Never add "THIS INVERT" to your reef aquarium?

[EugeneVan]

Personally i am done with urchins. Not because i dont like them because they look so cool

But i dont know many people that have had long term success with them. They seem to be sooooooooooooooooo sensitve to any peramiter swing and then just die

Never again

Yes, they are sensitve to water. If you can keep SPS alive and growing, you will not have problem keep them alive too. They did excellent jobs keeping the unwant alage in check. The best clean up crews for me

 

[Reef and Dive]

Spider crabs are evil

 

[LeftyReefer]

It's peppermint shrimp for me. they have destroyed multiple corals and two expensive clams before I figured out who the culprit was. No longer welcome.

Saying that, they are extremely easy to catch, so I add them when needed, but will then catch and get rid of when their purpose is fulfilled.

The same thing that makes them valuable in a reef tank, also makes them dangerous in a reef tank.

They are no longer considered full time inhabitants of my reef, but they are still welcome to come for a visit, but only when invited.

love my urchin and conchs. All model citizens and welcome full time residents.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

My peppermints did a great job on aiptasia but I won't be replacing them unless I find myself with an aiptasia problem again. I actually enjoyed them for the most part, they spawned regularly to the delight of my fish, and they were fun to watch. They only tried to destroy one coral (birdsnest), but that was still one coral too many. Just can't trust them!

 

[LeannaBanana]

Emerald crabs. Terrible creatures. Had one branching hammer with 13 heads start dying off. One night I watch the crab tearing out healthy polyps.

Second for emerald crab. I loved mine when he first arrived, but it quickly became a love/hate when he ignored the perfectly good leftover Mysis and Nori tossed his way in favor of picking at corals.

 

[Hairyteeth]

F peppermints!!! Ate my lobo, or at least ripped it apart going after it’s food, as well as a few other lps, luckily my wrasse decided to kill it and the hermits, problem solved lol

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Emerald crabs
- tried them multiple times, each time I've had them turn rogue and eat all my mushrooms

Peppermint shrimp
- did absolutely nothing to the aptasia problem but annoyed all my euphyllia and duncans to death

Urchins
- hard to keep alive. SPS is so much easier then urchins. I'm tired of seeing them die randomly after being fine for quite a while. Plus they like to steal frags and run away with them.

 

[EricR]

I'm almost tempted to say cleaner shrimp but I can't bring myself to...

Awesome and aggressive -- fun to watch and hand feed (or should I say, crawl up your arm to get to whatever you have)!

...but if you have any timid or less mobile creatures that you'd like to target/supplement feed, forget about them ever ending up with anything.

 

[steveschuerger]

Pretty much any hermit. Little PIAs .

 

[Syntax1235]

Urchins. They ruined two pumps.

 

[rtparty]

Crabs of any kind. They will eat coral or snails. It's just a matter of time

 

[Tavero]

Cerithium caeruleum black sand snails.​

It's like getting several 2 year olds for your tank that always want your attention. The internet said they can turn themself upright if they fall on their wrong side. They can't. They just lay there and wait until I turn them around or just starve.
It's also like they don't know that they can't turn themself upright, because they crawl to the surface just to let themself drop to the sandbed again and again until they land in the wrong side. If i didn't know it better i would say they are doing this just to tick me off. I have no idea how these things aren't extinct in the wild.

 

[WheatToast]

Emerald crabs, Mexican turbo snails and urchins would consume my macroalgae.
Sand-sifting starfish, sand dollars, and horseshoe crabs would probably decimate my sandbed microfauna and require manual feeding.
Predatory snails and large crabs would kill off my other invertebrates.
I have been avoiding anemones, corals, and Tridacna clams for lighting and personal preference reasons.

 

[Rovert]

Never again with crabs. Even the little blue legged ones. Lost my entire shipment of snails from IPSF when they decided they needed new shells and 'upgraded' themselves. I've banished them to the sump. Good riddance.

 

[wonroc]

Ive only ever had to remove one critter.

PeP Shrimp is the devil

 

[blackhole88]

Fighting Conch. True he has literally never hurt anybody or done anything of note. But I just know he's up to something....... I mean just look at a picture of them!

Fighting conch are definitely not candidates for this list I have several and they are crucial part of my clean up crew. My ginormous turbos do more damage then a conch ever has

 

[MaxM]

Fighting Conch. True he has literally never hurt anybody or done anything of note. But I just know he's up to something....... I mean just look at a picture of them!

But but, they are the best for cleaning up the sand bed

 

[blackhole88]

Never again with crabs. Even the little blue legged ones. Lost my entire shipment of snails from IPSF when they decided they needed new shells and 'upgraded' themselves. I've banished them to the sump. Good riddance.

I’d tread very lightly on putting crabs in the sump had a friend who did just that and they destroyed all his equipment

 

[Fasted]

Calico crab. I saw it at the LFS.

 

[blackhole88]

We're talking about clean up crews this week and a BIG part of a CUC are inverts! But not all inverts are good for a reef tank. Some are good at cleaning but are bad at coral nipping. Let's talk about it!

What are some common inverts (snails, crabs, etc.) that you would NEVER put in your reef? Why?

image via @CornishCrustyCorals

Servant star I literally watched him set up shop on a rock above the sand Ed and eat my pintail fairy wrasse. That was after I kept loosing wrasses especially the one who hurried into the sand bed at night. Took a while but finally caught him in the act