Invertebrates are most curious.

[Tage]

Hello everyone. I just joined the forums today because I've been considering taking a headlong dive into the world of marine aquariums. I'll be moving in with two other students in a basement apartment come September and I'd like my own little piece of paradise for my bedroom, especially with the winter looming.

I'm not looking for anything elaborate or fancy. A tank in the 20 to 30 gallon range, two or three colorful fish (probably along the lines of small clownfish), a few hermit crabs and other cleaner fish. I'm looking for something tropical but not too gaudy.

I've found plenty of information about how many fish you should have according to your size of tank, but I'm not sure what to do about invertebrates. I'd love to have a nice clam or a few crabs and reef lobsters but I'm not sure whether 20 to 30 gallons is big enough, or how many could safely live in such a small enclosure. Any tips or advice?

[greenbean36191]

With fish, one of the biggest limiting factors is how much bioload they add to a system. For that reason there are some general rules about how much biolad a tank of a given size can take that give you a place to start when stocking fish.

Since most inverts in the hobby are scavengers or grazers and aren't actively fed they don't add a whole lot of bioload. For them the main constraints are on the minimum area they need to feed and their aggression towards tankmates. This varies a lot between species and depending on the combination of animals in a tank, so there isn't any way to make a rule about the number of inverts unless you know what kind of inverts you're interested in.

My suggestion would be to take a look around some vendor's sites, make up a list of inverts that interest you and go from there getting suggestions on different combinations and quantities.

[Tage]

I was thinking along the lines of a cleaner shrimp or two, a hermit crab (possibly Red & Yellow Striped or Stripe Leg), and an urchin (blue globe or otherwise).