40g stocking/clean up crew help

[ellfe]

hi friends i would love some stocking ideas including CUC for my 40g. right now the only others i have are goby/pistol combo. i have my clown pair in there already. thanks !!

 

[Red_Beard]

what kind of a tank are you hoping to build? SPS/LPS/Nems/Mixed reef, what kind of fish do you like? Do you want to go with hermit crabs? or more snail centric for CUC? Personally i like to take a more snail heavy approach, astraea, trochus, cerith and mini ceriths. never had good luck with hermits playing nice and they go full murder on all the littler snails. Some of the stuff that is really cool you cant add with certain types of coral, so what i would recommend is figure out your 'must haves' and cater to and stock around that.

 

[ellfe]

hi thanks for the reply! sorry i should have specified. i’d like to go with reef safe but i wont have corals for a little. i like hermits but i dont like having their shells everywhere lol.

 

[JoJosReef]

Two tiger/strawberry conches for that sand bed! Once the diatoms hit, they'll happily hoover them up for you.

 

[BeanAnimal]

hi thanks for the reply! sorry i should have specified. i’d like to go with reef safe but i wont have corals for a little. i like hermits but i dont like having their shells everywhere lol.

Hermits can be hit or miss and are opportunistic omnivores.

For that size tank I would start with a few turbo snails and some Astrea snails. I would avoid all sand sifters, they will mess with your goby's tunnel system. So maybe 5-10 turbos and 10-15 Astrea.

A tuxedo or pincushion urchin can help, but may starve if there is not enough algae to eat. So maybe when the tank is fully established you can consider one.

You don't need much more than that.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Two tiger/strawberry conches for that sand bed! Once the diatoms hit, they'll happily hoover them up for you.

Please no. They will absolutely starve to death in that tank and moreover will continually wreck the shrimp/goby homestead.

 

[JoJosReef]

Please no. They will absolutely starve to death in that tank and moreover will continually wreck the shrimp/goby homestead.

I don't agree, especially not the absolute part. My two went into my 40 right away and are still plowing around a year and change later, not bothering the yasha/pistol in the least. That said, I moved quickly with my tank development, transferring about 30% of the rocks from a mature nano, impregnated the sand bed with live Fiji mud, and generally had a lot of food going in. The OP might not be on track to run that race, so perhaps waiting to add small conches until maturing the tank a bit isn't a bad idea.