Recommendations for adding to tank

V

vaughnkennedy

Reefing newb
I have an 8G BioCube. It's 2 years old with a yellowtail clownfish and live rock. We had bought a featherduster but it died soon after. Over the past few months we have noticed a very small feather duster living on the live rock. Other rocks/corals are added to prolong times between adding water. I'd like to get a small invertebrate to help consume the algae. Would it be better to get a small anemone for the clownfish or can I get an emerald crab or something similar?

THanks

PS. Any recommendations for filling the tank to capacity with lifeforms until we upgrade to a bigger tank would be most appreciated as well.
 
There are few regulars on the forum right in your area. Cageburn sells frags. Nice quality stuff too. I don't know if I'm familiar with a yellowtail clownfish. (just looked it up. Looks like a Clarkii)..hermit snails, and snails are algae eaters. I'm not a fan of anenomes, if they die the poison can kill everything in the tank.

If I had an 8g I'd fill it with more coral than fish..that way you're growing them and getting them ready for the bigger tank.
 
I'm in the western suburbs and I've been to a few good shops out here.

Yellowtail was the name I found on Wikipedia. It is a clarkii as well. Will the clarkii bond with softer polyp corals as well?
 
If by bond you mean host, then yes it will. My clowns are currently hosting a hairy mushroom. The lighting in your current tank wouldn't be enough to keep an anemone alive for very long, they require very strong lighting. If you want to get something similar for your clown you can try hairy mushrooms, toadstools, xenias, clove polyps. All of those can be possible hosts for your clown and much safer for your tank then an anemone.

And welcome to the site!!
 
Clowns will host anything, even your powerhead ;) And there's no guarantee it will host any corals you get.

Careful with getting an anemone...if it dies, it wil take everything down with it quickly in an 8 g. Mushrooms are awesome...very hardy. Try getting a shrimp...they're cute. My peppermint used to swim to the surface and take food off my finger.
 
So the peppermint shrimp be a better choice over the emerald crab? How long should I wait after introducing the crustacean before I can add some corals? Would adding a blenny be a bad idea as well? Our clownfish, Schlomo, LOVES to rearrange and aerate the sand anytime we make any changes to the tank.
 
After looking through some photos, I believe that the live rock came with red mushrooms who have long since died. I did just discover earlier today a 2nd feather duster on the liverock.

Is there anything I can do to encourage the growth of the two feather dusters? We have been feeding the clownfish just standard flakes.
 
You can add a both the peppermint and emerald crab if you wanted. Check out other shrimp, snails, or crabs you may see others that you like. Also check out serpent stars, I think they're very cool and they'll scavenge any left over food in your tank. You don't have to wait to add corals, they don't add to your bioload so you can add them at the same time as the inverts.
 
Hello and welcome to the site...glad to have you. :) I agree with everyone else about the clown hosting various corals, you could get a large mushroom(fuzzy, elephant ear) for it. Since corals and inverts don't really have a bio-load, you can add them to the tank as often as you want, as long as your water parameters are good. An anemone would be a challenge and isn't really worth the risk.
 
Well first step would be to better your water conditions... its kinda hard to kill a mushroom. You can start by not feeding flakes, use frozen foods like brine or misis. Flakes get to the bottom decompose and produce nitrates. Test your water once all parameters are good then you can start to see some progress/growth. I know feather dusters are filter feeders so phytoplankton would help, but be careful it can muck up your water quality real quick.
 
BL1 said:
You can add a both the peppermint and emerald crab if you wanted. Check out other shrimp, snails, or crabs you may see others that you like. Also check out serpent stars, I think they're very cool and they'll scavenge any left over food in your tank. You don't have to wait to add corals, they don't add to your bioload so you can add them at the same time as the inverts.
Click to expand...
+1 BL1, thats some good advise there. Like the serpent.

but if you want to add another small breed fish it prolly couldn't hurt too much. Just keep up on your regular water changes...
 
Well, I added to my tank. I got 5 of what look like Turban snails. I also got 2 blue leg hermit crabs and 2 red tip hermit crabs. The clarkii doesn't seem to happy about his new roommates. He's tose the smallest of the hermit crabs around a few times. The crabs are settling in well and the snails are still alive, one is on the glass and 2 found their way onto a part of the live rock.

Isn't an 8G tank a little small for a serpent star? It just seems like it wouldn't have enough room to move around.
 
Our clarkii is about 3.5 to 4" now. When will we need to upgrade to a larger tank for him? Can this explain his aggression toward his new roomies? I saw at the lfs how big they can get which is very near the width of this tank.
 
Tonight I noticed a pinkish fuzzy worm coming out of one of the shells that I bought with my hermit crabs. THe only pictures i could find are bristle worms. I would guess it's probably no longer than 1". It is a round worm and not flat. it did not come out of the shell completely. Does anyone have an idea of what this might be?
 

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