5.5 Invert reef

[straydog]

This tank was started in December of 2009 and has been a lot of fun so far . It is a standard 5.5 gallon tank I set up to house bumble bee shrimp and turned into much more. Equipment consist of= nova extreme 18",stunner 453, aqua clear 70 macro refugium also houses heater , aqua clear 50 chemical (sponges cleaned after every feeding) and chemipure elite, korilla nano that is on the timer with lights. Inverts= 4 bumble bee shrimp,1 skunk cleaner shrimp,1 blue porcelain crab.1 anemone porcelain crab,1 micro porcelain crab, 1 pom pom crab, 1 large feather duster several voluntary dusters,4 snails,2 scarlet hermit crabs. Coral= 1 yuma, 2 ricordia, 15 different zoes ,gsp on back wall, 4 different types of mushrooms,1 green torch, 2 types of candy canes,1 trumpet. 1 very antisocial sail fin green goby(he swims upside down)

alt="" />

 

[siren's eye]

Wow! I never noticed there was so much life in your tank! Hopefully mine will become as great.

 

[straydog]

I only added a little each week , it adds up over a few months.

 

[siren's eye]

yeah, this weekend I'm getting yellow polyps. That'll bring my coral grand total up to 5! Now, if only I could get the inverts to live, lol.

 

[straydog]

On inverts I found that slow acclamation (drip method) gives them the best chance of making it but i only have so much water to work with so its kind of an acclamation/water change.

 

[straydog]

Decided to move things around a little there wasn't really a lot of room for things to grow. Also put the clown in since the goby is hardly ever seen.

alt="" />The torch is growing really good it was a $5 dime size frag when added. The mushrooms around the bottom are filling in nicely I added a small piece of xenia hoping the mushrooms and torch will keep it from getting out of hand.

alt="" />

 

[fish scales2]

Looks great!

I really like the cliff hanging porcelain crab. In the first and last pics you can see him hanging out on the back wall.

 

[straydog]

The anemone porcelain is usually out where it can be see. The blue porcelain and the micro porcelain stay hidden most of the time . I would like to try one of the red ones and see how they do.

 

[bobz]

Now I really miss having my 5G nano on my desk too! The tank looks great! I was running my 5G with a 10G sump for additional capacity and to keep a refugium. I mostly kept my sexies and the flaming prawn gobies but you are right, it definitely grew over time and was a really cool little tank. Nice job on the mix and maintaining the tank. Did you consider a pair of black or yellow gobies instead of the clown? Seems like their size would fit better in your setup.

BZ

 

[straydog]

I had a neon goby and a green goby . But when I put the skunk cleaner shrimp in it stressed them too much and they didn't make it. The clown was in my wifes 10 gallon , it was her idea . It will go back when it grows a little more.

 

[siren's eye]

:thumbs: I like the new aquascape.

 

[straydog]

Thanks I moved it so things can have room to grow but find myself wanting to buy more zoes to fill it in . lol

 

[straydog]

Bumble bee shrimp

alt="" />

 

[siren's eye]

do the bumble bees live peacefully with other shrimp? Where did you get them? I have been looking, but can't find any.

 

[straydog]

They do real good with what I have . But they do like to bully the snails . They reach under and pinch them so they go in there shell . They try to be little bullies but know when to back down from something bigger. I had lfs order 1 for me in macon and 3 came from Lake land FL. I can only find them in the spring of the year.

 

[straydog]

The bee and pom pom face off .

alt="" />also picked up a panorama led 8000k/453 strip to see how the tank does under led only.

 

[brianjfinn]

That is awesome! I love the more unusual inverts. Many people tend to overlook them, focusing more on coral and fish, but inverts sure can add a lot to a tank, especially one this size!

 

[siren's eye]

brianjfinn;576588 wrote: That is awesome! I love the more unusual inverts. Many people tend to overlook them, focusing more on coral and fish, but inverts sure can add a lot to a tank, especially one this size!

I agree. This was the tank that inspired me to make mine invert only

 

[bobz]

Sweet! I used to really enjoy watching the sexies facing off with each other too.

 

[straydog]

Thanks, the idea was to have the corals as the main focus of the tank and have as many filter feeding inverts as possible to also benefit from the corals food when feeding . The bumble bee shrimp where add because of the troubles that sexy shrimp can cause on soft corals so they were not an option , but the bees are a nice alternative.