Inverts for Beginners

[keiferd]

I would like to add the Tiger Striped Serpent Star. They are cheap, don't add a lot to the bio-load, look pretty and love to eat excess food.

 

[g_langley]

Sexy Shrimp, Small Porcelain Crabs. Great for smaller tanks, <40g.

 

[Squibege]

My tuxedo urchin does not strip LR 'down to the bone' at all. The only time I know where he has been is when he cleans the glass. I've read some other kinds of urchins do this more regularly though

 

[johnike]

How good are bumble bee snails? My lfs has got some.

I've read they are in the same category as sand sifting starfish, they will strip the micro fauna from your sand.
I suppose a few wouldn't hurt a larger tank.

 

[johnike]

^

Thanks for replying. Mine is a 4.5 feet long 2 feet wide tank. Can I get 4-5 pieces as cuc?

I don't see it being a problem.
How old is your sandbed? Is there enough in it to sustain them?

 

[johnike]

Sandbed is just 6-7 months old.

What kind of sand did you use?
Even if you used 'live' sand, it's still a bit young.

 

[johnike]

I believe not.
Can you get Nassarius sp.?

 

[SeaCucumberFan]

^

I have got 5 of them, each cost INR 500 here, each and every LFS is a robber here.

Lol

 

[SeaCucumberFan]

^

You won't believe it but that's the fact. Here, 1 hermit crab cost INR 1000, and you get a dozen for the same price.

 

[Capsle]

How good are bumble bee snails? My lfs has got some.

I have 2 bumble bee snails in my 65g DT. Mind you I haven't seen them in a few days but they're small snails and stay in my LR, they get into all the smaller places going after what I assume is the algae.

They're cute and small. I haven't had any issues with them and was thinking of adding 2 more.

I currently have
2- bumble bees
6- Mexican turbos
2- Nassarius snails
1-astarnia
2- star astarnia
1- pincushion urchin
2- scarlet hermits
2- Zebra hermits.

Still have some algae in the tank which is good and provides them food.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dkuhlmann]

My 2 cents.

The only hermits I will buy are scarlets. The regular blue/red legs have caused too much trouble eating snails and stealing food from coral, no more.

Emeralds are little devils.

Skunk cleaners are great, fun to watch and interact with and do a good job scavaging. They will even clean your fingers. They are not useful as a mitigation to any fish disease.

x2 the ONLY crab of any kind allowed in my tank is the Scarlet hermit. All of my other hermits as well as one HUGE emerald green crab are living in my sump. :hammer:

 

[killerchris02]

x2 hermits kill perfect living snails for their shells.
I have two butterscotch Nassarius snails and they know when its feeding time. By far the best and hardiest snails I've ever had. When my last tank crashed due moving, only my two butterscotchs and gold stripe maroon clownfish survived.

[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL][/IMG]
I always leave two pellets on the rim of the tank and they always disappear.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[johnike]

How cool, Chris!
I love the big fancy Nassariuses.

 

[SeaCucumberFan]

Looks like a weird elepjant bunny hybrid

 

[Capsle]

Hermit Crabs,

I have 4 of them, no issues. IMO they will not kill your snails IF you provide them upgraded shells.

I bought about 100 shells in various sizes from Michaels, the craft store for 6$. I have probably 20+ free shells in my tank giving the hermits choice. I have 2 Scarlett's that have already moved into new ones.

Just My opinion.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[heathlindner25]

Hermits kill for pleasure.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Caps, it just so happens that you got rather lucky getting the scarlet hermits instead of others. The scarlets are very cool and will not kill snails or anything else, they're totally reef safe too.

The bad hermits are most of the others. Many of which kill for sport the blue legged ones fall into that group.

The Scarlet legged hermit is the only crab of any kind that I'll allow in my DT. All of the others are in my sump.

 

[Capsle]

Caps, it just so happens that you got rather lucky getting the scarlet hermits instead of others. The scarlets are very cool and will not kill snails or anything else, they're totally reef safe too.

The bad hermits are most of the others. Many of which kill for sport the blue legged ones fall into that group.

The Scarlet legged hermit is the only crab of any kind that I'll allow in my DT. All of the others are in my sump.

I did do some reading on them before buy any hermits. However I did find a dead half eaten one this afternoon (scarlet) I found his corpse next to the other scarlet I had so I think they might have gotten into a fight?

Not sure what happened and never will know for sure.

My 2 zebra hermits seem a lot more docile and tend to keep away from everyone. They are also a lot smaller.

The one scarlet I have left is probably the size of a dollar coin.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dkuhlmann]

If its that big it may not be a scarlet legged hermit. These guy's are small usually shell size of a nickle. Can you post a picture of the one you're calling a scarlet?

 

[lacybiker2000]

Every time I've had hermits they clean out my snail population, then each other. For the past five years I've mainly stuck with several types of snails and had no issues.