37 gallon. Overstocked?

[Eclipsemints]

Alright, I have a 37 gallon tank with some lace rock and a few pieces of live rock. The only fish currently inhabiting this tank is a coral beauty angelfish. I was wondering if this would be too big on the bioload.
1x coral beauty
2x (a pair) of false percula clowns
1x coral banded shrimp
1x sixline wrasse
10x small snails and dwarf blueleg hermit crabs (5 of each)

I'm kind of aiming for a "colorful" display, but I'm not too sure if this is too much or not.

 

[Innovator]

I think you'd be fine. Blue-leg hermits are rather aggressive towards snails, but if you just want them for their comical behavior I can't blame you

 

[thepufflife]

I wouldnt think so... ive seen 24g reefs with a bigger stocklist than this... Not counting the crabs and snails, that puts you at eighteen inches (actually, a little less) of livestock when they are full grown. Obviously, this method is typically only used in FW, but I do like it to kind of get an idea of how much stuff is really in there. I would advise more cleaners, say double or even triple the amount of snails and crabs.

 

[Eclipsemints]

I added a yellow clown goby to the tank today, along with 5 of the hermits. I'm going to wait for a few weeks to get the clowns/shrimp/wrasse. Then that will be it for my tank as far as fish go. I was reading about coral banded shrimp, and heard that they might make a feast out of my hermits. So instead of that, would I be able to put in a pistol shrimp and watchman goby? I don't know if the watchman would bother my clown goby, or if the pistol would bother my hermits. Also would this be too heavy on the bioload?

 

[melosu58]

I would wait about a month between adding anything else to allow the beneficial bacteria to build up to the bioload.

 

[Eclipsemints]

Do you think a pair of harlequin shrimp instead of the original coral banded shrimp would work? Also, if I were to go that route, how long would your average chocolate chip star last a pair?

 

[Innovator]

I think they will be heavily harassed by your eventual sixline. Here's some good info for you: Harlequin Shrimp

 

[Eclipsemints]

Thank you very much for that information . If I were to just get a sixline instead, would the sixline harass say a coral banded shrimp?

 

[Innovator]

If the coral banded shrimp is large enough it should be able to defend itself, but may not deter the sixline from trying depending on its personality.

 

[Eclipsemints]

I might just get a royal gramma instead of a sixline. I like sixlines, but I don't want something that will be a nuisance to my inverts. Sorry for all of the questions, I just want to make sure I can properly care for these animals before I buy them.

 

[melosu58]

Sorry for all of the questions, I just want to make sure I can properly care for these animals before I buy them.

Dont feel sorry for the questions. That`s what we are all about. Kudos for checking them out before you buy them.

 

[Eclipsemints]

Ok, I'm seriously considering buying one (maybe a pair) harlequin shrimp. I've been reading, and on some sites it says that if I have multiple largish starfish in the aquarium, it would eat a little bit on one, and then let it escape and heal, and then start on another. If this is true, then say if I had 3-4 large starfish then I would never have to buy replacement stars to feed it. The question is, is this true?

 

[melosu58]

Just some links on them.

Harlequin Shrimp

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+525+749&pcatid=749&N=0

From what I understand they flip the starfish over so it cant get away and then they feed from it destroying the starfish.