Aquarium Without Fish ... Is There Such A Thing?

[Boulder]

A quick question please ... is there such a thing as a 'Invert and LR aquarium ?

I'm wondering if a tank could be done housing only live rock and interesting inverts such as shrimp, crabs, snails, feather dusters, starfish, etc.

Would the biological filter exist / survive with no fish providing a food source to sustain the bacteria?

 

[roka64]

Yep, I have a friend that has one.
Without feeding of fish, you would still need to feed the tank maybe 2-3 times a week to keep the biofilter alive and the other scavengers fed.

 

[Zer0]

I wanted to do this really because fish are such a hassle, but i was talked out of it, and saw the benefits later on. Having a couple fish in the tank, even if they are the smallest, will keep the biological bacteria alive, and as you feed them, you can just overfeed them, which would then feed the inverts you have in the tank as well. I surely plan to have more inverts than fish in my tank. Alot more. Im only going to have 4 fish, and the rest are going to be snails/shrimp/crabs/sea stars/urchins and one anemone when my tank matures down the road. Aside from all the corals i plan to stuff my tank with.

But also, what i may do, is setup something like a 10G or 20G, that just has all live rock and just inverts, because tbh, marine inverts are just so awesome.

 

[Boulder]

Yep, I have a friend that has one.
Without feeding of fish, you would still need to feed the tank maybe 2-3 times a week to keep the biofilter alive and the other scavengers fed.

Ok - that makes sense. There are so many interesting inverts available I think this could be an interesting aquarium in itself.

It also seems a lot of the very beautiful reef tanks I see only house a few fish at the most which creates a beautiful overall presentation of corals, sand, rock, inverts and fish.

 

[Boulder]

I wanted to do this really because fish are such a hassle, but i was talked out of it, and saw the benefits later on. Having a couple fish in the tank, even if they are the smallest, will keep the biological bacteria alive, and as you feed them, you can just overfeed them, which would then feed the inverts you have in the tank as well. I surely plan to have more inverts than fish in my tank. Alot more. Im only going to have 4 fish, and the rest are going to be snails/shrimp/crabs/sea stars/urchins and one anemone when my tank matures down the road. Aside from all the corals i plan to stuff my tank with.

But also, what i may do, is setup something like a 10G or 20G, that just has all live rock and just inverts, because tbh, marine inverts are just so awesome.

We think alike ... I wanna do basically what you just described.

 

[Zer0]

Haha, well im certainly glad i wasn't the only one thinking about it. It's just my personal opinion and all, but i find a tank with inverts and corals to be so much more interesting than a tank with.. fish. Fish swim.. and rapidly open and close their mouths. So yeah. All with the exception of the really nice mandarin fish, and clownfish since they are pretty fun, i would say that all the other fish are just fish. But inverts do things. They get up and move, and walk, and take care of things in the tank lol.

But regardless, if you do decide to do something like this, be sure to inform me, as i would like to see your plans!

 

[roka64]

Puffers are fun, triggers grunt, some wrasses sleep in cocoons, erm, that's the few I can think off of the top of my head.....
Sexy shrimp are pretty cool....