Struggling to make a fish list 72 gallon bow. Ideas?

[southerntnreefer]

I use stomatella snails now (got sick and tired of flipping snails) plus they reproduce in my tank year-round so I have a never ending supply and they do just as good a job as the astraea ever did. No hermits because of above reason and you can train the shrimp to ride your arm and eat from your hand which I find very cool, I call mine Clifford (Fire shrimp so red puppy)

If my research did me right,they are also called margarita snails correct?

 

[PicassoClown04]

If my research did me right,they are also called margarita snails correct?

I think margarita snails are different. My LFS sells margarita snails as tiny 1/2” snails with smooth rounded shells like a pebble. Here’s a stomatella from my tank. I keep them with a geometric hawk and have had no issues. Here’s a pic of one of mine, they drop their butts like how lizards drop their tails when you upset them but they always fully recover in a couple of weeks. As you can see, very little shell

 

[southerntnreefer]

I think margarita snails are different. My LFS sells margarita snails as tiny 1/2” snails with smooth rounded shells like a pebble. Here’s a stomatella from my tank. I keep them with a geometric hawk and have had no issues. Here’s a pic of one of mine, they drop their butts like how lizards drop their tails when you upset them but they always fully recover in a couple of weeks. As you can see, very little shell

Interesting! And these make it so I don't have to have any turbos or anything? I hate turbos, but they are often a necessary evil. Also not a fan of hermits so if I could stock with these, and larger shrimp (multiples) I'd be stoked and more than happy. Nothing irritates me more, than to have a turbo move coral, and or fall and I gotta get up above my hand in the tank and fix it...

 

[Tired]

You don't at all need turbos. You can just get an assortment of smaller snails. Stomatellas are fun, but not mandatory for a turbo-free tank. Look at ReefCleaners.com, they have a great variety. Nerites and ceriths are good all-round snails (nerites for glass cleaning, ceriths for general cleaning and a bit of glass cleaning), and you could even get some chitons if you wanted to pay for faster shipping. Turbos are good for tackling certain kinds of algae problems, but a lot of small snails will work just as well on most things, without moving coral or getting stuck on their backs.

With the shrimp, just be sure you pick ones that will do OK with each other. Some are very territorial, and there's a limit to how many of most cleaner shrimp you can put together. Coral banded shrimp are pretty, but are a danger to small fish and other inverts, so you may want to avoid them. A blood/fire shrimp and a skunk cleaner shrimp would be nice, and your tank has enough room that they should stay away from each other.

Hawkfish will absolutely murder shrimp, and sometimes smaller fish, but AFAIK won't eat snails.

 

[southerntnreefer]

The hawk I want is a flame hawk if it matters. Wife loves them think it would give a starry blenny any trouble?

 

[Tired]

Starry blennies get pretty decent-sized, should be okay. But I'd add the hawk near-last, and preferably start with a smaller one.

 

[southerntnreefer]

You don't at all need turbos. You can just get an assortment of smaller snails. Stomatellas are fun, but not mandatory for a turbo-free tank. Look at ReefCleaners.com, they have a great variety. Nerites and ceriths are good all-round snails (nerites for glass cleaning, ceriths for general cleaning and a bit of glass cleaning), and you could even get some chitons if you wanted to pay for faster shipping. Turbos are good for tackling certain kinds of algae problems, but a lot of small snails will work just as well on most things, without moving coral or getting stuck on their backs.

With the shrimp, just be sure you pick ones that will do OK with each other. Some are very territorial, and there's a limit to how many of most cleaner shrimp you can put together. Coral banded shrimp are pretty, but are a danger to small fish and other inverts, so you may want to avoid them. A blood/fire shrimp and a skunk cleaner shrimp would be nice, and your tank has enough room that they should stay away from each other.

Hawkfish will absolutely murder shrimp, and sometimes smaller fish, but AFAIK won't eat snails.

Is that including the blood shrimp and cleaners? I'd love to have 3 or 4 cleaners

 

[southerntnreefer]

Starry blennies get pretty decent-sized, should be okay. But I'd add the hawk near-last, and preferably start with a smaller one.

Yes he's be twords the end. Was also considering a diamond goby as my wife loves em. So having a goby, blenny and hawk... I'd assume 4 feet is enough territory?

 

[living_tribunal]

I have a similar sized tank. I focus on utility and interesting fish.


