My stocks' strange behaviors

I started a 55 gallon saltwater tank about 3 months ago. I have about 50 lbs of rock(10 live and 40 dry) and 40 lbs of argonite sand(super fine, what a mess). I added a cleanup crew of 10 dwarf blue leg and 5 zebra hermit crabs, 2 large Nassarius snails, 5 small Nassarius snails(jersey shore edition lol), 5 Astrea, 2 Cerith and 2 Nerite snails.

I started off with 2 small Ocellaris Clowns. Very cute but one is turning black. I'm not worried about it since there are so many varieties of these but it wasnt something I was expecting. They did great so I added a Yasha Goby/Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp combo. The yasha came out often but only saw the pistol once when he chased off a rogue hermit.

Then added 2 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp. They are awesome. They immediately started cleaning everything including my hands when I wipe down the tank.

The next inhabitant was a Diamond Watchmen Goby. He destroyed the tank for the first 2 weeks he was in but that has cleared up. He is constantly moving sand(and hermits) and does what I wanted, sifts the sand. However, I believe he killed the pistol and chased out my Yasha. Is this possible or common? The pistol is gone(I found the remnants). At the moment, the Yasha and the Diamond share a burrow. I don't know if the Yasha likes it but hasn't moved out so I guess she's ok with it. I would like to get her another pistol but not if the Diamond will kill it.

Next came an Auriga Butterflyfish. Awesome fish. Very calm and graceful. Eats nori and everything else without a problem and will take food from my hand. She likes to knock the snails off the glass lol. Also LOVES being cleaned by the shrimp.

The latest addition was a Coral Banded Shrimp. I got one about half the size of the Cleaner Shrimp so they would dominate a bit. I have been reading up on these guys and know they can be aggressive. When he first went in the tank one of the Cleaners squared off with him and was lunging at him but that only lasted about an hour. Now the weirdest thing(atleast by what I've read) the 2 shrimp, one cleaner and the coral banded will each take a side of a round cutout I made in the rock and sort of sword fight with their antennae. My little black turning Clown will swim in the middle of the 2 quarreling shrimp and referee. Seriously, when one seems to be acting up the clown will just move closer to it and sit there until the shrimp backs off. My concern is as the coral banded gets bigger will it get more aggressive and not back down. Also are Clowns known for controlling others in the tank? They seem to almost dominate the tank and are the smallest besides the Yasha.

They all seems to display "normal" behavior as I have researched but there are a few things I find "unique". The whole tank seems to be getting along now. I'm still pissed about the pistol but maybe that was "normal"? The only other concern I have is my large Nassarius snails are not coming out to eat. They were blasting out of the sand before but have not been out in almost 2 weeks. I dug them out, they are still alive but they just reburied themselves. Any ideas?

I know this is alot of info and several questions but just covering the bases lol. Thanks for any advice.

 

Well the easiest question to answer is that Nassarius snails are nocturnal and bury themselves during the day. However, mine do come out when I feed.

CBS are known to be aggressive and kill other shrimp (and even fish?) as they mature. Others may have had good experiences mixing them with cleaners, but I probably wouldn't risk it.

Some people never see there pistol shrimps once they join up with a watchman. He could still be there and you just don't see him!

 

Oh, and I know LA lists the Auriga Butterflyfish min. aquarium at 50 gallons, but due to their size, shouldn't it be bigger? Maybe someone else could answer that one.

 

He said he found its remnants

 

I missed that actually! Sorry for the confusion.

Just to double check, are you sure it was the shrimp itself and not a molt?

 

Remember shrimp do molt. Their molted shells look like dead shrimp and usually it takes a little while before they disappear.

 

@Marshall O-My Nassarius snails were coming out to eat when I fed the second the food hit the water. They blast out like tiny bulldozers and I actually enjoyed watching them when they did. Now nothing. I haven't seen them out at night either.

@mattb57-I have seen the hermit and Skunks molt. I am not 100% sure it wasn't a molt but my Yasha moved to 2 other spots and now is back to her old spot with the Diamond hanging out in her burrow. I knew he was in there before because the hermits would creep around and then suddenly run for the hills. I saw the same when he chased off a hermit before. The Diamond even acted fishy(no pun intended) when he went by their burrow and then suddenly dug the whole thing out and the hermits poured in there with nothing stopping them. That's what lead me to investigate and found what looked like the little pistol torn apart.

 

Well probably died but hey you never know...I never remember finding remains of a shrimp when it died

 

The "remnants" could be the shrimp malting.