# pros and cons of inverts in an aquarium?



## Mechanicalleon (Mar 29, 2009)

Hi ya'll, my 55 gallon's levels are finally down, and since I'm this close to getting a 140 gallon, I've been looking into inverts, namely shrimp.

The 140 will have (probably, should I say) bala sharks, and lepos mainly.will be planted and I saw this blue lobster at persmart for 20 bucks, I like it because I can easily see it moving around and the color. Also, since it's a scavenger, what does it eat? regular fish food, or is it a carnivore?

I'd like to leard as much as possible before buying anything.


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## Nature neil (Jan 15, 2009)

Inverts are great, I discuss keeping them on my site, but to help you out I will summarise here. There are two main types of invert those that will be eaten by fish and those that won't! ( that is very general but a good place to start). So let's take your example you want bala sharks which grow to 30cm but are not very aggressive so shrimps are out as they will be hassled or eaten! This leaves small crabs and lobsters, small crabs are ok but must be able to leave the water. Lobsters are very interesting but like to rearrange the tank by chopping off and eating plants, digging up gravel etc. But they can be combined with bala if the bala are big enough as the lobsters will occassionally attack fish that are slow or smaller than them. But inverts are very rewarding to keep and watch so research and go for it. Good luck neil


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