What should my first invertebrates be?

[Stepheng101]

I have finally got my 40b tank running for about 3 weeks, and reached 5 nitrates. I have a royal gramma in DT, and a clown with 2 new cardinal fish I got tonight in qt. I also have around 1 1/2 sand bed. Feather duster? Nassuarus snails? Some kind of shrimp? Brittle starfish? I would like something easy to take care of.

 

[James M]

You should first start with a CUC and are you keeping a reef tank or a FOWLR?

 

[Stepheng101]

You should first start with a CUC and are you keeping a reef tank or a FOWLR?

I plan to do a softy/lps tank, i have 40 pounds of dry rock too.

 

[Oscaror]

Aside from CUC I'd suggest cleaner shrimp they're fun additions

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I agree, cleaner shrimp would be a good choice. They are decently hardy as far as invertebrates go and they don’t need an established tank. They still should be drip acclimated and you should check the salinity as they are sensitive to sudden increases.

People generally start adding clean up crew early on, but with a light bioload in a new tank they might not have much to eat.