First New Fish Dead

[Fishman007]

Thanks! I'll make sure to look for signs of ich. Im planning to add it last anyways so I don't have to worry about it for a while

Alright cool.

 

[Nat_a126]

So new question: I think the third chromis might have died cause he's missing and I can't find him. So when can I add my clean up crew? I want urchins and snails, maybe a hermit. What do you all recommend?

 

[Fishman007]

So new question: I think the third chromis might have died cause he's missing and I can't find him. So when can I add my clean up crew? I want urchins and snails, maybe a hermit. What do you all recommend?

I would add 10-20 blue leg hermits, should find him and eat him before he makes to much of a mess. I have a blue tux urchin and a snowball, they all eat coraline algea, so they wont pick at him if he is dead.

 

[Nat_a126]

I would add 10-20 blue leg hermits, should find him and eat him before he makes to much of a mess. I have a blue tux urchin and a snowball, they all eat coraline algea, so they wont pick at him if he is dead.

Will any snails eat dead fish? And if I get the hermits, would I need to buy shells so when they grow bigger they have something to live in? And I can get the clean up crew tomorrow? Lastly, once they eat the maybe dead fish, what can I feed them?

 

[kdpuffer]

Hermit crabs will eat leftover food. From personal experience there are 3 inverts I try to avoid and here is the list and reasons.

Firstly I don't overly like hermits, of the three I avoid these guys are not so bad. I find they tend to knock stuff over and walk across corals. I currently have two and won't add any more.

Second is urchins, very cool animal and always neat to watch until things topple. They move like a starfish with suction cup legs however they have the legs all over their body and whenever they move around they grab stuff. Not a big deal till you see them cruising with your new coral frag on their back. I lost my prized torch coral due to an urchin knocking it down into my anemone. I also like the look of coralline algae on my rocks and back glass, an urchin will keep your rocks white by eating the coralline. Personally would never have an urchin again.

The third critter is shrimp specifically the skunk cleaners. I have one and he annoys the crap out of me and my coral. He is a glutton and eats everything I feed however he will steal food from my coral when I target feed which is annoying. Other than that they are neat animals.

This list was compiled so you know the drawbacks to adding these creatures to your aquarium. Each creature has a function in the reef and they all add a unique look that is always neat to show off. Just keep in mind that there are drawbacks to adding things to the tank.

 

[Nat_a126]

Hermit crabs will eat leftover food. From personal experience there are 3 inverts I try to avoid and here is the list and reasons.

Firstly I don't overly like hermits, of the three I avoid these guys are not so bad. I find they tend to knock stuff over and walk across corals. I currently have two and won't add any more.

Second is urchins, very cool animal and always neat to watch until things topple. They move like a starfish with suction cup legs however they have the legs all over their body and whenever they move around they grab stuff. Not a big deal till you see them cruising with your new coral frag on their back. I lost my prized torch coral due to an urchin knocking it down into my anemone. I also like the look of coralline algae on my rocks and back glass, an urchin will keep your rocks white by eating the coralline. Personally would never have an urchin again.

The third critter is shrimp specifically the skunk cleaners. I have one and he annoys the crap out of me and my coral. He is a glutton and eats everything I feed however he will steal food from my coral when I target feed which is annoying. Other than that they are neat animals.

This list was compiled so you know the drawbacks to adding these creatures to your aquarium. Each creature has a function in the reef and they all add a unique look that is always neat to show off. Just keep in mind that there are drawbacks to adding things to the tank.

Thanks for all the great info and all I decided against the hermits and I don't plan on adding any shrimp. I really love the pincushion urchin and I actually want him to carry things along with him I don't have any coral so I don't have to worry about that lol. I got two narssisus snails about 5 minutes ago that will eat the food that the chromis missed and hopefully find my other missing chromis. My sand bed needs some serious cleaning!

 

[kdpuffer]

I started with 6 nassarius snails and now I have a tonne. Can't count them all but when I feed it's like little submarines popping out of the sand. I have counted over 20 and that's just what a could see from the front.

If you want an urchin go for it they are super cool but if you get coral make sure it's glued in place.

