Can you have too many inverts in a tank?

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HkySk8r187

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Oct 18, 2004
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I was considering buying from tambabaysaltwater online since I've heard good things about them. I plan on using a 24 gallon aquarium and this is what they recommend for it:

40 Pounds of Live Rock
20 Pounds of Live Sand
40 Blue Leg hermit crabs
10 Turbo Snails
2 Tiger Tails Cucumbers
1 Serpent star or Brittle Star
1 Peppermint Shrimp
Total cost: $254.00

This just seems like a crazy number of inverts for that size tank. Is it just me thinking they are trying to turn my tank into an out of control zoo or is this normal to have that amount of inverts in a 24? I mean 40 hermits in a 24g tank? They would be like a swarm of bees in there lol.
 

geoffgarcia

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Apr 22, 2004
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I agree that seems like a lot of inverts, hell 40lbs of LR in a 24g tank seems like a lot...
granted u can always offload some of this stuff into your 29g
 

dcflyers7

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Dec 3, 2004
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40 hermits sounds like a little much, even if they're dwarfs... I'd probably cut that # in half. 10 turbos might be a little much also for a 24gallon. Here's what I have in my 37g w/ 40lbs. of LR:

5 Turbo snails
10 Margarita snails
6 Nassarius snails(burrow in the sand, great to have!)
6 Cerith snails
10 Dwarf red legs
10 Dwarf blue legs

So far they're doing an excellent job in my 37, and I haven't had a snailed killed yet by any of the dwarf hermits(probably cuz the hermits are too small). I waited a little before adding the Nassarius and Ceriths, so the tank was better established for them. I was going to add some bigger Scarlet hermits, but I was told they are more aggressive and more likely to kill snails because of their size.

Doug
 

mogurnda

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I did their "package" on a 20 several years ago, and it went great. I also did a modified version when I set up the 90. Here's my theory on the large number of hermits. For normal live rock, it is shipped moist, and a lot of sponges, tunicates, etc, die along the way. By the time it hits your tank, there aren't too many live creatures that will starve in the tank.

TBS rock is different. It's shipped fast and in water, so you end up with a lot of organisms. Many of them, like some species of sponge, simply won't survive in the tank for lack of appropriate food. They die off slowly, and I think that's where the hermits come in. Without them, a lot of things would probably just rot and cause a major algae bloom.

Just a theory. All I know is that their system worked for me. The hermits assaulted a few cerith snails, but never touched any of the astreas. Actually, the blue legs attacked each other a lot, which helped to limit their numbers when they were no longer needed.

By the way the "turbo" snails are really astraeas. 10 is fine for a 24.

One other thing, though. Two cucumbers is really way too many. I think one might be too much for a 24. It's probably moot, though. In my first batch, both died pretty quickly, and only one survived past a week from my order in August.

I was going to add some bigger Scarlet hermits, but I was told they are more aggressive and more likely to kill snails because of their size.
Whoever said that has probably not kept scarlets before. They have been by far the mellowest hermits I've had. They graze constantly and I have never seen one even look at a snail.
 

HkySk8r187

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Oct 18, 2004
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I dont have plans on upgrading this 24g tank..I just want a desktop size tank which is the reason I bought it.

mogurnda, so I was going to do "the package" as you know...do you recommend I modify any of the numbers at all? Do you think the 40 hermits is too many for a 24g? Also, about the cucumbers...what happens if they were to die in the tank like yours did? Do you have to remove them, do they polute the water badly, or do you leave them in there to be eaten? Any more information would be helpful.

One more thing mogurnda...they want to send you the first batch of LR and the sand before you even cycle the tank. Isn't this going to kill pretty much everything that they send in the first shippment? How did this work out for you? I plan on ordering asap to get my tank started.
 

Tyler718

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HkySk8r187 said:
One more thing mogurnda...they want to send you the first batch of LR and the sand before you even cycle the tank. Isn't this going to kill pretty much everything that they send in the first shippment? How did this work out for you? I plan on ordering asap to get my tank started.
I did a TBS package for my 60g about 1 1/2 years ago. I did everything that they instructed and my tank turned out great with no major problems.

If you follow their instructions, there will be a lot of die off on the first shipment because this will end up cycling the water, but the coraline algae survived nicely. On mine I used it as the base rock so it ended up being not that big of an issue for me. When I did put my second batch in, it went right on top of these. The hitchhikers over time have now spred to the bottom rock and is doing great.

"T"
 

HkySk8r187

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Did you modify the number of each thing they gave you? Like you said you did a 60 gallon which means they would have sent you 120 hermits and 30 snails. Did you put all of them in there? Was it too much? What were your experiences with the livestock?
 

Tyler718

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HkySk8r187 said:
Did you modify the number of each thing they gave you? Like you said you did a 60 gallon which means they would have sent you 120 hermits and 30 snails. Did you put all of them in there? Was it too much? What were your experiences with the livestock?
There is only one thing I changed on my order. I had them leave off the anemone. I didn't want to put it into a newly setup tank.

As for the amount of snails and crabs were fine in my tank. As time went by, they started dwindling down in qty. Partially due to that I had 2 mantis shrimp that were munching on them. The qty might seem like a lot, but the critters are pretty small, but kept my new tank algae blooms well in control.

The biggest thing you will really need to watch out for with TBS LR is the mantis shrimp. They are known to have a lot in their rock.
 
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