What are the symbiotic relationships in a reef?

[LIreefguy106]

Greetings fellow hobbyists,

I'm setting up a a 90 mixed reef and wanted to stock inhabitants which have unique relationships. I have a watchman goby/pistol shrimp pair and will be getting two pairs of clowns/anemone. Are there any other pairing that I'm not aware of? Curious to see the responses. Visuals always help! Here's my dynamic duo.

 

[fab]

Certainly one of the most widely known is the anemone fish and its host anemone.

 

[fab]

I'm setting up a a 90 mixed reef and wanted to stock inhabitants which have unique relationships.

And that is a great idea for a unifying theme. I like it. It will be much more interesting than just a bunch of unrelated fish swimming around. Great idea!
I hope forum members will put forth excellent stocking ideas for you. I will be tracking your thread.
good luck,
fab

 

[LIreefguy106]

I find the mutualism fascinating. I mean we are replicating a reef so might as well go all the way with the livestock. I do also have a school of chromis in my tank too. I guess that's another relationship: schooling of fish. Not all fish display that behavior and I do enjoy watching them all hang out together.

 

[Naiad]

Get a few rock nems and an anemone crab. Also a cleaner shrimp and you may get to see him clean a few fish.

 

[LIreefguy106]

I have a cleaner in there now. How big of a fish will he clean bc I read that groupers will open their mouths and let other guys clean them. I'm not stocking a grouper at this time but just asking.

 

[Naiad]

Mine clean any size fish. The nano gobies are afraid he is trying to eat them though and run. Many little gobies are cleaners but rarely act as such in captivity.

 

[LIreefguy106]

My cleaner just perches upside on my shelf rock and hangs out. Doesn't do much. I'll give him some time. Inhabitants are < 2 weeks in my tank right now.

 

[LIreefguy106]

Also all fish were placed at once into the established, cycled system. Maybe that's why he didn't clean them.

 

[Naiad]

Some are weird about it. My one blenny would only be cleaned by my blood shrimp. May not have recognized the skunk cleaners as cleaner shrimp.

 

[Sabellafella]

Evansi anthias and midas blennys, pistol shrimp and gobys, anemone fish and nems, hermitz and nems, shortcrabs and nems, cleaner shrimp and eals, cleaner wrasse and fish

 

[Naiad]

Pom pom crabs with their nem, if you can get a full colony of acro then an acro crab, long spine urchin and a breeding pair of bangii cardinal. There are cucumbers that have shrimp and fish that live in and on them.

 

[dbl]

Shark and a Remora, but you'll need a bigger tank! And let's not forget the symbiotic relationship between corals and zooxanthellae.