Invert Population

[fishwatcher]

How much is too much when it comes to stocking inverts in a tank? What is the general rule?

 

[rictheredneck]

depends on what your looking at a messy mantis or a cleaner shrimp if you get the picture.

 

[fishwatcher]

OK, well, I am thinking along the lines of regular shrimp (peppermint, cleaner, etc), starfish, crabs/hermits, urchins...
Is there a formula to know when a certain number is too many?

 

[Lynden]

If each one has enough space to move about, enough food, and no "attackers" you can have as many as you feel is ethical. I would advise against combining peppermint and cleaners in a nano tank (for example), because cleaners tend to be aggressive and competitive towards other Lysmata. "Messy" or very large animals should be considered as part of the bioload, but most inverts put out very little waste.

 

[SkiFletch]

Be careful with cleaners and corals that actively eat foods (LPS, sun corals, palythoa, etc) as they will quickly learn that the corals do eat and will attack them for food when they do eat...

 

[Donya]

OK, well, I am thinking along the lines of regular shrimp (peppermint, cleaner, etc), starfish, crabs/hermits, urchins...
Is there a formula to know when a certain number is too many?

Eh...tanks don't have formulas for biolads because it all depends on what your inidvidual setup is like and which specific animals you want. If you're uncertain about what your tank can support, it's better to add more slowly and watch how each addition impacts the bioload and then go from there. Pretty much as Lynden said, the main rule is don't add something unless territory will not be an issue and there is either enough food for it already in the tank (or you are able to feed it supplementally without messing up the water quality). If neither of those pass, then you've probably hit some sort of a stocking limit for the type of animal you're considering.