maybe a stupid question about inverts?
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cholland
Member
The answer is no, inverts do not go by the inch per fish rule. You generally can have as many inverts as you want. But if you have to many and not enough food, then some would starve. And some inverts need certain size tanks to be healthy, because they have special diet needs, like say a linkia star.
HTH
HTH
jeremyglen
Member
As far as I know, you don't count most inverts in the fish rule. Most inverts, i.e. crabs, snails, urchins, stars, etc., are cleaners in the aquarium. They are not producing more waste than they are consuming, so they don't count. Fish produce the most waste in the aquarium, that is why they are counted.
That said, you don't want to go off and throw 100 blue-legs in a 10g aquarium because that is just too much of a load(I've done it cause I had nowhere else to put them). There are recommended quanities of the different inverts per gallon that should be followed, but can be over-loaded by a little. I have about 3 astrea snails per gallon in my biggest tank and it is fine, and there is practically no algae.
Basically, just don't overload the system with more than it can handle. I wouldn't add more than 1-2/gallon of anything, except maybe certain snails and blue-leg hermits. Also, don't add more inverts than there is food for, don't want them to starve.
That said, you don't want to go off and throw 100 blue-legs in a 10g aquarium because that is just too much of a load(I've done it cause I had nowhere else to put them). There are recommended quanities of the different inverts per gallon that should be followed, but can be over-loaded by a little. I have about 3 astrea snails per gallon in my biggest tank and it is fine, and there is practically no algae.
Basically, just don't overload the system with more than it can handle. I wouldn't add more than 1-2/gallon of anything, except maybe certain snails and blue-leg hermits. Also, don't add more inverts than there is food for, don't want them to starve.
stuckinfla
Active Member
The only stupid question, is the one not asked.
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xnikki118x
Guest
Red general stars and chocolate chip stars are not considered reef-safe. From what I've heard, you shouldn't keep more than one linckia (any type) in a tank, but my friend has an orange linkia and a blue linkia in his 55 and both are doing very well.
As far as urchins are concerned, I have a black spiny urchin in my tank, which is kind of a "reef-in-progress" as I don't have money to add corasls very often, but I'm getting there.
I'll attach a pic of him to this post. The only problem I've ever had is that sometimes he'll knock some rocks over, but you'll have that...just try your best to make sure your formations are study and not wobbly or unbalanced at all. Or use super glue gel. [Some people prefer to go with the glue--I don't only because I like to change the formations around a bit from time to time.]
I've never heard of any species or urchins or stars not getting along, but there are always exceptions. You can search in this forum to see if anyone's ever had diffculty keeping either or both, and you can always google and see what other sites have to say about particular species. And if worse comes to worst and you have an aggressor on your hands, you can send him my way.
As far as urchins are concerned, I have a black spiny urchin in my tank, which is kind of a "reef-in-progress" as I don't have money to add corasls very often, but I'm getting there.
I'll attach a pic of him to this post. The only problem I've ever had is that sometimes he'll knock some rocks over, but you'll have that...just try your best to make sure your formations are study and not wobbly or unbalanced at all. Or use super glue gel. [Some people prefer to go with the glue--I don't only because I like to change the formations around a bit from time to time.]I've never heard of any species or urchins or stars not getting along, but there are always exceptions. You can search in this forum to see if anyone's ever had diffculty keeping either or both, and you can always google and see what other sites have to say about particular species. And if worse comes to worst and you have an aggressor on your hands, you can send him my way.