Here is my current fish stock and what I plan to pick up, I love all of them:

1.) 2 picasso clowns
2.) Banded pipe fish
3.) Halichoeres Chrysus (yellow wrasse) - fantastic utility, gets rid of anything nasty I don't want.
4.) Mandarin Dragonet
5.) Flame Tomini Tang - Excellent cleaning and looks great.

I will soon be adding the final fish: sharknose goby. They look fun and eat parasites off fish keeping everyone healthy.

 

[living_tribunal]

And they are safe with a hawkfish? I usually use a few turbos, and astraea, but always looking for better options.

I love stomatellas, much better than most every snail. They also have better longevity compared to turbos and astreas.

I like keeping minimal yet high impact cuc. Many snails will get turned over or eaten by hermits/emeralds/pithos so you have to be careful.

You can get a similar level of cleaning with stomatellas and my favorites cowries. I absolutely love my cowries. They move fast, clean big, are very hardy, and look the coolest out of any other snail. I'd get 2 stomatellas and 2 cowries.

To thoroughly get the rocks, I also have 2 chitons. They will do a very thorough rock clean once a month.

 

[southerntnreefer]

You don't at all need turbos. You can just get an assortment of smaller snails. Stomatellas are fun, but not mandatory for a turbo-free tank. Look at ReefCleaners.com, they have a great variety. Nerites and ceriths are good all-round snails (nerites for glass cleaning, ceriths for general cleaning and a bit of glass cleaning), and you could even get some chitons if you wanted to pay for faster shipping. Turbos are good for tackling certain kinds of algae problems, but a lot of small snails will work just as well on most things, without moving coral or getting stuck on their backs.

With the shrimp, just be sure you pick ones that will do OK with each other. Some are very territorial, and there's a limit to how many of most cleaner shrimp you can put together. Coral banded shrimp are pretty, but are a danger to small fish and other inverts, so you may want to avoid them. A blood/fire shrimp and a skunk cleaner shrimp would be nice, and your tank has enough room that they should stay away from each other.

Hawkfish will absolutely murder shrimp, and sometimes smaller fish, but AFAIK won't eat snails.

So I looked at reef cleaners. For a 72 bow they recommend 78 dwarf cwriths, 15 nassarius vibes 27 florida cwriths and 26 nerites do you add that all at once? Seems like a large one time add...

 

[southerntnreefer]

I have a similar sized tank. I focus on utility and interesting fish.


Here is my current fish stock and what I plan to pick up, I love all of them:

1.) 2 picasso clowns
2.) Banded pipe fish
3.) Halichoeres Chrysus (yellow wrasse) - fantastic utility, gets rid of anything nasty I don't want.
4.) Mandarin Dragonet
5.) Flame Tomini Tang - Excellent cleaning and looks great.

I will soon be adding the final fish: sharknose goby. They look fun and eat parasites off fish keeping everyone healthy.

Here is my latest list
Royal gramma
Starry blenny
Diamond goby
Pair of clowns
Purple firefish
Standard firefish
Captive bred Mandarin
Flame hawkfish
Dwarf cherub (pygmy angel)
Couple blue reef chromis?
Maybe some flasher or fairy wrasses of I have room.

 

[living_tribunal]

If my research did me right,they are also called margarita snails correct?

Stomatellas are not margaritas.

While effective, margaritas don't last long in a reef tank. They are found in colder waters and should be avoided in a reef tank for the most part.

 

[southerntnreefer]

I love stomatellas, much better than most every snail. They also have better longevity compared to turbos and astreas.

I like keeping minimal yet high impact cuc. Many snails will get turned over or eaten by hermits/emeralds/pithos so you have to be careful.

You can get a similar level of cleaning with stomatellas and my favorites cowries. I absolutely love my cowries. They move fast, clean big, are very hardy, and look the coolest out of any other snail. I'd get 2 stomatellas and 2 cowries.

To thoroughly get the rocks, I also have 2 chitons. They will do a very thorough rock clean once a month.

I love cowries!! I kept them in my puffer tanks as well, they just couldn't get to them to eat them. Very effective!

