Colorful, interesting critters recommendation

[NL146]

As the title says, what critters (inverts) would you recommend that would add color and interesting/funny activity to a tank, and at the same time would get along with each other?

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I've upgraded to 120g and transferred over the snails I could find. What cuc (including the colorful critters mentioned) would you recommend for a tank this size?

 

[DREUTZ]

sexy anenome shrimp are pretty cool. they do a crazy dance that some guy thought was sexy so he gave them that name.

 

[motortrendz]

decorator crab

 

[nycpassat]

Large scarlet cleaner shrimp

 

[fish keeper 7]

Sexy Shrimp, Pom Pom Crab, Staghorn Hermit crab, Arrow Crab, Feather dusters/christmas tree rock.harlequin shrimp, pistol shrimp/goby combo, scarlet cleaning shrimp, few peppermint or camel shrimp.

my suggestion go to online stores like liveaquaria, aquacon, reefhotspot.com saltwaterfish.com, bluezooaquatics.com <-- (my favorite) even www.tropicalfishauction.com and check out their inverts and pick and choose and do research on whats compatible.

good luck, inverts are some of my favorite parts of a tank =]

 

[scarf_ace1981]

harlequin shrimp(eat starfish)
linkia starfish(need a mature tank)
porcelain crab
pom pom crab
skunk cleaner shrimp
coco worm(type of feather duster)

 

[seldin]

You guys are thinking like me. When it comes to not increasing the bio load, I try to add things like a cleaner shrimp or fire red shrimp. They are very peaceful. However, some fish like them for food, so you have to make sure, your fish won't eat them.

They are very fun to watch.

 

[NL146]

In terms of color, I have one fire shrimp which I hardly see but I noticed him starting to clean my naso tang so perhaps I'll be seeing him more now. I like the idea of having movement from the little colorful critters, so perhaps some crabs (red/blue foot) would be nice, but I hear that they may kill a snail for its shell so I'm kinda cautious about that. My yellow and powder brown tangs are a bit aggressive - would that be an issue with a linckia star?

 

[seldin]

Linkia star fish, can be hard to keep in a reef tank. From what I read, they need a lot of live rock. In addition, it is not for sure known, what they eat, so it is hard to keep them. So it is recommended for a large established reef tank with a lot of live rock.

As far as hermit crabs, blue and red. They are good for a clean up crew, except for the fact that for me, they like to eat my other snails and kill them for their shells.

 

[dagreatbadfinger]

pistol shrimp and goby are great! but be warned! they will bulldoze any coral on the floor and grab anything they can to use for the burrow. i lost many a frag that way!

decorator crab WILL cut away at pieces of your coral to stick onto him. so he'll look cool! but any corals he cuts away from - not so much lol

pompom crab - be warned, their "pom poms" ARE little anemones so they can and will sting things as they walk around the tank. though they are funny as hell to watch them dance around though.

sexy shrimp will try and eat your starfish depending on the type and how large a tank you have so just be careful

just letting you in at the negatives to the "cool" critters, being i learned the hard way lol

 

[NL146]

Is there a thread that has pics of cool critters?

 

[NL146]

I've upgraded to 120g and transferred over the snails I could find. What cuc (including the colorful critters mentioned) would you recommend for a tank this size?

 

[basiab]

Aside from snails all the others have some kind of issues so you have to decide if it is worth it. Crabs and shrimp will compete with coral feeding.
Hermits will kill snails. etc. You just have to find out all the issues and then make a decision.

 

[Imbarrie]

Yea do your research before buying crabs of any kind. They could end up becoming a problem. All mine are in the sump.

Some starfish are interesting. A sand sifting star is a great CUC. But brittle stars are entertaining. They feed on the food that scatters around the tank. Just stay away from the green ones.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[tentacles]

Green and red serpent stars are beautiful and interesting to watch, and they're really good for cleaning up detritus. I'm also a big fan of coco worms.

As for the hermit/snail debacle goes, hermit crabs WILL indeed go after snails for their shells (when I first set up my tank they completely massacred my margarita snails, and now I have a bunch of hermits scurrying around in marg shells :irked:.) However, if you put snails that are smaller (like nassarius snails) or much larger (like turbos or red foots,) they won't go after them. I have a few red foots in my tank and they do a good job of keeping the glass clean and graze algae on the rocks. They will occasionally knock over frags if they are not secure, but you certainly don't have to glue everything down- if it they fit into a crevice in the rock they'll be fine. Not to mention that the snails have a really nice bright red color to their bodies and a hint of red in their shells, so they add pops of color here and there .

 

[NL146]

Interesting, where did you get your red foot snails?

 

[Master Shake]

be carefull what you get some of the stuff recomended here is not reef safe if you have corals. Some nudi's are cool and reef safe just be carefull some arent, orange linkia and fromia stars are cool, as well as blue linkias. Flame scallop if you are up to the challenge

 

[Bob 1000]

Is there a thread that has pics of cool critters?

Yeah my tank thread, or my something I have have that others don't thread,,,lol... I like the emperor shrimp.. I have had 4 of them for the last 6 months now and will be selling them soon.. They do need an established system though.. Also have hermits that have white legs with orange tips(algae eaters) halloween hermits also..

 

[tentacles]

Interesting, where did you get your red foot snails?

I got them at Manhattan Aquariums! They can get pretty big, but they willingly let me pick out some medium/smaller sized ones. They're more expensive than the smaller snails (3/$12,) but it was worth it because they have't been taken out by my hermits yet (unlike the margs, which I think I have one left out of 9 or 10.)

 

[cowfish]

Aren't the redfoot snails a temperate species?