the last combo, they were my first real additions to the tank. Be careful when choosing pistol shrimp, apparently the Randall's is a more friendly one. I've got two sexy shrimp too. Might get more later they love my starburst polyps, Xenia and now play in the torch corals. The stay small and are quite enjoyable.

 

[TigerBarbs]

I love my cleaner shrimp! He always jumps on my hand whenever it's in the tank. He does dig through my frogspawn after I feed it. But that's no big deal.

 

[corinne118s]

Pistol shrimp will eat smaller shrimp btw