Crabs vs Shrimp

[AirRazr]

I have been doing a considerable amount of research on what to stock my tank with. I know that I want to start out with fish and some inverts. Not into coral yet.

I have seen packages like this one : Reef Package

but have been told not to mix crabs and shrimp. How much truth is in that. Will they kill one another?

I have also seen that you should only have 1 Coral Banded Shrimp in a tank unless you get a mated pair. Is that a true statement.

TIA

Wes

 

[sicklidkid]

Well it really depends on what kind of crabs you are keeping. I have had no problems keeping my mithrax crabs with my peppermint and cleaners. If you are going to get crabs i would reccomend the emerald mithrax, they are probably as close to reef safe as you can get with crabs, even though you dont have any corals yet, you will probably eventually want some. As for the coal banded shrimp, i have also heard that you should only keep one per tank unless they are a pair. I have seen a pair in a display tank at an lfs and it was very cool. Not really sure how you would go about getting a pair though.
HTH

 

[quarryshark]

I have 2 Emerald Crabs, 6 Hermits and assorted crabs from my LR. I also have a total of 10 shrimp in my tank. No Issues whatsoever. In fact, many of them feed side by side. I'm sure others may differ, but I love all my inverts. They add a lot to my diverse community.

 

[spoonmerlin]

I have 5 Emeralds and 5 Peppermints shrimps and they seem to get along good.

 

[darb2]

Many reef packages IMO have too many inverts. If you have a 30 gal and add a 30 gal package. Most of the time the clean up crew will clean up too quickly and perish due to lack of food. For your 75, I would start with a 30 starter. Give it a month or so, and see how it is going. Personally I dont trust crabs, and would try to get more nassirus instead

 

[austinsdad]

Yeah, build up to the quantities you might think you want. I also agree with the nassirus vs. turbos. Maybe start with one emerald. IMO, I think you can get a couple of feather dusters. I've got 3 in my 75g. One in the sand and two in the rock. As you add fish and have more residual food in the tank, the addtitional crab and shrimp additions might be better then.

 

[AirRazr]

how do feather dusters fair with say Clowns and Blennies?

 

[electrikat]

I have two clowns and one scooter blenny. My hawaiian duster and several lr dusters have no problems that I can see. It may depend on the size of the tank but I'm not sure.

 

[austinsdad]

Mine did fine with both also.

 

[AirRazr]

There is just so much to learn. Thank all of you for your help.

 

[austinsdad]

Come to think of it though, I did try a couple of real small white dusters - about 1/2 inch across. They mysteriously met their fate and I couldn't tell why. The larger ones, 3-4 inches across are doing just fine. Maybe the smaller ones were too easy for hermits or fish to be attracted to. And I've got reef friendly fish.

Moral of the story might be that size does matter.

 

[MarkW19]

11 hermits and 1 fire shrimp.

My shrimp just walks over my crabs, he doesn't even notice them!