Stocking for a 5 Gallon

[fretfreak13]

I can hear you asking yourself this right now. Why the heck is she trying to do a five gallon saltwater? My answer to that one is, because my mom wont let me put anything else in the livingroom. I hate it when I put so much work into making my tank nice, and it has to be shunned to the basement because she thinks I'm going to get water on the floor, so no one sees my tank. Newsflash, mom, it's just water. Last time I checked it didn't stain. Anyways, here's what I was hoping to get.

• 1 Shrimp / Goby pair. I'm hoping for the Yashia pair, they're expensive but by far my favorite.
• 1 Pom Pom Crab OR 1 porcelain crab. Which do you think will fare better?
• 5 hermits
  1 mexican turbo snail
  A few other snails. Which ones? I've never brought snails.
  Small starfish of some kind? Any suggustions?

So, am I overstocking with invets? Also, what kind of sand should I get? n my other tank, my first one, I used CC because that's what the tank came with. If I could go back I'd switch out for sand, but too late now.

 

[aceguitar1]

Ok, so I'm considering starting a second tank (that just so happens to be a five gallon). That's why this post caught my eye

First of all, I do have to warn you that I'm not an expert on here like some people, but I'll tag along on this post and hear what other people have to say if that's cool!
As far as inverts go, from what I've gathered is that most people suggest 1 invert per gallon of water in your tank. However, I have just started researching a five gallon, so I'd like to hear other people's opinions on the matter.
One of my LFS's has a five gallon set up right now, and they have live sand and some live rock in it. Looks really nice. The live sand they used was Ocean Direct Carribean Live Sand. Hope that helps with the sand question

 

[xcali1985]

Gotta realize that once you put sand and rock in the tank it's going to be like 2 net gallons of water.

 

[btldreef]

If you plan on doing any corals, I don't recommend a Turbo snail. They knock everything over. Also, my hermits were forever killing my turbos for their shells.
I love my porcelain, he has so much personality. However, I've heard they don't live that long from a few people on another forum, I've only had mine for about a month.
Your stock list depends on how much rock you want in there. I think that might be too many hermits. It's all dependent on how much rock/sand you're going to be adding.
Can you convince mom to let you have a 10G, which will be like 5G water once other things are added? It would be easier, but there's plenty of people that do "pico tanks." They are hard to maintain though.

 

[fretfreak13]

The main reason she is letting me do this tank, besides the water on the floor thing, is because I already have the tank. It's currently housing my jack dempsy, and I just made his new tank yesterday (let it sit overnight). The five gallon I'm going to be using is a hex tank with a fitted light and filtration system.
Oh, and I mainly asked about the sand because the fish and shrimp are burrowers. I don't want to get it too fine that it keeps falling on them, or too big that they cant move it. I'm using CC in my other tank and the diatom on it is gross, so I want something that can be sifted by the tank inhabitants.
Ok, so how bout this.
goby/pistol
porcelain crab (the pistol wont hurt it, right? I think the yashia pistols are the smallest)
three hermits?
And maybe a few of the smaller snails?
Also, what about an urchin? I've done no reading on them at all, just throwing that out there. i think they're kinda neat.
Oh yeah, and I will only have zoas and shrooms in this tank. I'm using the stock lighting and it's meant for freshwater. i have zoas and shrooms in my 29 with freshwater lighting and they're fine so I figured they'd be ok in this tank too.

 

[chrisnif]

I just started a 5 gal myself, i am testing out a new substrate from lowes called "paver base" The tank was originally going to be for Tanganyikian shell dwellers but I got the saltwater itch and couldn't wait for my new tank. Anyway its coarse sand mixed with some tiny flecks of slate. Not exactly natural but so far my bristle worm has been digging around in it.
I'll be watching your thread to see how you do with your tank. When I was your age I had a 20L with an undulated trigger, a snowflake eel and a domino damsel (until the trigger got hungry). No live rock, just a simple penguin filter and an UGF with crushed coral Cant get much simpler, and I never had water problems, albeit none of the fish in there should have been there

 

[fretfreak13]

slate, is that ok to add to a SW tank? I know a lot of rocks arent. anyone want to chime in on that one?
And haha I love how that kind of stuff works out sometimes. In freshwater, I had an arrowana housed with some small chiclids. My arrowana tank started to leak and I had to throw him in with the chiclids, I expected them to be dead by the morning but low and behold, he never touched them.
Oh, and I was planning on adding about 5-8 lbs of LR to this tank, with about 3 inches of substrate.

 

[aceguitar1]

Any pics of your five gallon Chrisnif?

 

[fretfreak13]

Yes, I'd love to see some too =P
Also, another quick question. SWF sells sponges, and I have a few hitch hiking Q-tips in my 29 gallon that come and go. Are sponges non-photosynthic? Do they need to be fed? Also, can they be fragged? I was thinking about getting ared tree sponge only if I can frag it, because it looks like it'll grow too big for my little tank.

 

[fretfreak13]

An updated stock list.

• 1 Yasha Goby
• 1 Cany Pistol Shrimp
• 2 Hermits
• 1 Porcelan Crab
  2 Narci Snails
  2 Cerith Snails (They're the algea eaters, right?)
  I would like to get a blue tuxedo urchin too, maybe not for this tank because I think it might be too small (correct me if I'm wrong, I'd happily put one in this tank) but for my other one. Are they reef safe and do they need any special care?