High Tide Aquatics

Reef tank w/out fish?

To me, you lose a lot of movement in the tank :) Things may get a little boring - the fish have so much personality!
Fish make our little slice of the ocean much more natural looking, and much more dynamic. Even if it just one fish.
 
for 1/2 the life of my frag tank, it had zero fish. For almost the rest, it had a single wrasse. I just got a second fish. My nutrient levels were so low that chaeto barely grew.
 
Haha, it's not about my tank guys. Funguy's post just got me thinking about a tank w/ no fish and how it would work out. Although, I do wonder how 15 cleaners would look in a nicely stocked (coral-wise) tank)
 
One of our sponsor has a display tank full of cleaner shrimps. I think it's OT. It looks great.. I love it. I'm going to get around 6 more shrimps when my 40G up and running.
 
[quote author=Elite link=topic=5204.msg64142#msg64142 date=1226679116]
If you don't want fish, get a ton of cleaner shrimps. They look really cool.
[/quote]
only thing is imagine how hard it would be to target feed LPS with all the cleaner shrimp stealing the food. I love the cleaners but had to get rid of the little thieves....
 
When I ran my reeftank without fish (for a few years actually) it was much less infected with GHA and aiptasia. Feeding fish is my downfall!

Without the fish, I could enjoy the corals and not worry about daily feedings and didn't have extra nutrient issues.

Now, I love the fish, they are fun to watch, it's a whole new dimension, but also adds headaches as well.

V
 
[quote author=Elite link=topic=5204.msg64144#msg64144 date=1226680489]
One of our sponsor has a display tank full of cleaner shrimps. I think it's OT. It looks great.. I love it. I'm going to get around 6 more shrimps when my 40G up and running.
[/quote]

[quote author=phishphood link=topic=5204.msg64143#msg64143 date=1226679789]
Haha, it's not about my tank guys. Funguy's post just got me thinking about a tank w/ no fish and how it would work out. Although, I do wonder how 15 cleaners would look in a nicely stocked (coral-wise) tank)
[/quote]

I had a pair of cleaner shrimp in a 28 gal, and a pair in the 46 gal. The 28 has the LPS, and the shrimp stole the food out of their mouths everytime. I would sit at the tank and beat them back, but that got old, so I moved the pair to the 46 gal. figuring they should get along happily because they were the same species...WRONG. I had shrimp turf wars. Adding the pair from the 28 upset the balance in the 46, and the largest shrimp not only killed the pair from the 28, but its' own buddy too. It is the sole remaining cleaner shrimp in any of my tanks. :( No more shrimp babies to supplement the fish and corals. :(

Lesson to myself...If you add multiple shrimp to an aquarium, make sure they are young (not producing eggs yet), and have enough room to roam and hide. (Although my remaining "killer" shrimp sought out the others and killed them when they molted. :( ) Still, it is no guarantee that you will have all your shrimp at the end of the day.
 
I feed/fed a lot too. In fact, I fed them first by either squirting food directly at them, or using a bbq stick to give it to them. Sometimes multiple times.

I also have Peppermints, which this Cleaner Shrimp did not touch. I guess I do get some shrimp babies from the Peppermints, but not like my Cleaners. They were always overflowing with eggs. The fish could count on a free meal every 3 weeks or so.

I do believe their demise was due to an upset in their heirarchy and/or displacement in territory. I could be wrong, but the zoologist in me believes this is so. Still, I am very sad about them. They were beautiful.
 
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