 

[Nat_a126]

I started with 6 nassarius snails and now I have a tonne. Can't count them all but when I feed it's like little submarines popping out of the sand. I have counted over 20 and that's just what a could see from the front.

If you want an urchin go for it they are super cool but if you get coral make sure it's glued in place.

Omg that's so many snails. How big is your aquarium?

 

[kdpuffer]

90g with a 55g sump

 

[Fishman007]

Nat, what kdpuffer said is somewhat ridiculous to me. Rarley will a hermit ever knock over coral, unless it is loose. And yes, you will need new bigger shells for the hermits.

The urchins i have a pin cusions, mine dont eat coraline of the glass but do off the rocks. You probably wont have much coraline it grows off ok lighting and calcium in which you dont have ether. (assuming you use a non reef grade salt.

And thirdly skunk cleaner shrimp are fine, (coral banded can be aggresive somtimes) they clean the coral for debris and left overs. Also decaying matter will be eaten.

I have 4 reef tanks and 1 non reef and have hermits in all, they all do fine and i would never get ride of them.

I have pin cusion urchins in 2 of my 5 tanks and would never get rid of them (even though they love to eat all my coraline but it grows back daily so who cares)

I have a cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp and love how the look and make the tanks look like a real reef.

 

[kdpuffer]

Nat, what kdpuffer said is somewhat ridiculous to me. Rarley will a hermit ever knock over coral, unless it is loose. And yes, you will need new bigger shells for the hermits.

The urchins i have a pin cusions, mine dont eat coraline of the glass but do off the rocks. You probably wont have much coraline it grows off ok lighting and calcium in which you dont have ether. (assuming you use a non reef grade salt.

And thirdly skunk cleaner shrimp are fine, (coral banded can be aggresive somtimes) they clean the coral for debris and left overs. Also decaying matter will be eaten.

I never said don't get any of the animals listed. I was just trying to relay the possible risks with them. As far as hermits goes I have had them knock over coral frags that I hadn't glued down yet. I have also had them crawl all over corals which is annoying at times. I have hermits in my tank I just personally preffer to avoid them in large quantities. As for the shrimp they can be a pita, mine has always jumped ontop of coral to steal food. I never said not to get them just trying to inform of some risks involved. You spend $100 or more on an awesome coral and you target feed it then the $6 shrimp jumps on it to steal food. I get annoyed with the shrimp in that scenario. Once I can catch him he is going to solitary confinement in the sump.

 

[Fishman007]

I never said don't get any of the animals listed. I was just trying to relay the possible risks with them. As far as hermits goes I have had them knock over coral frags that I hadn't glued down yet. I have also had them crawl all over corals which is annoying at times. I have hermits in my tank I just personally preffer to avoid them in large quantities. As for the shrimp they can be a pita, mine has always jumped ontop of coral to steal food. I never said not to get them just trying to inform of some risks involved. You spend $100 or more on an awesome coral and you target feed it then the $6 shrimp jumps on it to steal food. I get annoyed with the shrimp in that scenario. Once I can catch him he is going to solitary confinement in the sump.

Lol, your cleaner costs $6? Mine costed me $28 and my fire costed $35. i would like to know your location! Ive been wanting another !

I understand you were just putting out risks, but i just wanted to give a 2nd opinion

 

[kdpuffer]

Lol, your cleaner costs $6? Mine costed me $28 and my fire costed $35. i would like to know your location! Ive been wanting another !

I understand you were just putting out risks, but i just wanted to give a 2nd opinion

Fair enough, mine was actually $12 I think. It's been a while since I got it, 2 years. Even at $30 I still prefer my coral. I'm up in Canada.

 

[Nat_a126]

[

Nat, what kdpuffer said is somewhat ridiculous to me. Rarley will a hermit ever knock over coral, unless it is loose. And yes, you will need new bigger shells for the hermits.

The urchins i have a pin cusions, mine dont eat coraline of the glass but do off the rocks. You probably wont have much coraline it grows off ok lighting and calcium in which you dont have ether. (assuming you use a non reef grade salt.

