stocking

[Nicknackzz13]

hey guys n girls

got a 29g tank with 2 clowns 2 chromish 1 peppermint shrimp 1 margarita snail and a sifting starfish, can I add anymore animals ?? Luke snails shrimps or hermit crabs?? I do wanna add a few hermits or crabs to the tank, not really fish I'm set on the fish i have ATM, but is it okay to add some hermits and crabs?

i wanna add a few hermits snails and corals

 

[mcarroll]

That's a very tiny tank for that starfish. I'm not sure if you can have any luck feeding him specifically, but if he is left to survive on the sand bed alone he will starve sooner or later. (He's too big to be part of the cleanup crew.)

Hermit crabs are nothing more than snail murderers. I would have no more than one for every 10 to 50 gallons.

Look for Cerith snails instead.

 

[Nicknackzz13]

That's a very tiny tank for that starfish. I'm not sure if you can have any luck feeding him specifically, but if he is left to survive on the sand bed alone he will starve sooner or later. (He's too big to be part of the cleanup crew.)

Hermit crabs are nothing more than snail murderers. I would have no more than one for every 10 to 50 gallons.

Look for Cerith snails instead.

My starfish is just about 3inchs right now and I plan on getting an even bigger tank in a few years, I got a margarita snail who's doing a good job by himself and I'm not sure on what the starfish eats but ibuse a turkey baster to feed him every few days, brine shrimp, and my peppermint shrimp too, for some reason I've noticed my shrimp will go over to my fish then swim off, dobtyey clean fish?

So I probably shouldn't add any more stock ?

 

[Nicknackzz13]

Just basically wondering if I can put any other live stock into my tank other than fish, I believe I could get another fish or two in there but I'd rather not unless it were smaller, thought maybe I could get hermits, crabs, shrimps or anything other than a fish

 

[mcarroll]

The fewer big animals (fish) the more stable the system.

Inverts, especially corals, generally have a lesser impact.

In the case of your starfish, you just have to make sure he stays fed and fat without overdoing it.

 

[Nicknackzz13]

The fewer big animals (fish) the more stable the system.

Inverts, especially corals, generally have a lesser impact.

In the case of your starfish, you just have to make sure he stays fed and fat without overdoing it.

So I can add a good bit of inverts ?/and corals just can't overstock in fish

 

[mcarroll]

So I can add a good bit of inverts ?/and corals just can't overstock in fish

Pretty much true.

Corals actually consume many of the dissolved and particulate waste products of the "higher" animals so they're very good for the system.

Most of the inverts do good at various aspects of cleanup even if they're not specifically part of the cleanup crew so they are usually very good for the system.

A system that is lopsided toward corals and inverts, as you can imagine, will be relatively low in detritus and dissolved organic matter.

In contrast a system that is lopsided toward fish, and possibly without corals or without inverts, is going to tend to have a lot of detritus and a lot of dissolved organic matter.