 

[PicassoClown04]

IME, stomatellas did a better job of cleaning. I see them on the glass more, I see them in the rocks more, and they are able to get into tiny crevices because they have no shell to hold them back. I witness spawning events often, and it seems like a good deal of the babies make it because I started with 2 and now have dozens. I never see them during the day unless I look for them but I know they’re there because they swarm the glass at night. They don’t knock frags over cause no shell and they are very thorough, plus they were free as hitchhikers. All good things in my book and more than enough for me to give all my shelled snails back to the LFS. In a tank as big as yours, I’d use at least 3 cleaner shrimp (my favorite is the fire shrimp because I think it’s the prettiest, but if you have a qt tank that’s very beneficial just for training purposes so you actually see it. They start out scared of humans but after you get them eating from your hand they are very personable. I start all the newbies in my 20 gallon tank, train them, then move them to the larger tank where they actively come up to me. I would adjust the number of shrimp up as you see fit, it’s easier to add shrimp than to try to get them out of there.

 

[southerntnreefer]

IME, stomatellas did a better job of cleaning. I see them on the glass more, I see them in the rocks more, and they are able to get into tiny crevices because they have no shell to hold them back. I witness spawning events often, and it seems like a good deal of the babies make it because I started with 2 and now have dozens. I never see them during the day unless I look for them but I know they’re there because they swarm the glass at night. They don’t knock frags over cause no shell and they are very thorough, plus they were free as hitchhikers. All good things in my book and more than enough for me to give all my shelled snails back to the LFS. In a tank as big as yours, I’d use at least 3 cleaner shrimp (my favorite is the fire shrimp because I think it’s the prettiest, but if you have a qt tank that’s very beneficial just for training purposes so you actually see it. They start out scared of humans but after you get them eating from your hand they are very personable. I start all the newbies in my 20 gallon tank, train them, then move them to the larger tank where they actively come up to me. I would adjust the number of shrimp up as you see fit, it’s easier to add shrimp than to try to get them out of there.

I had a fire shrimp once. Saw him day 1 and never again. I have a single cleaner in my wife's tank 32 biocube and he's amazing. Climbs my arm. In a 72 what would you say is shrimp max? Like 3 in total, or could I do 3 cleaners and a pair of fires or visa versa etc. I couldn't have shrimp in my old reef due to my coris wrasse so I'm a bit off my game there.

 

[southerntnreefer]

IME, stomatellas did a better job of cleaning. I see them on the glass more, I see them in the rocks more, and they are able to get into tiny crevices because they have no shell to hold them back. I witness spawning events often, and it seems like a good deal of the babies make it because I started with 2 and now have dozens. I never see them during the day unless I look for them but I know they’re there because they swarm the glass at night. They don’t knock frags over cause no shell and they are very thorough, plus they were free as hitchhikers. All good things in my book and more than enough for me to give all my shelled snails back to the LFS. In a tank as big as yours, I’d use at least 3 cleaner shrimp (my favorite is the fire shrimp because I think it’s the prettiest, but if you have a qt tank that’s very beneficial just for training purposes so you actually see it. They start out scared of humans but after you get them eating from your hand they are very personable. I start all the newbies in my 20 gallon tank, train them, then move them to the larger tank where they actively come up to me. I would adjust the number of shrimp up as you see fit, it’s easier to add shrimp than to try to get them out of there.

I'm interested in stomatellas as well additionally but can't find em for sale

 

[PicassoClown04]

I had a fire shrimp once. Saw him day 1 and never again. I have a single cleaner in my wife's tank 32 biocube and he's amazing. Climbs my arm. In a 72 what would you say is shrimp max? Like 3 in total, or could I do 3 cleaners and a pair of fires or visa versa etc. I couldn't have shrimp in my old reef due to my coris wrasse so I'm a bit off my game there.

I would start with 3 total of any type you want, I’ve just had the best experiences with fire shrimp. A trio of cleaners, a cleaner a skunk and a fire, a pair of fires and a peppermint, whatever you want you can add more down the line if you need. I’d say max at maybe 5

 

[PicassoClown04]

I'm interested in stomatellas as well additionally but can't find em for sale

Yeah you pretty much have to get them from hobbyists or LFS tanks. They don’t list them for sale but if you see a couple in your LFS tanks they’re usually happy to sell them to you. I have shipped some reefers stomatella snails, it worked out pretty good

 

[southerntnreefer]

Yeah you pretty much have to get them from hobbyists or LFS tanks. They don’t list them for sale but if you see a couple in your LFS tanks they’re usually happy to sell them to you. I have shipped some reefers stomatella snails, it worked out pretty good

I have one or 2 in my wife's biocube that came in on some coral I believe. They do well. I'll have to keep my eyes out.