Is this a good combination of animals for my tank?

[Thierry05]

Dont ask about the size of my tank because I know my tank is big enough to fit this all in, but I am wondering if this combination of animals is ok for my tank (wont fight each other)


brittle star
white spotted hermit (I know it can kill other things but apparently if you feed it the crab leaves everything else alone)

those two are going to arrive tomorrow.

now these are the ones I am going to get:

yellow goby
pistol shrimp
clownfish
a couple of featherdusters (putting them deep into the sand because it protects it from any predator)



what do you think? if there is something that may not disagree is there any way to stop it?

[Spar]

why not say your tank size? takes less words than saying "Dont ask about the size of my tank"

In reef tanks that is the primary question to sort out if the fish will be aggressive toward each other or not.

what type of Clown?

[ReefKeep66]

What size is your tank lol, better yet since you know they'll all be fine, why are you even asking? Fish compatibility has a lot to do with tank size.

[Spar]

It is 5-6 gallons per a recent post of his.

If the clown is a percula or other small one like that, i personally think that combination will be fine, but I don't know much about the potential violence of a pistol shrimp. i'm sure someone with experience will jump in though.

[ReefKeep66]

I'd have only one fish. That might even be too much. 5-6g is not really big enough for any fish long term.

[Thierry05]

ok, thanks for the help! if there is anything else I need to know just say.

oh and the reason why I said dont ask about the size is because I hate the people (no offense) that keep on going on about the tank size etc. anyway just a side question: do I need a skimmer to keep the two inverts I have? or should I get that later with the fish, (I'm guessing that fish make more waste than crabs or starfish would).

[ReefKeep66]

And we hate the people who overstock tiny tanks and make the inhabitants suffer. It's a 2 way street but I see where your coming from. Would it be a hob skimmer or do you have a sump? I'd go ahead and look into something before you get the fish.

[BleuFish]

I wouldn't add a skimmer to that tank, just keep up on those water changes. Check out the firefish, might be a cooler combo with the firefish and the clownfish. I would skip on the brittle star and pistol shrimp and go with a regular cleaner shrimp too.

[Thierry05]

I'm going to get a micro skimmer that is still quite overkill for my tank but is very samll which is good.

[Spar]

if I had a small tank, i would skip the skimmer and just do routine large (...relative of course...) water changes. could pretty much skip any kind of dosing when doing that. it would hardly even touch your pocket book to do two 25% weekly water changes, or more. focus on siphoning off the bottom of the aquarium when draining.

[Thierry05]

something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/19076...13=80&ff14=108

[Thierry05]

I will do water changes even with the skimmer, but with the skimmer I wont do as much, not just because its good filtering but also because of beneficial bacteria.

[Spar]

it is cheap enough, give it a try if you really want to go that route. just really isn't necessary IMO. may be more an eye-sore than you wish it to be. I assume you will not have a sump?

[Spar]

Originally Posted by Thierry05

I will do water changes even with the skimmer, but with the skimmer I wont do as much, not just because its good filtering but also because of beneficial bacteria.

what do you mean by "also because of beneficial bacteria"? you will have plenty of beneficial bacteria on the rock and sides of the tank to support your couple of fish. doing water changes will not impact your beneficial bacteria as you are only removing water (the mass of bacteria is not free floating).

[Thierry05]

ok, thanks for that info, so what exactly is a hob? (bit of a new to reefkeeping).

[GilliganReef]

Getting a skimmer doesnt mean you can relax on W/C. When having a small reef, best options are W/C. Its easier to do then empty cup 2-3 days, cleaning the cup once a week, and cleaning skimmer once a month. If you are doing a small reef, listen to people about fish sizes and tanks. I am on my 3 SW tank in the last 7+ years. When they say fish will get aggressive because of lack of space. You will lose these $20+ fish. If the tanks under 10g look at 1-2 fishes. Since you want a clown better be moving that to larger tank in couple months. Or you will affect its growth and posb shorten its life span.

Think of it like this, you grow taller everyday. You stay skinny, as your body stretches it puts pressure on your organs. In time you crush your organs and posb die. Thats what your doing with fish in smaller tanks.

[Thierry05]

ok, thanks.