General recomendations, particularly cleaner crew?

[candide]

I have a 125g tank, but only one peppermint shrimp. I really want to get one of the blood fire shrimp.

We have 20 blue leg hermits, and 20 turbo snails. The tank isn't fully loaded with live rock yet, we are building it up semi slowly, about 90lbs so far. About 2-3 inches of crushed coral substrate.

We have 1 O. clown, 1 yellowhead goby, 4 damsels and a 6 lined wrasse.

So my question is, from a cleaner crew standpoint, what else do we need? Some kind of starfish? How many shrimp can I get, and will peppermints and fire play nice? Are there any others I should look for?

 

[Len]

Starfish aren't hardy, and sometimes they get predatorial. Brittle stars are good scavengers, but sometimes they hunt fish (especially those that sleep in the rock). All echinoderms (starfish, urchins, etc.) are very sensitive to water quality. For example, you have to be very careful to acclimate to avoid osmotic shock from waters of different salinities.

I'd look to get a few more snails of different species, including Cerith, Nassarids, etc. Jeff's Exotic Fish (www.exoticfish.com) usually has a good selection of snails to choose from. Diversity is good.

Hermits aren't necessary, but if you want to add a few more, try some Scarlet hermits. A tiger sea cumcumber might be useful for mopping up the substrate.

Peppermints will coexist fine withe fire shrimps. One thing that should be noted is that fire shrimps rarely show themselves. In a 125g, you might not see it unless you're feeding the tank. They are super cool critters though Other shrimps to consider is classic cleaner shrimps.

 

[candide]

I am thinking of getting 2 more pep's, and the fire shrimp. He has been at the LFS for several weeks now, just tempting me

Would 3 peps, 1 fire and 2 cleaners be too much, about right?

Thanks for your help

 

[Len]

That's a lotta shrimps, but ya, they'll be okay together. You got a large tank which helps a lot.