How many cleanup crew members?

[Anonymous]

I was perusing livestock selections in anticipation of my soon-to-be 30G long reef aquarium. I noticed that many livestock sites sell bundles of cleanup crew - usually 4 specimen in 3 species totalling 12 individuals such as turbo snails and hermit crabs. This seems like a bit much for my 30G long. I was thinking more like 4-6?

How many would you initially put in?
Would you put in more once the DSB and everything else is mature?

 

[Anonymous]

I have one snail and one scarlett crab in my 2 month old 38G nano.

There are people who manage their reefs without any snail or crabs.

I am considering not putting any in my upcoming 300G. I want to keep a Harlequin Tusk, and they eat snails and crabs.

Food for thought...

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

38G == nano?

 

[Anonymous]

Yup. The 300G will be a nano too. They are all nanos! :wink:

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

hm ... well i want snals n' crabs in my 'nano' (lol) just because i think they are cool. i guess i should start with one of each maybe.

 

[Anonymous]

two or three of each would be fine...its entirely up to you.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.inlandaquatics.com/prod/prod_detrit.html

These guys have got some critters that might give your DSB some tools for success. I think the minature brittle stars are really neat. And they've got a killer selection of macro algeas.

 

[Anonymous]

wow i like the mini brittles too! i was looking for those online after i saw them in the LFS. but i was under the impression that i should avoid stuff like starfish and also take care with my detritovores because i am constructing a DSB?

 

[Anonymous]

The mini brittles are no problem.

You can also check out http://www.ipsf.com for some clean up crews.

I would go 4 snails and only like 2 crabs. The snails will reproduce, and if you get too many at once some will starve once they eate everything. When you start having some algae, get some stomatella snails. Awsome.

The deal with a clean up crew is to get a diverse one, and to make sure you don't overpopulate late it causing a die off when food sources are eaten.

There is no exact science to it. Go slow, and you should be fine.

 

[Anonymous]

thx!~

 

[Anonymous]

I don't have anything to add. Just one of the slackers following orders.

 

[Anonymous]

*snicker* Susan BAD girl

Hwarang, will you be getting live sand? A clean up crew going into a tank full of brand new sand might have feeding problems, as mentioned. Live rock with live sand is a better course of action, IMO. You do not need much, it is just to introduce critters into your DSB.

 

[Anonymous]

unleashed - yes i will be starting off w/ live rock, live sand seeding my DSB and some live sand in my HOB fuge, i'll give it a good long while to ramp up before i add anything that might eat stuff down there.

-i'd like to get a chonch.

 

[Anonymous]

i just did a little checking it seems the fighting conch would be most appropriate for my reef (only a 30g) as the queen is said to grow large. unfortunately, i'm trying to keep an indo pacific biotope rolling here. does anyone know if there is a cool conch that's easy to keep from that region?