Livestocking question

[b-dogg]

Hello, was hoping to get some advice about my livestock plan.

I currently have a 55 gal tank with
- a crushed coral/aragonite substrate( I know I shouldn't have mixed, didn't
know at time)

-about 25 pounds of live rock, I plan to get more

3 Mexican red legged hermit crabs

1 Emerald crab

1 tomato clown

1 yellow tail damsel

1 blue green chromis

a few snails

My question is which would be better suited to this aquarium, a cleaner
shrimp or neon goby. I'm not trying to fix any problems, but would like to
observe the cleaning behavior, it sounds neat. I think I read that gobies
need a sand substrate, but wasn't sure. Also, I plan to add 2 more chromis,
and lastly a flame angel (not until I've had more experience and tank is
older). Any advice is appreciated.

[reefman MC]

Mexican red legs are grat for cleaning up detritus and eating slime
algae. Emerald crabs are great for bubble algaes, but when they get
larger they can eat fish. Tomato clowns are cool, but very aggressive.
You should probably go with a Percula or an Ocellaris clownfish.
Damsels are some of the most aggressive fish of all marine fish. They
will pretty much kill any small or weaker fish then them. So if it was
me i wouldn't put him in there. I love chromis, but he will not survive
with a damsel in there. Snails are great. Your tank is new so don't get
a neon goby until the pod population builds up. Plus the neon won't
survive with the damsel. It is also possible that the tomato may kill
the neon. So go with the cleaner shrimp for now. Flame angels are very
aggressive as well. I'm not sure whether or not you plan on keeping
corals, but if you do the flame angel will most likely nip them.


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[David Liles]

You need a larger clean-up crew. You should have around one cleaner (snails
and crabs) per gallon.

"b-dogg" > wrote in message
...
> Hello, was hoping to get some advice about my livestock plan.
>
> I currently have a 55 gal tank with
> - a crushed coral/aragonite substrate( I know I shouldn't have mixed,
didn't
> know at time)
>
> -about 25 pounds of live rock, I plan to get more
>
> 3 Mexican red legged hermit crabs
>
> 1 Emerald crab
>
> 1 tomato clown
>
> 1 yellow tail damsel
>
> 1 blue green chromis
>
> a few snails
>
> My question is which would be better suited to this aquarium, a cleaner
> shrimp or neon goby. I'm not trying to fix any problems, but would like
to
> observe the cleaning behavior, it sounds neat. I think I read that gobies
> need a sand substrate, but wasn't sure. Also, I plan to add 2 more
chromis,
> and lastly a flame angel (not until I've had more experience and tank is
> older). Any advice is appreciated.
>
>

[b-dogg]

Thanks to all those who responded, I wanted to ask David Liles, any
particular types of snails you recommend?
I have 2 cone shaped ones, and a few ones that bury themselves in the
substrate then come out at night.

"David Liles" > wrote in message
ble.rogers.com...
> You need a larger clean-up crew. You should have around one cleaner
(snails
> and crabs) per gallon.
>
> "b-dogg" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hello, was hoping to get some advice about my livestock plan.
> >
> > I currently have a 55 gal tank with
> > - a crushed coral/aragonite substrate( I know I shouldn't have mixed,
> didn't
> > know at time)
> >
> > -about 25 pounds of live rock, I plan to get more
> >
> > 3 Mexican red legged hermit crabs
> >
> > 1 Emerald crab
> >
> > 1 tomato clown
> >
> > 1 yellow tail damsel
> >
> > 1 blue green chromis
> >
> > a few snails
> >
> > My question is which would be better suited to this aquarium, a cleaner
> > shrimp or neon goby. I'm not trying to fix any problems, but would like
> to
> > observe the cleaning behavior, it sounds neat. I think I read that
gobies
> > need a sand substrate, but wasn't sure. Also, I plan to add 2 more
> chromis,
> > and lastly a flame angel (not until I've had more experience and tank is
> > older). Any advice is appreciated.
> >
> >
>
>

[reefman MC]

I would say you need a few true turbo snails. They are the best algae
eater of all the snails. For detritus you should get some nassarius
snails. These are my personal favorite. My nassarius breed all the
time. The ones that you have that dig in the sand almost sound like
nassarius snails. Do they have little tubes that come off their head?
If they do they're nassarius. Go to www.liveaquaria.com. They sell
cleanup crews with everything you need. Any more questions?


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