Good Clean Up Crew ?

[YamahaF934]

Looking to add a clean up crew. I have lots of Diatoms right now. But I want a good number of crabs and snails to clean I just dont want to over do it so they die when no food left. . .

Snails
Crabs
Emerald Crab
Sand sifting something
Glass cleaners
What else and the amount please.

 

[Burke]

I really like my tiger tail cucumber, it does a good job keeping the sand clean. It’s fun to watch and it won’t poison the tank if it dies. It also won’t remove the beneficial stuff in your sand.

 

[reedman]

a couple of thoughts for you.....not sure what "crabs" you are thinking of, but if they are hermits then they will not play nice with your snails. Pick one or the other IMO.

Emerald crabs are hit and miss for valonia so if you are getting them for that just know going in they may or may not work.

for sand sifting you have several choices; gobies work great, but they will dump sand on anything below them....cucumbers have been great for me and I highly recommend them to keep the sand clean...sand sifting starfish can work out, but it is hit and miss.

glass cleaners - I am assuming you are thinking for diatoms on the glass, in which case astrea snails work well, but their life span is quesionable.

As far as what else and how much.....how much depends on your tank size, your algae level, what algaes, what fish, etc. I like my hermits, but would not mix them with snails without expecting losses in the snails. Some argue that if you provide empty shells they will leave the snails alone, but my experience says they like a tasty escargo every once in a while.

 

[YamahaF934]

a couple of thoughts for you.....not sure what "crabs" you are thinking of, but if they are hermits then they will not play nice with your snails. Pick one or the other IMO.

Emerald crabs are hit and miss for valonia so if you are getting them for that just know going in they may or may not work.

for sand sifting you have several choices; gobies work great, but they will dump sand on anything below them....cucumbers have been great for me and I highly recommend them to keep the sand clean...sand sifting starfish can work out, but it is hit and miss.

glass cleaners - I am assuming you are thinking for diatoms on the glass, in which case astrea snails work well, but their life span is quesionable.

As far as what else and how much.....how much depends on your tank size, your algae level, what algaes, what fish, etc. I like my hermits, but would not mix them with snails without expecting losses in the snails. Some argue that if you provide empty shells they will leave the snails alone, but my experience says they like a tasty escargo every once in a while.

Well why do all the clean up crews sell hermits and snails together. . That like selling something that will kill each other.

 

[reedman]

Well why do all the clean up crews sell hermits and snails together. . That like selling something that will kill each other.

Personally I would say it is good business as once the snails are dead you order more. Some have luck with both, some don't. Reality is in a really big system they can probably coexist, but most don't have a BIG system. They coexist in the ocean, but that is a lot of real estate for them to occupy.

I have had both in the past and have both now (though the snail population is declining, but I expected that). Another consideration might be an urchin. Great at cleaning up algae and spreading coraline algae.

Check out this article on snails and other fun things in Coral magazine

 

[dragoneggs]

I have used red and blue hermits with Astrea snails and had to purge my tank of the blues. They were fairly agressive against my snails.

 

[Chichas01]

I have used red and blue hermits with Astrea snails and had to purge my tank of the blues. They were fairly agressive against my snails.

Yeah, I've seen that as well. If I ever deceided to buy more hermits, it would be the red ones only.

 

[roblou]

I ordered a CUC online at http://www.ccritters.com. I went with a little of everything: scarlet,blue leg & white claw hermits; porcelain & sally lightfoot crabs; turbo, nassarius, cerith, nerite, & mexican snails; and serpent & harlequin serpent starfish. Shipping was from FL, sent USPS 2 day air. One of the boxes had issues and was delayed a day. Out of everything I ordered about 5 hermits and 1 starfish died in transit, but the owner of the site (which I believe is also the diver that goes & collects the stuff) gave me a quick & easy refund for those that were DOA.

I would probably leave out the sally lightfoot crabs if I did it again, as I had problems with them picking at my corals. Other than that, everything else has worked out so far.

The scarlet hermit crabs were some of the biggest I've ever seen, about 1.5-2" shells on those guys! Prices were excellent, even with shipping charges figured in. I ended up ordering about $200 worth, which was a LOT of CUC!

HTH,

Rob

 

[mcoomer]

If you have fine sand I'd get a goby. It will go through the sand constantly in search of food to sift. They can create sandstorms in your tank so that it settles on rocks and corals but if your tank has decent flow it's probably not an issue. You could also do a shrimp and goby pair.

 

[YamahaF934]

If you have fine sand I'd get a goby. It will go through the sand constantly in search of food to sift. They can create sandstorms in your tank so that it settles on rocks and corals but if your tank has decent flow it's probably not an issue. You could also do a shrimp and goby pair.

I have a yellow watchman goby and shrimp pair on the list. Dont think two gobies would go well in a 72?

 

[returnofsid]

2 sand sifting gobies, unless they are a mated pair, will probably destroy one another.

 

[YamahaF934]

2 sand sifting gobies, unless they are a mated pair, will probably destroy one another.

I didnt think the Yellow Watchman was a sand sifter. . . I have not seen them sifting in the stores at all.

 

[returnofsid]

They don't sift the sand as much as some other gobies, but they do sift. They also allow their pistol shrimp to sift and find food through the shrimp's actions. Technically, I guess they're not a sand sifting goby, as much as they are a "prawn goby." However, if you put two, that are not a mated pair, in a tank together, they will still destroy one another.

 

[YamahaF934]

They don't sift the sand as much as some other gobies, but they do sift. They also allow their pistol shrimp to sift and find food through the shrimp's actions. Technically, I guess they're not a sand sifting goby, as much as they are a "prawn goby." However, if you put two, that are not a mated pair, in a tank together, they will still destroy one another.

OK Thank you. . . Who would you recommend me pairing him up with. I asked the LFS and they said they can get pistol shrimps but I am sure there is many kinds.

 

[conduit7]

garf.org will calculate what you need for your tank

 

[mal1099]

i have a diamond goby and a watchman goby but i have a 6 foot tank. they seem to do ok together.