Top 6 Saltwater Aquarium Character Inverts

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0:00 Intro
0:32 Pom pom crabs
1:02 Conches
1:51 Porcelain nem crabs
2:25 Harlequin shrimp
3:21 Pistol shrimp
3:59 Honourable mentions
4:38 Venus nem shrimp
5:39 Watch next

[@danielcox2195]

I like the lettuce slugs because they absorb chloroplasts into their own cells and then are photosynthesizing animals :)

[@jaysrealreefuk]

Absolutely love these types of video. What a wonderful and fascinating list of inverts. They add so much interest even to a nano tank. Often more interesting than the fish. Love the inverts and it's nice to see them recognised by this video. Look forward to the next one :)

[@oscarthewhale]

I wanted to add an urchin to my tank to help me clean up algae and to add something fun. When I saw the pincushion urchin I get reminded that you can put tiny hats on them so Im definitely considering those.

[@andrewdobbs7747]

i really enjoyed this. very well said and well edited, with awesome mentions.

[@apss5736]

great invert suggestions they all look so cool and amazing.

[@apdroidgeek1737]

Anemone shrimp claps so fish know that it wants to clean it, these shrimps are a type of cleaner shrimp.

[@nim6us]

Pederson shrimp; my LFS had one when I was in browsing and this guy is so cool. He’s tiny but he’s also a cleaner shrimp. His cleaning dance is adorable 🥰. Plus I love feeding I give him, one mysis shrimp that’s the size of a football to him and he happily takes it and runs off.

[@Mike-fd2pv]

Although, not so much a fascinating invert, watching the hundreds of tiny banded starfish spawn in my tank a few weeks a go, certainly was fascinating! Standing on all arms, bellies raised to the sky, spreading their starfish love in plumes of reefy love juice!

[@neilsreefaquarium9530]

Great vid Alex. I do love Plume Rock 😍

[@lunes-1]

Great video, keep it up!_ 💯 I just bought a pink urchin and is fantastic to watch eating all the algae 24/7

[@annebartells777]

My tank is all invertebrates except for 1 territorial damsel. It a 30 gallon nano and it's not boring to watch. Invertebrates are fascinating

[@redneckgearheadgarage495]

Pistol shrimp are great but will bury any frags on the sand bed and even drag them to their hole for defense. They can make a huge mess in your tank.

[@dipakvarsani4191]

Always great content 🙂. Wondered if you could provide suggested fish and inverts for a non anemones community tanks ?

[@mamawxhunter0402]

Great tip, thank you.. Keep safe Godbless.. By the way im from Philippines, Beginner saltwater aquarium

[@mikeparrish5657]

I have a anemone crab and have to agree, they are awesome! I have some fire shrimp which are cool looking but nothing beats a decorator crab. They way he dresses himself up in GHA and soft coral bits makes me laugh!

[@kawaiizombiegal]

Harlequin shrimp are easy to keep, just feed them starfish, and mine will ignore all other echinoderms including brittle and serpent stars and urchins

[@berndstromberg2384]

Thanks for the cool video. Just one correction: Cleaner Shrimps like Ancylomenes don't move there legs because of being afraid, but because they want to show that they're ready to do their cleaning job. 😊

[@ellisbarton2261]

Tanks looking great

[@jxj5924]

I’ll have to look into the porcelain crab and Pom Pom crab, they’re pretty cool. I’m looking for a pistol shrimp, but they’ve actually been hard to find where I’m at.

[@so_so_reef]

I had issues with pom-poms fighting my gramma. Every few weeks or so the gramma was covered with white damage that I thought was ich but realised it always occurred when the pom pom found his way into the gramma lair! Turnes out it was anemone stings.

[@enhncr]

Thanks!!! The best reef tank channel:). I am moving to Devon. I hope I will find a good reef tank shop there :)

[@Harvie93]

Reef passion in Tavistock, Taunton aquarium centre in Taunton, the aquarist in Plymouth. Those are the best to go to. Also kaleidoscope in Paignton, Maidenhead in endsleigh and a new one coming to crediton later this year which should be very good

[@MrFomo-bf7sb]

Maybe I’m wrong but I find the Halloween hermit crabs to be very peaceful. They never touch my snails.

[@bhagyamaithripala6642]

Nice Video Dork....

[@whatweredoin8779]

you can keep a harlequin shrimp after he eats all the asterena stars go get three to five chocolate chip starfish keep them in the sump they are not reef safe and once a week take a arm from the chocolate chip star and drop in the tank the shrimp will run to it as fast as he can smell it they will grow the arms back if you get enough starfish to spread out how many arms u take

[@michaelalan6459]

My lfs was/is selling a harlequin shrimp and a cc starfish together. The shrimp just eats on the starfish as needed and the starfish regenerates.

[@glennanderson7795]

Good morning! This film is addictive' I think my first tank will have to be the size of a swimming pool to accommodate everything you are featuring. Sod the house move, I cannot afford it! VBWx

[@gasp5027]

I would love to see coral catfish sometime

[@emrahaliova522]

Lovely video! I love the inverts and thinking of getting mostly coral/invert tank in a redsea reefer 170. Are all these invert compatible with each other? Love every one of them! However sinds I'm a beginner, i won't be getting te more difficult ones. Like the sea star eating one. Love your videos, watched almost every one of them before starting a tank of my own! More videos about invert! Maybe even more symbiosis pair?

