Good inverts for a community tank?

Smitty114

Smitty114

AC Members
Mar 30, 2009
57
1
6
ATL, Georgia
Hi I'm new to the site and I'm glad I found it. I'm sure the question has been answered, but I searched forever and couldn't find one.

Anyway, I'll soon have a 75g tank and wanted some kind of invert critter(s) at the bottom to go along with all the fish. I originally wanted a Crayfish but heard that they'll eat all the fish. Is there a non-aggressive type? And, if the Cray is in an aggressive tank with fish as big or bigger than itself, will it refrain from attacking the fish?

Then I heard about shrimp who won't eat the fish, but may get eaten by the fish.

What about crabs?

I'd really like to have some sort of invert at the bottom, but I don't want snails, etc.

If there's an answer, about how many of these should I get for a 75g community or aggressive tank?

Thanks!!
 
Well, I obviously haven't completely finished everything since I don't have the aquarium yet, I've just been doing lots of research. I was probably going to get 2 bala sharks and some other things that would go with it. Any crab, shrimp, or cray that could mesh with these?

If not, I could go with a community tank with smaller and less aggressive, schooling type fish, in which case a shrimp or crab would probably have a better chance of survival, but obviously a cray wouldn't work in this type.
 
If you go with the more peaceful community, there are a wide range of snails (nerites, pomacea bridgesii/diffusa), shrimp (most likely amanos, though cherries might work depending on what size fish, or bamboo shrimp) that may work.
 
what Rach said is good, there are also thai micro crabs... but depends on you fish as these guys are tiny
 
msjinkzd said:
If you go with the more peaceful community, there are a wide range of snails (nerites, pomacea bridgesii/diffusa), shrimp (most likely amanos, though cherries might work depending on what size fish, or bamboo shrimp) that may work.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. I'm not really into snails so I doubt I get those, but which of these shrimp are the biggest and most active? I guess color is important too, I know the cherry ones have color.
 
Arakkis said:
what Rach said is good, there are also thai micro crabs... but depends on you fish as these guys are tiny
Click to expand...
Thanks for the help. I am definitely into crabs, would these guys need brackish water or land/beach to get out of the water? And, is there a bigger version of crab that could work with a larger fish?

Would a pleco disturb these?
 
I've been looking into crabs, and right now, the best bet for freshwater are vampire crabs.

fiddlers and red claws ought to have brackish water. Vampires do not.

red claws and fiddlers both can get nippy with the fish, and are known to catch guppies etc. vampires can not open their claws wide enough to catch fish.

and they have been known to breed in tank.

They do, however, need land... but from experience, paludariums are way more satisfying than a full tank... I'd highly reccomend vampire crabs.

the largest, active shrimp I'd consider are Amanos... but bamboo shrimp get larger still, big in fact. They're just not that active. They like to perch and filter in one spot for days... if they're happy with the tank that is.

what you keep really depends more on your plans for fish. keep the fish small and avoid the more aggressive crustacean eaters... no botia! and you won't have a problem with even the cherries, crs, etc. you probably won't see babies, but you shouldn't lose many either. they're smarter than fish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom