What are some low maintenance inverts?

[tennisjad3]

I'm going to being traveling 4/5 days a week for work, so I can no longer hold fish. Ideally I want to keep some softies and was thinkin maybe an invert or two.

Could I also keep an arrow crab/decorator crab/some skind of shrimp as well? I know fish cant go several days without feeding, but can inverts?

Best,

Joe

[Sascha D.]

Most fish can go 4-5 days without feeding if they are in good health. It's probably best to avoid chromis, anthias, and high movement wrasses. Especially if you tank runs warm. Some fish on the cusp of reef safe might nip at corals if they get too hungry. You also have the option of an automatic feeder.

Shrimp, snails and crabs would be fine. Some crabs would find something to hunt if they were hungry, so I would avoid them. Clams and anemones get most of their light from zooxanthellae and don't need to be fed on a regular basis. Sea whips would probably be okay. I would probably avoid scallops, sea cucumbers, and sea apples.

[jestep]

^+1

In my experience most all crabs and shrimp will turn to coral or each other if they don't have enough food.

You could try an auto feeder and set it to once every other day. Should be plenty to keep the fish going without overfeeding the tank. Make sure to test the amount it feeds multiple times before trusting it unattended.

[Wade]

+1 on the automatic feeder. Just returned from a two week vacation and the Neptune feeder worked flawlessly as usual. It can be programmed for daily, every other day, or specific days of the week. Pretty versatile.

[Timfish]

Most of my tanks in my maintenance business do just fine with just my weekly visits for topping off and water changes. I use cheap battery operated autofeeders feeding pellets and set them to multiple feedings daily and have been successfull with several of the hardier anthias species. Corals fend for themselves and include acros, montis, birdsnests and stylos among others.