[@ReefDork]

Yep, all compatible with each other

[@superdragon3060]

@@ReefDork you said in the video that harlequin shrimp are impossible to keep long term but if you keep larger starfish in another tank and put a piece with the harlequin shrimp, its not easy to do but if someone is dedicated its for them

[@squidarcherb9707]

I love this video, but I’ve had bad experiences with pistol shrimp. In my 13 gallon tank he ate two clownfish and a blenny. Not truly safe with smaller fish

[@scottgleason4511]

Thanks for that because I honestly like crustaceans almost more than fish weird huh

[@patterdalezipsuzilil]

Love a conch got 6 when I come down in a morning looks like a tractor as turned all my sand over

[@benswinney]

Great video! 👍 One additional item I would add is that in order to keep the most of the cuc doing there job is to keep your glass clean! If not, they spend less time on rock work and more time on the aquarium glass. You can easily clean that with a cleaner, so keep the CUC on the sand bed and rock work by keep your glass clean.

[@gabeq01]

I have a question. So I have a 60 gallon pro star tank, 45 gallons on top, and 15 gallons in the sump. I keep having my fish Die. I’ve had it for a bit over a year so it’s cycled. I do water changes, proper feedings, my water is always good when I get it tested. The dead fish don’t have any signs of Ich. I’m not sure if it’s where I’m getting my fish from but, any hints? My corals and sponges are perfectly fine also

[@ReefDork]

Get yourself on a forum and post photos, give loads of details and someone will help you get to the bottom of it 🙂

[@erich8756]

Cool video yet again! What/how do you feed a pistol shrimp? Or does the goby take care of that?

[@ReefDork]

I've never fed them and have never seen one eat! My current one is 3 years old now so he must be starving 😅

[@erich8756]

@@ReefDork or at least he's better than me at dieting 😂 Thanks for the info 👍

[@omarjaved9748]

Great list and good advice. But on one point I would completely disagree, BTA’s and especially RBTA’s are much much easier to keep than heliofungia plates. Very few people have long term success with them.

[@darksidelightside8870]

what clown fish is that could you do a full reveal?

[@AnotherCZ]

Hi Alex, I seem to always run into problems with cleaner shrimp pulling food from my corals during/right after feeding. Sometimes to the point start expelling zooxantilae (no idea if spelled correctly). Whats even worse is that I always feed the fish 15 minutes prior to feeding corals. Have you ever had the same problem? I already had 3 of them and had to return them every single time. Just wonder of everyone's cleaner shrimp does this or if I'm jist unlucky.

[@ReefDork]

Shrimp are notorious for that. You can feed liquid food instead or cut the end off a bottle and cover the coral while it feeds...

[@atheistpeace7579]

4 years ago you said several of these should not be kept

[@Mindboggle100]

Dorky, do have a preference for a silicate test kit, assuming you test for them? Thanks :)

[@ReefDork]

Never tested it...

[@seangriffiths9163]

Yes there is a water test that you send a sample to the lab and they post the results. Showing everything that is in your water. Good luck

[@jonathanreich9694]

Is there any species of pistol shrimp that is safe to keep in a reef tank? I’ve always read that there is some drawback with every species of them such as eating small fish etc. etc.

[@ReefDork]

They're extremely unlikely to harm any fish in my experience

[@ProxoDJ]

Would a conche be okay with a "XL" blue leg hermit? you know them big ones. Thing has never touched any snails etc for about a year lol.

[@ReefDork]

Hmm. Possibly. Halloween hermits seem to be particularly nasty. If you try it, just watch them closely and be prepared to remove one

[@ProxoDJ]

@@ReefDork Cheers mate, it's the only crab in the system as i got fed up of them munching snails like they're in france. will give one a try, any favs you would suggest? :D

[@m.deleon6277]

Hey, what about the coral banded shrimp?

[@ReefDork]

I'm told they can be aggressive to other shrimp, but they're cool looking 👌

[@ajiarofah7633]

Are bannerfish eat any coral?

[@ReefDork]

Probably, yes

[@ajiarofah7633]

Ah sure I go to fish only

[@clubmedder9924]

What’s the creature in the picture tho?

[@ReefDork]

Nudibranch

[@davidhughes7180]

Invepervert!

[@ReefDork]

😁

[@panxuanjun]

1:31 what type the conches is this？

[@ReefDork]

I think it's a strawberry, but I didn't say because I'm not sure 😅

[@panxuanjun]

@Barry Knox thank you both,i plan to get one in my tank too!

[@billfrater1948]

Ha! Place your hands is by wait for it, REEF not bush.

[@barbedwirekitty]

Came to say this! lol, poor Dork.

[@pauldeacon8764]

😀👍

[@bennyhoffa7648]

I normally love your videos, but why mention something that's imported and doesn't do good in the hobby? So many better options to choose from than Harlies imo - certainly ones that won't just be temporary tank residents.

[@ReefDork]

Yeah, I genuinely thought long and hard about that. The others on my list ended up as the honourable mentions but none of them were as good as the Harleys for character and I wanted this list to be the absolute best characters. I totally get what you say though.

[@layoanimals6201]

First!

[@layoanimals6201]

Always wanted to do that :)