Natural Cleanup of Deceased Fish

Luvthekeys

Luvthekeys

Member
Okay my clownfish who never ate lasted three weeks acting healthy till the end. Then he went somewhere to die and of course it was deep within my rockwork. I am loathe to break down all my rockwork since it will be an all day job. Never to return to the way I like it without much cursing and raised blood pressure. I kept looking and think I spotted the corpse in a spot inaccessible unless I remove a large percentage of my rockwork. I did see one of my peppermint shrimp munching on the corpse while wearing a pilgrim hat since he thought it was thanksgiving. I plan to let my three peppermint shrimp and the rest of my cleanup crew dispose of the remains the natural way. I will monitor nitrate levels closely and have microlift in reserve to cope with any spike in ammonia nitrite or nitrates. Of course I would do water changes in conjunction with the above. Hopefully none of that will be necessary. Is this a reasonable plan of action.

Now for my second question. I want to replace the clownfish with something else. My tank is 28 gallon Nano and the only two fish, inhabitants are a Royal Gama and a Lawnmower Blenny. There are assorted coral and one pink bubble tip Anemone. I have thought about a six line Wrasse or one of the Goby species. . Also in the mix is Dottybacks or even anther type if I like the suggestion. I love the personality of the Blenny. So another type Blenny would be possible if it would get along with the Lawnmower Blenny is also an option. I am very open to suggestions even outside what I have mentioned.

Thanks again for any input

P.S. Just when I thought I has seen all the live rock hitchhikers over the past two months another one showed up. Another sea urchin this one with is black with long spikes. It stays out of the light and I was lucky to see it under one of my rocks.
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
Six line wrasses and dottybacks tend to be on the aggresive side, so if you choose to put one or both in the tank, it/they should be the last fish added. If you plan to have both, they should be added at the same time. Another blenny should work fine, as the LMB doesn't normally bother any other fish.

Sounds like you might have a long-spine urchin. Congratulations! They're great algae eaters!
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
I found one of these in my tank a couple of years ago. It's still alive and well.
Echinometra Mathaei... also known as rock-boring urchin. I've never seen it boring in my rocks... lol!

Echinometra Mathaei.jpg
 
Luvthekeys

Luvthekeys

Member
Pegasus.

My urchin looks similar but is jet black. I can not take a photo since he stays under rocks and I can barely see him. I still see the shingle Urchin and he is getting bigger. On a side note it looks like my brittle starfish has found the body of the clownfish. He has two arms around it and I suspect he is not letting go. I could not reach it unless I took my rock structure apart. So bon appetit.

I am thinking citron or green clown goby but read they are hard to get to eat. Have you any experience with either of those.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I put one in my old tank and never saw it again. I was sure it died. About two years later we were moving the tank to our new house an guess who I found? He was still alive. Could be he fed off things already in the tank. I never saw him eat prepared food.
 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
Luvthekeys said:
Pegasus.

My urchin looks similar but is jet black. I can not take a photo since he stays under rocks and I can barely see him. I still see the shingle Urchin and he is getting bigger. On a side note it looks like my brittle starfish has found the body of the clownfish. He has two arms around it and I suspect he is not letting go. I could not reach it unless I took my rock structure apart. So bon appetit.

I am thinking citron or green clown goby but read they are hard to get to eat. Have you any experience with either of those.
Click to expand...
As I mentioned earlier, probably a long-spined urchin (Diadema antillarum).

I don't have any experience with the green or citron gobies, but I have one black and two yellow clown gobies. They're probably the friendliest fish I own, and are almost always on display... whether it's perched on a rock or coral, or stuck to the side of the tank. The yellows actually come up and eat from my hand when I feed that tank. As far as the difference in the various clown gobies, I think it's just going to be coloration. As far as feeding them, mine eat anything and everything I put in the tank. Super-easy to care for, and fun to look at. Would make an excellent addition to a tank of any size.

Brittle stars are good at helping to clean up carrion, and nassaruis snails are rather excellent at it as well. Nassarius will help keep the sand bed stirred, and eat any leftover food that would otherwise rot. No tank should be without Nassarius snails... unless it's a predator tank. ;)
 
Luvthekeys

Luvthekeys

Member
Nassaruis snails were part of the first clean up crew I purchased. However I have not seen them since then. I assume they stay in the sand most of the time. I find it hard to believe they died and none of the other clean up crew did except for some Astrea snails who got themselves turned over and expired before I could right them. I do plan on getting a few more just in case they did expire. I heard the Mexican Turbo snails will eat nuisance algae others wont but can be brutes with your rockwork. Any thoughts on a few of them in my tank.

I think a clown goby is going to be the next fish. I do not want to have more then three or four small fish in a Nano tank. I see only citron and green versions on the retail version of this site. Actually all my purchases have been from Saltwaterfish.com. The nearest reef store is forty minutes away and I am not too fond of them. There is one near my car dealer in Sarasota who I will try next time I go in for an oil change and service.

Ever have a Boxing Crab or know of anyone who has. I kind of like the little guys. I wonder how he would get along with the multitude of hermit crabs in my cleanup crew?
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Generally the nar snails come out during feeding. There meat eaters so it makes sense. U can usually see there flute? Long nose lol sticking out of the sand
 
Luvthekeys

Luvthekeys

Member
Well it looks like I have to order Nassarius snail again. Surprising the rest of the snails in the clean up crew did well.
 
Luvthekeys

Luvthekeys

Member
ten small ones. They must have died fairly quickly since I thought they were in my sand bed. It is interesting since the rest of the cleaning crew did well. Even three peppermint shrimp are still alive and I thought they were most sensitive to changes in water quality. I am a wee bit nervous about adding to my cleaning crew since they seem to be doing a fairly good job with most algae. The back wall of my tank went from a thick algae covering to almost as if it were new. I have a many types of red macro algae which I think is beneficial except for the occasional cotton candy I get. No one eats it so I remove it by hand when I see it.
 
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