And thirdly skunk cleaner shrimp are fine, (coral banded can be aggresive somtimes) they clean the coral for debris and left overs. Also decaying matter will be eaten.

I have 4 reef tanks and 1 non reef and have hermits in all, they all do fine and i would never get ride of them.

I have pin cusion urchins in 2 of my 5 tanks and would never get rid of them (even though they love to eat all my coraline but it grows back daily so who cares)

I have a cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp and love how the look and make the tanks look like a real reef.

QUOTE=kdpuffer;2836053]I never said don't get any of the animals listed. I was just trying to relay the possible risks with them. As far as hermits goes I have had them knock over coral frags that I hadn't glued down yet. I have also had them crawl all over corals which is annoying at times. I have hermits in my tank I just personally preffer to avoid them in large quantities. As for the shrimp they can be a pita, mine has always jumped ontop of coral to steal food. I never said not to get them just trying to inform of some risks involved. You spend $100 or more on an awesome coral and you target feed it then the $6 shrimp jumps on it to steal food. I get annoyed with the shrimp in that scenario. Once I can catch him he is going to solitary confinement in the
sump.[/QUOTE]

I actually use natural sea water and I have some red and purple coralline algae growing in there. I had decided against the hermits cause I didn't want to deal with the shells anyways lol. I just want to have some snails and urchins lately, never wanted to spend $20 on a shrimp that may be eaten by a puffer

 

[Fishman007]

[

QUOTE=kdpuffer;2836053]I never said don't get any of the animals listed. I was just trying to relay the possible risks with them. As far as hermits goes I have had them knock over coral frags that I hadn't glued down yet. I have also had them crawl all over corals which is annoying at times. I have hermits in my tank I just personally preffer to avoid them in large quantities. As for the shrimp they can be a pita, mine has always jumped ontop of coral to steal food. I never said not to get them just trying to inform of some risks involved. You spend $100 or more on an awesome coral and you target feed it then the $6 shrimp jumps on it to steal food. I get annoyed with the shrimp in that scenario. Once I can catch him he is going to solitary confinement in the
sump.

I actually use natural sea water and I have some red and purple coralline algae growing in there. I had decided against the hermits cause I didn't want to deal with the shells anyways lol. I just want to have some snails and urchins lately, never wanted to spend $20 on a shrimp that may be eaten by a puffer [/QUOTE]

valentinis eat hard shelled animals, wont touch you shrimp. As i said, my 2 pin cusion urchins and a fire shrimp and cleaner shrimp in the 37g with my valentini, no problems

 

[Nat_a126]

I actually use natural sea water and I have some red and purple coralline algae growing in there. I had decided against the hermits cause I didn't want to deal with the shells anyways lol. I just want to have some snails and urchins lately, never wanted to spend $20 on a shrimp that may be eaten by a puffer

valentinis eat hard shelled animals, wont touch you shrimp. As i said, my 2 pin cusion urchins and a fire shrimp and cleaner shrimp in the 37g with my valentini, no problems [/QUOTE]


I want to see the shrimp clean a fish in my tank that would be so cool

 

[Fishman007]

valentinis eat hard shelled animals, wont touch you shrimp. As i said, my 2 pin cusion urchins and a fire shrimp and cleaner shrimp in the 37g with my valentini, no problems

I want to see the shrimp clean a fish in my tank that would be so cool[/QUOTE]

My shrimps clean my starry blenny all the time, they jump at the puffer somtimes too

 

[Nat_a126]

I want to see the shrimp clean a fish in my tank that would be so cool

My shrimps clean my starry blenny all the time, they jump at the puffer somtimes too [/QUOTE]


That's awesome that the shrimp and fish had a symbiotic relationship and so entertaining to watch

 

[Nat_a126]

My shrimps clean my starry blenny all the time, they jump at the puffer somtimes too

That's awesome that the shrimp and fish had a symbiotic relationship and so entertaining to watch[/QUOTE]


How long do u recommend acclimating the snails? I stabilized the temperature for 20 min and they have been dripping for 25 min.

 

[Nat_a126]

Never mind I put them in there and they quickly buried themselves