TRULY Oddball invert suggestion list?

Hiachi20 · May 14, 2018

Hey guys! I'm looking for your suggestions in some goals for oddball inverts. Currently, everything not just hermits and nessarius snails, I have is as follows:

Tiger cowrie
Snowflake eel
Limpets
Tiger sand conches
Diadema setosum urchin
Stone crab who lost his claws
Blue dot sea hare
Tulip snails
Horseshoe crab
Probably more

I'm wanting:

Conches with crazy shells
Predatory snails
Various crabs (Sally, staghorn, etc)
Strange eels
Different cowries
Different sea hares
Sea cucumbers
Odd urchins (helmet urchin, more)

Nudibranchs are cool, but if anyone has successfully kept an easy version of a nudibranch, I would love to know which and how.

Like seriously, I want a bird in my aquarium. I'll put anything in as dare ;P

Hiachi20 · May 16, 2018

samnaz · May 16, 2018

before I make any recommendations, curious how big is the tank?

Cnidoblast · May 16, 2018

Tunicates maybe?

samnaz · May 16, 2018

Cnidoblast said:
Tunicates maybe?

As far as I know, they have a low success rate and are very hard to find for that reason. unfortunately, because they are some of the coolest sea creatures in my opinion.

Hiachi20 · May 16, 2018

Cnidoblast said:
Tunicates maybe?

Good point. I keep forgetting to look ointo sea apples also. I'm saving those things for when my tank becomes more established and clean for the most part

Hiachi20 · May 16, 2018

samnaz said:
before I make any recommendations, curious how big is the tank?

It's about 80 gallons. I make room for anyone

the urchin I have is pretty gigantic and a bit much but I really wanted a big one. I've hit my hand on it so many times. If the spines wouldn't break off from random things, they would be much longer

samnaz · May 16, 2018

that diadema isn't pretty gigantic... it's massive! wow! he must have quite an appetite. are those empty shells piled up in the corner?

Daniel Waters · May 16, 2018

Decorator crabs are really neat. Not really reef safe but just throwing out one I didn't see on your list. I kept one for a while in my refugium. He was so interesting because he would tear pieces off whatever was around him and stick it to himself for camouflage.

samnaz · May 16, 2018

Daniel Waters said:
Decorator crabs are really neat. Not really reef safe but just throwing out one I didn't see on your list. I kept one for a while in my refugium. He was so interesting because he would tear pieces off whatever was around him and stick it to himself for camouflage.

they are hilarious little stinkers!

Hiachi20 · May 16, 2018

Daniel Waters said:
Decorator crabs are really neat. Not really reef safe but just throwing out one I didn't see on your list. I kept one for a while in my refugium. He was so interesting because he would tear pieces off whatever was around him and stick it to himself for camouflage.

I knew this would happen XD I have one of those. His name is Tamatoa. I want one more. Maybe the arrow decorator crab

Hiachi20 · May 16, 2018

samnaz said:
that diadema isn't pretty gigantic... it's massive! wow! he must have quite an appetite. are those empty shells piled up in the corner?

He eats a lot. I manually feed it when I can. Sometimes he has his teeth up at the surface so I'll toss some seaweed into them. Otherwise, I think he just eats a lot of algae and whatever scraps. I would kill for a diadema palmeri in general, kill twice for one that is half red half white which is my favorite color combination. White diademas would be amazing

Those are shells. I moved all of the rocks and collected all of the debris. It allows the crabs to change shells. I haven't gotten to sizing them out and taking the useless ones. A lot are from dead hermits. I was wondering if someone would ask lol

samnaz · May 16, 2018

Hiachi20 said:
I knew this would happen XD I have one of those. His name is Tamatoa. I want one more. Maybe the arrow decorator crab

Ah! If anything that looks like a tarantula and that freaks me the f out tbh.

Hiachi20 · May 16, 2018

Oh I wish I could upload the video of him walking on my hand. It's just like a tarantula but I love it

125gSW · May 16, 2018

ooooo interesting, anything oddball you'd recommend for a tank with corals and small inverts?

Hiachi20 · May 17, 2018

125gSW said:
ooooo interesting, anything oddball you'd recommend for a tank with corals and small inverts?

Everything I listed are good options except for the horseshoe crab and some others. It can ravage corals very badly. The sea hare CAN nuke the tank. The tulip snails are carnivores and may eat snails or others

Hiachi20 · May 21, 2018

Continuing this thread, check out these photos of my inverts. The Halloween hermit, arrow crab, and nudibranch are new. The nudibranchs is slightly experimental as of now. I'm going to attempt to take some sponge off of the decorator crab to feed the nudi if need be. The really close of photo of the rock is a chiton from California. It does an amazing job of cleaning that rock

Eels aren't inverts. But they are non fish

Xanthurum · May 21, 2018

I do not mean this to be rude but Snowflake eels primarily eat crustaceans. I think it’s cool that you are searching out interesting inverts and it sounds like a fun project but you may find some of the crabs and what nots constantly disappearing.

Hiachi20 · May 21, 2018

Xanthurum said:
I do not mean this to be rude but Snowflake eels primarily eat crustaceans. I think it’s cool that you are searching out interesting inverts and it sounds like a fun project but you may find some of the crabs and what nots constantly disappearing.

I've kept a very close eye on how my eel behaves around inverts. It is so blind for one, that it can barely notice the arrow crab. It does not care at all about anything in a shell from what I have seen. It seems like the eel has to see a lot of movement to be remotely interested for one. The only thing he has eaten is a porcelain crab. That thing scurried around very fast like a spider and I'm not surprised it got eaten. I'm confident that all of the inverts I currently have in the tank, unless the arrow crab moves very fast in his sight AND he is very hungry, will not be hurt by the eel. Plus I try to keep him pretty fed. Even going weeks without food though, I haven't seen any issue. My eel seems to be a terrible predator in the end. There are a few things which I know are off limits like a porcelain, but I'm wanting to give that another attempt now that the eel is used to being fed