SW thoughts

[phOOey]

Well, with my multies soon to be moving to there 15g, i have a spare 7g tank.

I have been reading up lately on SW nano's and have become very interested, and thought i'd have a go at one.

What changes would i need to make to my tank which was formely used as a fw tank? I am planning on having live rock, but dont really want to try any corals untill i get more confident.

I was thinking of maybe setting up this tank for a hi fin red banned goby, and a few cleaner shrimp and maybe a turbo snail. Would this work?

[1979camaro]

well, you probably wouldn't need to change anything on the tank...most likely you would not run a skimmer or anything on a tank of this size, just something for water movement; I assume you are currently running a hob filter which you could use for that

as far as the shrimp, probably only one in a tank of this size...and the turbo is also not a good choice because of his size, but there are a lot of smaller snails which would work well

[S.Reef]

Sounds pretty good to me. You will want some water movement...probably just a little powerhead. Depedning on the species of cleaners, you may be limited to one, but the Lysmata amboinensis then you shouldnt have a problem with a pair.

[phOOey]

thanks guys, the tank at the moment has a built in filter, this creates quite a bit of water movement, i think it should be enough. I was looking to get lysmata amboinensis anyway, skunk cleaner shrimp right? So i should beable to get two then.

What smaller snails would be suitable for this tank? i really want some sort of snail as i think it adds a little more diversity to the tank.

[1979camaro]

aside from just adding diversity, snails are also very useful for algae control...same with hermit crabs (which I would also reccomend a few of)

snails: margaritas, ceriths, astraeas, and trochus are all good sized...i would say maybe 5 total for your fifteen gallon, though you could certainly get more. in combination with those i would use 5 nassarius snails (these guys are tiny, and you won't see much of them, but they stir up the sandbed really well) and 5 bumble bee snails (also small, but cool stripey little buggers)

crabs: maybe 5 small hermits for this tank, either dwarf blue legged, zebra (aka left handed), or dwarf red legged...OR...an emerald mithrax crab (my personal choice in this situation)...might have to supplement the mithrax on occasion with some dried seaweed but thats easy...and you won't have to worry about getting him new shells or him finding his own (in other words, killing your snails)

between the snails and crabs your tank should be kept fairly algae free!

[S.Reef]

On the mark once more.

[phOOey]

cool, thanks for the great advice camaro!

[phOOey]

Camaro i think you misunderstood me, the multies will be going into the 15g and i was planning on using the 7g for a nano saltwater tank.

I really like the look of the emerald mithrix crab, but would the 7g be too small for one?

Nassarius and bumblebee snails also seem to be pretty cool and i think i'll defiantately be getting a few of those, i was also looking at the Astraea Turbo Snail.

So this is pressuming that i can still get a emerald mithrix crab the stocking would go something like:
- 1 hi fin red banded goby
- 1 emerald mithrix crab
- 1 astraea turbo snail
- 2 skunk cleaner shrimp
- 3 nassarius snails
- 3 bumblebee snails

So how does this sound, to much?

[1979camaro]

yah, i did misread that, my apologies, so i will amend my advice:

the mithrax probably would be ok, but will almost definitely require supplemental feeding so might be a poor choice...instead you might go for a trio of the smaller hermits...i have a personal prejudice agains the zebras because i have had problems with them praying on snails...the blues and reds are a better choice imo

not sure what the "Astrea Turbo" is, but an astrea (or 3) would be fine provided it wasn't the Astrea undoza which seems to be a popular new import for the hobby (and also grows quite large)

the rest of it sounds fine to me, though i would lean towards one cleaner shrimp

sounds like you are coming right along, and remember, these are only my suggestions, you need to do what you will be satisfied with

[phOOey]

cool, i was a bit wary (sp.) about getting the crab anyway, as i had read some reports of them eating other inverts, not sure how small these inverts were, but still better to be safe than sorry.

This is the link where i found the astrea turbo snail
http://www.etropicals.com/product/pr...43&pCatId=1291

I really like the look of the blue hermits and i think i will get them rather than the mithrix crab. I also have a bunch of shells that i use for my multies that would be perfect for them, so i dont think they'll ever feel the need to steal one of the snails shells .

I have been reading about the interesting relationships pistol shrimp can have with gobies, so i am unsure whether i would rather get the cleaner shrimp or the pistol shrimp, any thoughts?

Thanks for all the help so far