Interesting inverts

[MombasaLionfish]

I have a 75g aquarium with a radiata lionfish. I’ve been down on my luck with fish lately and it looks like the lion will be alone, at least for a while. The tank is a bit boring with 1 fish, id like to introduce some more inverts to add some interest but finding inverts that are both reef safe and that won’t get eaten by the lionfish is proving difficult.

Besides corals the tank currently has 10 hermits, 6 astrea snails, 6 nassarius snails, and a sand sifting starfish. Does anyone have any ideas? The tank is only a few months old.

These are my two favorites. Decorator crab

Giant hermit crab with anemone on shell

Some of my other favorites include feather dusters, porcelain crabs and pitho crabs.

 

[Han]

These are my two favorites. Decorator crab

Giant hermit crab with anemone on shell

Some of my other favorites include feather dusters, porcelain crabs and pitho crabs.

Nice decorator, how big is it?

 

[MombasaLionfish]

4ish inches across. It eats shrimp and the flat seaweed things.

 

[Han]

4ish inches across. It eats shrimp and the flat seaweed things.

That sounds too big for my lion to eat, I’ll have to look online for a big one. My lfs only ever has small ones

 

[MombasaLionfish]

His only bad habit is the occasional snail eating and destroying of macroalgae. Mine has a blue sponge on its head that it came with and it survived and made more blue sponges.

 

[BloopFish]

His only bad habit is the occasional snail eating and destroying of macroalgae. Mine has a blue sponge on its head that it came with and it survived and made more blue sponges.

How does it do around soft corals?

 

[MombasaLionfish]

How does it do around soft corals?

He only ever ran over a zoa and made it unhappy. He does not take any corals and put it on himself he will do that if you put fancy macroalgae in your tank.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Also the one time I had a sponge in my tank he took pretty much all of it.

 

[Han]

That sounds like one cool crab, I’ll keep an eye out for one.

 

[PhilT]

My Halloween urchin, he’s constantly moving all the tank. I have a smaller one in another tank, that one has a cap of zoas that he’s always carrying around.

 

[Salt_Creep]

Like others, I really like the Halloween crabs, but my new favorites are my Conch and my biscuit starfish.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Serpent and brittle star in first pic are awesome. Conch is a very odd creature. And the marine giant hermit crab could work if your tank is tall enough to keep the lion far away from it

 

[Han]

I like those stars. I’m definitely going to have to start feeding the cuc more, most of my nassarius snails got eaten by hermits. That big hermit is cool too, I’d imagine it’s a little destructive?

 

[xxkenny90xx]

A little destructive is an understatement, he's a monster. He spends his days moving my live rocks around and eating my sand dollars

 

[xxkenny90xx]

But the serpent and brittle starfish are great for a reef tank and come in lots of cool colors and patterns

 

[Han]

A little destructive is an understatement, he's a monster. He spends his days moving my live rocks around and eating my sand dollars

Well I’m sure he’s an entertaining one

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Also just a warning I'm not sure if someone said this before but the giant hermit will get to be the size of a football and they reach their adult size in about three years. Here are some links with more information.
https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/smsfp/irlspec/Petroc_diogen.htm
https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/giant-marine-hermit-medium

 

[Michael A Kurolvech]

Hi Han,

I've got a 32 gal setup for an Angler and I have the same issue, trying to add diversity and action to a dangerous tank. In addition to snails and hermits I have added a Sand Sifting Star, Pink Short Spine Urchin, Conch and Emerald Crab. I'm also actively looking to add a Serpent Star. I also saw mention of Macroalgae, I use Dragons Breath and see my urchin in there regularly. When the Dragons Breath grows, I prune it and add it to my reef for the fish to snack on.

 

[Han]

Hi Han,

I've got a 32 gal setup for an Angler and I have the same issue, trying to add diversity and action to a dangerous tank. In addition to snails and hermits I have added a Sand Sifting Star, Pink Short Spine Urchin, Conch and Emerald Crab. I'm also actively looking to add a Serpent Star. I also saw mention of Macroalgae, I use Dragons Breath and see my urchin in there regularly. When the Dragons Breath grows, I prune it and add it to my reef for the fish to snack on.

I’ve been considering macroalgae, but I’ve never tried it before and I don’t know how it would do in such a low nutrient environment. What are your water parameters like that it grows successfully?