[sheamurai]

hi all
new to the salty side of life, and I'm ahving an information overload meltdown!
Its the conflicts that are getting me.

I am currently in my 3rd day of cycling a 40gal tank.
I have a prism HOB protein skimmer (already a new one on order as I don't like this one)
2 korali powerheads, 46 lbs of live rock
temporarily running an HOB filter on it as well.

I have been researching my little heart out, and today I've been reading about stocking. Conflicts galore, so I opened an account here to ask some clarification questions.

#1 -cuc - how many cuc can I conservatively have? I have read everything from around 5 total, to 5 each f shrimp, hermits and snails.

I'm a long ways from stocking fish yet, but of course I'm perusing that as well. More conflicts. I would like an anemone and clownfish combo, but I've read on one spot that any anemone is too large for my size tank, and another had a 20gal tank with an anemone.
#2 -anemone/clowfish - can I have these in a 40gal tank?

I'm very interested in a goby/shrimp pairing as well. I've read tho, that they may not be compatible with other shrimp/fish.
#3 - is a shrimp/goby combo compatible with the above? perhaps only specific species to avoid or look for?

thanks for any advice...its great having the net as a resource, but there can be such a thing as too much!

OH! forgot to mention why this is in the reef section - I am hoping down the road to add some easy corals to the tank, whether or not the anemone thing works or not. So, I also want to make sure the above is compatible with corals too...

thanks!