Clean up crew recommendations?

1MCp · Dec 25, 2016

Hi all been a while, merry Christmas.

Wanted to get some suggestions as to my plan.

I have a 30g nano reef tank with 28lbs of live rock. And a 1.5-2in sandbed.

Have an AquaticLife skimmer rated for 30g. Two mangroves and some other calcium based macroalgae and about 25 of those Fluval porous rock for pretty strong biofilter.

Last water test came out to no nitrate or ammonia and 8.2ph and 1.025 for salinity.

Currently housing a pair of oc clownfish. Six line wrasse. Spotted sandsifiting goby and a watchman goby + trigger shrimp combo.

Last fish to be added was the goby and shrimp combo about 1.5 month ago.

I have one small emerald crab, 4small hermit crabs.

Now to the question. I would like to maybe add a blood shrimp which look beautiful and will be on sale tomorrow at my LFS. Are they good cleaners or do they just look real pretty?

Additionally, I feel though I have five fish currently, the two gobies are either sifting sand all day and the watchman is just sticking its head out and not doing much else all day.

I was thinking if I would be pushing it to add another active nano fish or a display fish like a firefish? Or a neon dottyback?

Shrimp I would definitely like and fish depending on some of your experiences and wisdom.

The picture is pretty much 85% of the time as for "actively" displayed fish and livestock.

Thank you!

Mike_J · Dec 25, 2016

With your existing stock and setup, I wouldn't recommend adding fish to your system. Blood shrimp are known cleaners but will probably spend more time in the shadows and not out and active enough to enjoy their beauty.

BlueCursor · Dec 27, 2016

+1 on no more fish.

If you need cleanup crew members for algae, urchins are really great. I will never have an aquarium without them. But in a small aquarium, I don't think you would have enough rock for them to clean and keep fed. A rock urchin would be fine, if you want to go that route.

Trochus snails if you want to go the snail route.

1MCp · Dec 27, 2016

BlueCursor said:
+1 on no more fish.

If you need cleanup crew members for algae, urchins are really great. I will never have an aquarium without them. But in a small aquarium, I don't think you would have enough rock for them to clean and keep fed. A rock urchin would be fine, if you want to go that route.

Trochus snails if you want to go the snail route.

Gonna look into a small cushion urchin thanks for the input! A

LetItReef · Dec 27, 2016

Fire shrimp is a good cleaner. I have two and they are out and about. With the size of the tank you can see them often.
They also not as bad when it comes to stealing food from corals compare to Skunk.