Why two cleaner gobies? If this isn’t an open top you might try many in the tank.(how many gallons are we talking?) They often are seen in the wild in large groups as a sort of cleaning station on one large coral or sponge.
Opps just read the title again, I would stick to two if it is 8 gallons.
With that being said coral banded shrimp, genus Stenopus, would be awesome unless you are planning to keep large LPS like duncans or fungia.(there is a chance that like some emerald crabs they will rip open the coral to grab fresh food from with in) I would stay away from the classic Stenopus hispidus, the ones that are just red and white. First of because they will outgrow the tank secondly because… well just about everyone has kept them and EVERYONE has seen them. Try for one of the rare species if you can find a mated pair. Both Stenopus cyanoscelis(Red and Yellow) and Stenopus tenuirostris(Red, Yellow and a bold Blue body) I believe will stay smaller.(Especially the second one though it can prove very difficult to find in stores or online.) Live aquaria often times offers the oddball ones and Dr. Mac frequently has mated pairs of cyanoscelis and hispidus. Ok, ok, so these guys are a favorite of mine. As of a year ago no one had raised there larvae to adulthood in captivity.(well one place in the UK claimed to, but there was no proof) I used to own a mated pair of each and all spawned regularly.
Fang blennies might be cool in tank that size if you change the water frequently and a pair is likely to bread if kept healthy long enough. Only down side is having a venomous fish in a small tank you want to put your hands in. I’ve heard from three people who have been bit who said it isn’t even as bad as a B sting.(but then again some people could have allergic reactions…)
There are plenty of other mini gobies and blennies which may eventually breed which would be awesome.
I would stay away from any clowns in that tank as they will eventually out grow it. That is unless you plan to move them once they get older and have another tank with out any clowns in it. If this is a case I have some of the clowns from Ken’s fish shoot me a PM and I’ll set you up with an amazing deal.(The gf really wants me to get them to good homes asap if we don’t plan on keeping them and I think she is getting attached)
i like the sexy shrimp idea, then i could even keep other anenome shrimp maybe…
im not sure if u have it confused jon, but clown gobies can outgrow an 8 gal.? did u think i meant clownfish?
i would love to try and get a bunch of hawiian hermit crabs to see if i could get them to spawn, but its such a hassle even identifying when there are eggs…
but ur right jon, as far as normal coral banded shrimps…i should try to find something not soo every-day…especially since what ever i put in this tank will be the main attraction…
I have never seen these guys for sale before. Actually only seen one in person. Not sure how good they would be with corals though.
Ian they also have acro crabs listed… however they are out of stock.
Two fire shrimp would be a nice bold color in the tank, but then again everyone has seen them as well. The other thing is they often times hide, but they could be hiding because they are kept with larger fish. By themselves you might seem them out more often.
Stay away from Camel Shrimp and Harlequin Shrimp(Hymenocera elegans).
Something to keep in mind with the shrimp vs a fish is that they are more sensative to swings in water chemistry such as salinity and temp. However they also don’t require as much food which means lest waste… Pluses and minus to both. Are we dealing with an open top? Shrimp are a lot less likely to jump.
Tough call touch call. So many choices.
What about seeing if you can keep two boxer crabs? Would be easy to tell if you had a male and a female as they have similar markings as blue crabs.(If you are not sure the difference anyone who has ever been crabbing and followed the laws should know the difference and it is easy to google.)
I don’t believe I have seen any of the small gobies or blennies offered as a mated pair unfortunately. Probably because they hang out in large groups even when they are paired up, so it can be difficult to spot the pairs.
As far as the boxer crabs go I would just add a mixture of planktons randomly. Just a tiny bit of marine snow every now and then. Mix some cycolpeze in randomly. Reading through Sprung’s invertebrate book just now I realized there is multiple species of Boxer Crab. One said to be more cryptic then the others. If I were you, and you settled on Boxer crabs, I would look for photographs of the different species(all genus Laybia) to help decide specifically what you would like to keep. That being said you might not have the choice if you ask a LFS to order a “Pom-Pom Crab†as there is only a handful of wholesalers that could ID them and most stores around here don’t use them.
You’ve got me thinking about setting up a nano now! (scratch that gf just rejected the idea, lol, but she did say, “not right nowâ€ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ…. Maybe tomorrow? )
Could be a cool set up. Dr. Mac has some beautiful mushrooms. Also Coralmorphalogic does as well including some oddballs you don’t typically see in LFS. If your thinking of a shrimp you might consider staying away from the large “hairy†mushrooms. There are images of some eating fish I wouldn’t be shocked if one were to eat a shrimp as well.
18"L8"W12"H…i have a 2 bulb T-5 fixture that i will be building a mini hood for…i will also be building a base for the tank to sit into…not really a stand, something so that it will sit up off of my computer desk.
i got the measurements for the pieces from garf.org…the glass was under $70, and was very easy to put together…i put in a small overflow compartment that i will be filling with mud and chaeto or caulerpa…
i coudlve got a ten gallon standard tank and done the same thing, but i wanted the custom dimensions for the light i have…
i also helped my buddy build one half the size of mine that was even easier thats going to be a soft coral tank…also will have a small built in chamber to hold a little pump…
wow jon i didnt know that about the larger mushrooms, but i shouldve reasoned…because i know i cant put a nem. in this tank now…so some people were recommending a ricordia…i just want something to mimic a nem…
if i did sexy shrimp, think i could keep them with hairy mushrooms? ricordia?
jon, why not harlequin shrimp? i maintained a single harlequin shrimp for over a year without killing a single starfish. I kept 5 starfish in my fuge, and rotated them. i would cut a leg off of a shrimp every week to feed the shrimp and in time they would grow back. right now i have 5 starfish and no shrimp:(. he died a few weeks after my move a few months back.
It depends on the type of mantis shrimp the paticular one addicted linked to would get as long as your aquarium, so I would avoid it for sure. I’ve always liked mantis shrimp.
[quote=“addicted2reefin, post:15, topic:2441”]
jon, why not harlequin shrimp? i maintained a single harlequin shrimp for over a year without killing a single starfish. [/quote]
What size tank was the shrimp in? I would think the bioload in a tank smaller then 8 gallons would be massive. Secondly our man longballz would need to set up yet another tank to maintain the star fish.(Good luck keeping them in a display with LR and locating each one when it’s time to yank an arm off to feed the shrimp.)
tank was a 20L. i kept 5 starfish in the sump. bioload isnt much as long as you yank the starfish legs after about a week, i noticed they didnt start to rot until about 9 days.
)
So sad when they didn’t make it through a move.