30 gallon cube stocking, fish that will go with sexy shrimp?

Flatearth · Jun 22, 2023

I have recently fallen in love with "sexy shrimp" and rock flower anemones. I am getting a 30 gallon cube for them in fact, and I wanted to see what else I could add.

Must haves: Several sexy shrimp, several rock flower anemones

Inverts I would like to add: Pom pom crab, Crinoid squat lobsters

Things I already have in other tanks that I would like put in the cube: bubble tip anemone, pair of cleaner shrimp, dwarf blue leg hermits, halloween reef hermits.

Fish I was thinking: pair of yasha goby(probably not with a pistol shrimp cause it will hurt my sexy shrimp right?), and a pair of some sort of clownfish? I already have ocelaris in my other tanks, so I would be interested in a different clown. The Amphiprion barberi(fiji clown) and the Spotcinctus(maybe too big?) seem interesting but I am open to suggestions. For a 5th fish some sort of small wrasse would be nice, but if the other 4 put me at capacity I can skip this.

j.falk · Jun 22, 2023

Sexy shrimp are beautiful and fun to watch...but if they go rogue and start eating things you don't want them to, they are a pain to get back out of a tank. I had 5 of them in my tank a month ago and one morning all 5 of them started picking on my smallest BTA to the point where it just looked deflated all the time and didn't want to open back up. 4 of the 5 sexy shrimp were removed from the tank and the anemone is back to normal. The last sexy, which was the biggest of the bunch, is smart. She knows exactly where to go so I can't get to her with a net...so for now, she stays.

Flatearth · Jun 23, 2023

j.falk said:
Sexy shrimp are beautiful and fun to watch...but if they go rogue and start eating things you don't want them to, they are a pain to get back out of a tank. I had 5 of them in my tank a month ago and one morning all 5 of them started picking on my smallest BTA to the point where it just looked deflated all the time and didn't want to open back up. 4 of the 5 sexy shrimp were removed from the tank and the anemone is back to normal. The last sexy, which was the biggest of the bunch, is smart. She knows exactly where to go so I can't get to her with a net...so for now, she stays.

Well given they are my main motivation for getting the tank, I am not too worried about them as long as they don't eat the rock flowers which I have never heard of them doing.

What fish did you keep with yours ?

ClownWrangler · Jun 23, 2023

Flatearth said:
Well given they are my main motivation for getting the tank, I am not too worried about them as long as they don't eat the rock flowers which I have never heard of them doing.

What fish did you keep with yours ?

They dont eat BTAs either, they eat the mucus if they don't have any other food and it can irritate the nem. Just make sure they are well fed. Also, dont add a flame hawk or any hawkfish for that matter. I have a pair that ate my large brittle star and a SLF crab twice their size. Also, the hermits will eat any snails you put in too. I got rid of mine.

Flatearth · Jun 23, 2023

ClownWrangler said:
They dont eat BTAs either, they eat the mucus if they don't have any other food and it can irritate the nem. Just make sure they are well fed. Also, dont add a flame hawk or any hawkfish for that matter. I have a pair that ate my large brittle star and a SLF crab twice their size. Also, the hermits will eat any snails you put in too. I got rid of mine.

Given that hawkfish sometimes go for the cleaner shrimp I am definitely skipping them for my sexy shrimp tank.

What do you think about the yasha goby, small pistol shrimp, and non-ocelaris clowns? Will any of those eat a sexy shrimp you think?