Cleaner shrimps

[petenheather]

I have noticed that my cleaner shrimp has been molting lately..I would say 3 times in 5 months? is this normal? my fire shrimp has only molted once in 5 months. The cleaner seems to be getting bigger and has a very good appetite! Also since i ditched the hermit crab, is there anything I can add to my tank to help with the cleaning, we have 12-14 various snails...BTW all my parameters are Perfect. I test at least once a week to make sure!!!!:wavehand: :dance:

Heather

[petenheather]

BTW my tank is over 7 months old

[LauraLea]

My cleaner molts at least once per month.

[petenheather]

Thanks Laura.....anyone have any ideas that i could use to clean the sand like my hermit crab did? Im done with crabs..hahaha

[six.line]

Sand sifting goby, baby. :D

BTW my cleaner shrimp molts a bit more often than once a month... Maybe more like once per 3 weeks.

[petenheather]

Chris, I have 4 fish all ready, will this be ok? c'mon peeps chime in..haha

[Travis L. Stevens]

Do you dose Iodine? They could be molting because of excess Iodine. The amount you need for Iodine is already in the synthetic salt mixes. Most likely, this is just normal molting. As long as it's getting bigger.

I would suggest getting more snails. A variety of Astrea, Cerith, and/or Illyanassa or Nassarius snails should keep your tank nice and squeaky clean. The Ilyanassa snails and Nassarius Snails do a great job with the sand.

[LauraLea]

In terms of "cleaning fish", I am with Chris; I love my goby. He really made a mess initially but then he settled down and the sand looks great.

[petenheather]

Hey Travis, i hv at least 12-14 snails...how many more could I use? I think I hv the nassarius and the astrea and a few ceriths. what about a sadn sifting goby or do I have too many fish already? I do dose with Kents Iodine approx every 2 weeks and also use Kent phytoplex for the corals and Kent liquid calicium. All my fish hv fat bellies and are getting bigger as we speak.lol

[petenheather]

any takers???????

[six.line]

Too many fish really is a loaded question. Usually the answer is yes. :) If you are extremely dilligent about water changes, have quite a bit of rock, and a great skimmer then you could be all right. What are the other kinds of fish?

While you can have too many snails, I personally think that erring between too many fish and too many snails, i'd take the snail side. You need quite a few nassarius snails to get the job done, though. I have 3 in my 15 and they don't do crap, but they sure are cool. :D

[petenheather]

Chris we do weekly water changes and test weekly and dont over feed..I hv 2 mated clarki's, 1 lmb, 1 six line, 2 shrimps, (1 cleaner and 1 fire)....Please can I hv another fish...please...please...please. LOL

[petenheather]

Please someone chime in...I am so curious if i can have another fish...Like a Goby for my sand??????????

[petenheather]

Hello...anyone out there?

[lfjewett]

A sand Goby doesn't really "clean" the sand. They looking for food for sure but I think they are looking for micro crustations and other life in the sand, they are not cleaning any algea from the sand. The stiring they do can help keep it looking nice though.. If you want a critter that cleans the sand of algea and burrows around mixing it up you might consider a Fighting Conch. They are algea eaters and like to burrow in the sand.

[Travis L. Stevens]

I would advise against any sand sifting gobies. I would add a few more snails just to keep it stirred up. It seems like you have a pretty full house in a 46g. I also recommend stop dosing the Iodine if you are so good with water changes. By far, there is more than enough to go around for those that need it. Especially since you don't have any more hermits, they aren't using it. And not very many corals use it heavily. FWIW, I have about 30 Ilyanassa obsoleta snails in my 29g tank and the sand looks great. I have probably 10 hermit crabs, 1 Mexican Turbo Snail that I store in the sump until I need him to eat some algae, and two Astrea Snails. I would like to get a few more Astrea Snails, but my Stomatella Snail population is starting to really grow, so my glass stays pretty clean. I see all sorts of "kiss" marks from where the snails have been eating.

[six.line]

Gobies do fine, but yes, they don't really actually eat the algae. They just keep it stirred up, and probably stop algae from getting a hold. They're not the one-stop solution, but they help. :D

[petenheather]

i'd love to have my sand look like new! thanks for the imput...btw not to sound redundent, but can my tank handle another fish?

[Travis L. Stevens]

It depends on what fish. You more common fish such as clownfish, chromis, damsels, tangs, most gobies, most dottybacks and pseudochromis, most blennies, etc will be too big for the current tank. There are a few little exceptions.

[six.line]

No, I wouldn't.

You could get rid of the lawnmower blenny and get this guy instead, though.

[petenheather]

thanks Travis, our friend at blue zoo said we have a lot of corals and they NEED the iodine..lol, we are always testing and doing water changes weekly! doing fw for a long time (which can be a little boring, sorry fw people) is NOT the same, there is so much to choose from and never a dull moment with this hobby!!!

[petenheather]

I have a lawnmower blenny, 2 clarki clowns and a six line, 2 shrimps, 1 bubble coral, 1 hammer, 3 frogspawn, 1 sun coral, 1 brain, 1 huge torch coral, 2 flower pots,plus over 45lbs of figi rock. Do I REALLY need Iodine?

[Travis L. Stevens]

In short, no. Dosing Iodine is very over rated and you can easily overdose a tank. Because Ioding isn't very readily taken out by most corals, it just sits and builds up. Your list of corals definitely aren't large users of Iodine, let alone need very much of it. Here is a few good reads.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2003/chem.htm
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/rs/feature/index.php

[petenheather]

thanks Travis, I will check these site out

[petenheather]

So I guess no more fish for me! boo hoo:mad: How about more corals?:D