Marine Betta (AKA Comet)

[king_nothing_]

I recently rebooted my system, and traded in all my fish except for my marine betta, a small gold striped maroon clown, lunare wrasse, and lawnmower blenny. I have a 75G tank, as well as a 40G (which the livestock is currently in, as my 75 JUST completed its cycle today).
In its original setup, I did not have any snails, crabs, or shrimp, and therefore got a HORRIBLE algae problem. Now I have plenty of snails and hermits, as well as a cleaner and some peppermint shrimp. I want all of these to remain alive.
So.....
do you think I should put my marine betta in the main tank, and risk him maybe messing with my them? I've fed him live ghost shrimp a time or 2, and he ravages them. I'm worried he MAY mistake peppermint shrimp as food possibly. The betta normally eats frozen mysis, so its not like he ONLY eats live or anything, but I just dont know if I should risk it. Those shrimp are expensive. oh and the betta is only around 2.5" long not including its tail. Its still pretty small.
If putting him in my reef sounds like a bad idea, I suppose I could keep it in the 40G for a while (which Im leaving set up as a quarentine/non-reef-safe tank). I mean, hes in there right now, and there are 4-5 hermit crabs in there the same size as the ones in the DT, and he hasnt so much as looked at them, I'm just worried about the peppermint shrimp.
Anyone have any exeperience?

 

[aquaknight]

It's not the Marine Betta I'd worry about, but your Lunare Wrasse is going to have a field day with everything else in the tank... How big is he?
And having snails and hermits shouldn't be necessary to maintain a tank. If you like them, they're fine to have, but relying on them to rid your tank of algae problems isn't going to work. Something else is wrong, with tap water with phosphates, overfeeding, etc, and that needs corrected.

 

[stanlalee]

NONE of those will remain alive with the Lunare or Comet. The Lunare will eat ALL those. the comet will definately eat the shrimp if not the other cleaners too.

 

[snowrider84]

my comet does not eat hermits snails or shrimp i have a few cleaners and a coral banded and he has not even tried to eat them. the cleaners are about an inch and a half and the coral is about an inch and they share a cave. they have been together for about a year and a half with out any problems

 

[king_nothing_]

Thanks for the replies.
the lunare wrasse is staying in the 40G for now til i figure out what to do with it. I've already seen it trying to kill the few snails i have in there and hes only like 3.5 inches.
It sounds like it varies from comet to comet, I guess. I'll probably put like 1 of the peppermint shrimp in the QT tank with it, and see if he shows interest in it. If he doesnt, I'll give them a shot, because I realy like him, and he has shown absolutely no interest in snails or small hermits whatsoever.
anyone else ever tried putting a comet in a reef?

 

[rotarymagic]

Originally Posted by king_nothing_
http:///forum/post/2852232
Thanks for the replies.
the lunare wrasse is staying in the 40G for now til i figure out what to do with it. I've already seen it trying to kill the few snails i have in there and hes only like 3.5 inches.
It sounds like it varies from comet to comet, I guess. I'll probably put like 1 of the peppermint shrimp in the QT tank with it, and see if he shows interest in it. If he doesnt, I'll give them a shot, because I realy like him, and he has shown absolutely no interest in snails or small hermits whatsoever.
anyone else ever tried putting a comet in a reef?
Comets=grouper... anything that fits in their mouth... well it fits in their mouth.

 

[keri]

What about an urchin for the algae problem? Some are better than others, mine was just sold to me as a "coloured urchin" be he DEVOURS any algae in the tank. I actually kleep a little ball of chaeto that I pull bits off of to feed him as he eats everything green.
This is him:

See his little bit of chaeto? He gets that a day. If I give him a giant ball, he drags that around too, but he knocks too much stuff over with it so I ration it

 

[mboswell1982]

what kinda urchin is that? ive never seen one that colored up before

 

[bioneck47]

BTW nice pics!

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by snowrider84
http:///forum/post/2852172
my comet does not eat hermits snails or shrimp i have a few cleaners and a coral banded and he has not even tried to eat them. the cleaners are about an inch and a half and the coral is about an inch and they share a cave. they have been together for about a year and a half with out any problems
Snowrider. It is common for marine betta's to shave caves with coral banded shrimps. they do that in nature. Likewise cleaner shrimp are often exempt from predation because they are recognized as cleaners. that being said shrimp, crabs and small fish are their primary diet.
from scott micheals reef fish series:
At night, they move from cover to stalk shrimps, crabs and small fishes. Sometimes, it shares caves and crevices with shrimps (e.g., Stenopus hispidus), the spotfin lionfish, and pygmy angelfish....
However, beware_your Comet may thin out your crustacean community. Although comets may ignore resident crustaceans, newly introduced shrimp often become targets of their hunting efforts.

 

[king_nothing_]

thanks for all the info. everyone! I guess what I'll do is introduce all the inverts before I put the betta in, hoping that it will ignore them as residents. Worst comes to worse, I can take it back out. He's REALLY easy to catch in the net, such a slow swimmer, so if he becomes a problem I can have a backup plan ready. Its frankly worth the risk to me of losing a $4 peppermint shrimp or 2 to find out if this thing can stay in my reef.....such a cool looking fish. And fairly uncommon too (I've never seen a pic of someone with one in their tank, nor for sale localy).

 

[snowrider84]

Stan thanks for the info

i have always worried a bit about it but now i know that i dont need to. My comet has left everything alone in my tank, but i may be lucky, he was worth the try to me. he will even eat flakes now