Ornamental Crustaceans - yes or no?

[90galguy]

I'm in the middle of researching our potential inhabitants for our 90gal Mixed Reef. I'm currently reading the Reef Aquarium Fishes by Scott Michael. I'm seeing that we could widen our selection of fish if we don't add any/few ornamental crustaceans.

We currently have a very short list:

<ul>
<li>Ocellaris Clowns (2) one black and one orange</li>
<li>Red Bubble Tip Anemone</li>
<li>Lawnmower Blenny</li>
<li>Pajama Cardinal</li>
</ul>
Possibles:

<ul>
<li>Longnose Hawkfish</li>
<li>Comical Blenny</li>
<li>Damselfish-Jewel</li>
<li>Damselfish-Demoiselles</li>
<li>Damselfish-Blackbar Chromis</li>
<li>Pyramid Butterfly</li>
<li>YellowHead Jawfish</li>
<li>Brown Moray Eel (dream)</li>
<li>Stony Corals (researching)</li>
<li>Soft Corals (researching)</li>
<li>Sea Urchin</li>
<li>Starfish</li>
<li>Banded Shrimp</li>
</ul>
Of course this list will be shortened and it's the beginning of the long-term plan.


Thoughts and or Suggestions?

 

[jennm]

Personally, I'd rethink the damsels. They're cheap and hardy and colourful, but they're EVIL. The Jewel is pretty as a juvenile but gets pretty drab as it gets older, it gets to a pretty good size, and refer to my "evil" mention.

I wouldn't put an eel in a reef. Some folks do but that limits your ability to keep crustaceans as well as snails and hermits (if you want hermits - some do, some don't).

A large Pajama cardinal is a risk with smaller shrimp... however if the shrimp goes into the tank before the cardinal and has some size to it, that mitigates the risk.

Longnosed Hawk will eat shrimp. Hawkfishes are very entertaining but it's one of those either/or things... either a hawkfish, or ornamental shrimp and crustaceans.

I've seen exceptions - some hawks don't bother the shrimp etc., but that's not something I'd assume would happen.

Jenn