Cool inverts and fish?

S

satyra

I'm trying to decide if I want to add any more stuff to my tank. If I do, I want something different that most people don't have. I saw a super cool sea apple in a lfs one time, don't know if it would live happily in my tank though. strange creatures like that is what I'd like to put in my tank. I have hermit crabs and emerald crabs, and a fire shrimp in there right now.

As far as fish go, I don't want to add the typical "nemo and dory fish" lol. I really like the gold rim tang, ha anyone had any experience with this fish? It's been kinda hard to find info on it online. Few husband wants to get a copperband butterfly but it seems hard to find one thats eating well and doesn't look raggedy upon arrival to the lfs.

So what kinda unique creatures have you guys had in your tanks? I spend alot of time looking at my tanks and it would be awesome to have a little something different :)
 
Ora yellow Assessor mine swims upside down all the time


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Up side down? That sounds interesting. I've never seen one for sale I don't think. People online were saying they paid upwards of $80 for theirs [smilie=surprised.gif]

Has anyone here kept the staghorn crabs alive for long? I almost bought one of those at the fish gallery one time but one of the guys told me they were very difficult to keep alive. Some people have suggested keeping them in the fuge to feed that coral on it's back, how effective is that?

Someone has asked me if I will trade my last discus for their lunar wrasse lol. How aggressive are they really? I'm afraid he might chomp on my schooling bannerfish and my soft corals in that tank. It's a fairly small-med one about 4in long or so, and it has never acted aggressively to their other fish, doesn't sound like a terrible one...might not happen that way if I add it to my tank though :( I've airways wanted one of those though :(
 
Yes, that's why I kept having trouble finding decent info on the gold rimmed tang, I was pulling up aloy of links where people were referring to their powder browns as gold rimmeds. The one I really loved was the a. Nigricans, although the prefer browns aren't bad. I saw several of those at the lfs in san antonio. They were a good size, about 4 in long, they were eating when the employees fed them and they didn't have visible parasites. Didn't have pinched bellies, visible skinnyness or signs of hlle either. What makes then so difficult to keep in captivity? Are we missing something they need in their diet? Can't get them to eat well enough? Tank bullies maybe?

Another reason I didn't get the tang when I was there was cause usually when I see tangs in someones tank, they have hlle, owners complain that they get ich frequently, or they start looking skinny with pinched bellies. Is that most likely the result of inadequate feeding or care, or just meant to live in the sea? It makes me sad, the healthy tangs look amazing when they are nice and fat with no hlle.

I think sexy shrimp are awesome, but my bannerfish will prob pick at them. I have the fire shrimp in there with that fish, although I don't believe at all that he's a mean fish, he's very curious and likes to nibble on random stuff, particularly the white dots on the fire shrimps back lol. He doesn't harm the shrimp though other than bothering it sometimes.

On the other hand, would the sexy shrimps host a rbta or a condy? I'm planning on having a tank with just my nems in it once I get some more leds.
 
If you are okay with keeping them supplied with chocolate chip stars or asterinas, a mated pair of harlequin shrimp are hard to beat. They're usually out in the open and active and will roam the tank together constantly. In my experience, they're also able to hold their own against other shrimp or inverts just not lionfish :(
 
I have had my staghorn for awhile, also got him from FG. What did he do when i dropped him into my tank? he switched shell.... still alive and kicking without the staghorn shell.
 
I have a sea apple that i got in florida in july. it is a very beautiful and interesting creature. i had it in a qt tank for almost 5 months before just now adding it to my main tank. It is so neat to watch it feed and the colors are amazing. everyone always asks what it is when they look at my tank. I was scared like crazy though about adding it to my tank so i did a little longer than normal qt
 
Just did a little research on the harlequin shrimp. I def don't have enough asterina stars to sustain the shrimp. I'm not so sure I could feed chocolate chips or cut off their legs all the time lol. They are gorgeous shrimp though!, I wish they would eat something else :(

Your staghorn was able to live with out it's shell bettalover? I read that somehow the coral fuses itself to the crab, or somethin. He prob didn't want to drag that huge thing around haha.

Do you have pics of your sea apple? If love to see it! It's still on my "maybe" list, need to do some more research first though.
 
@Matt wrote:
Gold Rim Tang is a nice fish. That said there are two species: 1. Acanthurus japonicus (my choice) Easier to keep said:
I have a gold rim. He's a very active fish. I have not seen any aggression out of him but he gets along with my other tangs.
Click to expand...
 
Do a LOT of research on sea apples. I wanted one a long time ago until I researched them. As a filter feeder, they take a lot of food, which can mess with water parameters and they still may not get enough. When they die, they can nuke your entire tank.

I was going to suggest a blue coral banded shrimp (they stay tiny), but not sure if you have fish that likes to pick on shrimp.

My last tank I tried to have stuff that other people didn't (at that time, some are very popular now). I had a Carpenter's flasher wrasse male & 3 females and a couple of black cardinalfish, blue coral banded shrimp (he hung out with my diamond watchman goby), redheaded goby pair (they stay very small), an orange decorator crab, and bumblebee snails. Of course the wrasses and bumblebee snails are popular now & the snails aren't reef safe for other snails. I also had various corals that I never saw in other people's tanks that didn't survive (I was a noob & they were advanced). I've actually never owned a tang or a clownfish.

Right now we have an orbic cardinal, which isn't very common because people think they're boring. It's the "puppy dog" of the tank, following me around.
 
You know what's weird? When I typed the shrimp name, I typed:
blue
coral
banded
shrimp

But it's switching it to:
blue
banded
coral
shrimp

?????

Even when I go back to edit, it displays it as I typed it in the edit window, but switches it in the thread.
 
satyra wrote:
Your staghorn was able to live with out it's shell bettalover? I read that somehow the coral fuses itself to the crab, or somethin. He prob didn't want to drag that huge thing around haha.
quote]

their shell is pretty much a hydroid colony and in order for it to thrive and grow it will need to be fed as well, usually phyto.
 
Yea, from what I've read so far, the sea apple seems like it needs almost a constant supply of food, which I'm not sure I can provide over the long term, or even the short term. Why does it seen like the prettier the creature, the more difficult it is to maintain? Lol

The behavior you describe in you're orbic cardinal seems unusual for cardinalfish. Every one I've seen in a tank just kinda hangs out showing no interest in people. They've always reminded me of the fw tetras. Id love a cardinal fish but they might be picked on in my tank.

My bannerfish likes to pick on my fire shrimps white dots, I think he thinks it might be food. most of the time he leaves him alone, sometimes he swims real close to him to try to get cleaned, but the shrimp has no interest in cleaning, so he gets bored and leaves lol.

I just bought a smallish foxface at the lfs. They had a big xmas sale, and I've been wanting one for quite a while now. They have really cute faces imo, and they aren't too shy. I already warned the husband to stay away from his dorsal spines, knowing him, he will get stabbed by the fish [smilie=wait.gif]
 
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