What is your ideal cleanup crew?

[Meloco14]

So we all know that stores sell clean up crew packages, with the standard hermits, snails, shrimp, emerald crabs, brittle stars, etc. But those of you with experience, what would be a clean up crew you would choose if starting over? And what quantities? A lot of these packages seem overkill. I don't have too much experience yet, but I would choose some algae snails, like astraeas, maybe some nassarius or ceriths to stir the sand and eat detritus, some cheap hermits like blue legs, (the scarlets i've had don't seem to survive as well), maybe an emerald crab for bigger algae, and a conch or two, just because I love to watch those guys . The brittle star I have never seems to do anything, I don't know how he's still alive. Even in the middle of the night he isn't out scavenging. I think I would get a serpent next time. I also like having a pair of peppermint shrimp. Any thoughts?

 

[Anonymous]

>... A lot of these packages seem overkill.

That is a very good observation. IMO, some of the critters were there for the purpose of as food for the survivors. Go with maybe 1/4 of the "recommanded" ratio and usually that is what most people needed.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I think all you really need is a good variety of snails. As many different kinds as you can get, including a conch or two.

People are mixed on hermits- I don't use them because in my experience the always tear the food out of the LPS polyps.

Shrimp don't have much in the way of janitorial skills. Serpent and brittle stars are fine, although nassarius snails do the same job. The big army green brittle star frequently sold is a serious predator, and will eat shrimp and small fish.

 

[Anonymous]

a nimble slave houseboy, nimble and skinny enough to reach into any corner of the tank. he would spend his days cleaning the glass, testing phosphates and using a tweezers to pick detritus off the reef. i'd pay him with scraps from the dinner table.

 

[Anonymous]

For algae, I'm using: 20 red legged hermits, and 15 astraea snails.
For Detritus/uneaten food: Using (5)Nassarius snails and 1 Brittle and 1 Serpent star (banded purple in color). 1 Sea cucumber.

The hermits are a lot of fun to watch, and the A. snails (struggle to get out of the sand if they are flipped) are great on chopping algae on the LR.

The stars are great for catching fish food, that the fish miss... fantastic... and the nassarius snails are good too.

I've got a 55 Gal,...seems like a good number, at least for me. I like to keep the sand moving around, and these guys are doing just that.
HTHs,
~wings~

 

[hillbilly]

All we need is love...er snails!!

 

[Jolieve]

I love my snails. As an experiment, I am seeing how a handful of dwarf zebra hermits do with my snails (a mix of cerith, nassarius and nerites). I'm not sure I trust these guys yet, but... we'll see.

I don't like the idea of adding sea cucumbers or nudibranchs that often show up in cleaner packages. I don't think these critters are really for the beginning reefkeeper, and I am not entirely sure that the linkia and sandsifting stars are either.

J.

 

[Anonymous]

Would it depend which sea cuke you buy? There are filter feeders, and sand eaters... I don't know the latin name, but mine eats sand...great for mixing up the bottom.
~wings~

 

[Jolieve]

I don't think it depends on which cuke you buy, I just think you should have some experience in the hobby before you buy them is all.

J.

 

[ebosshard]

how has everyone's experience been in buying cleaner crews on line

 

[Meloco14]

I bought a clean up crew online for my 55gal, here are my thoughts. Included were 25 astraea snails, 25 blue leg hermits, 25 scarlet reef hermits, and 1 emerald crab. For the most part they all arrived alive, maybe give or take one or 2 hermits, all the snails were alive. I tried to count how many there were and soon gave up, but it seemed like they were over the advertised #, which is nice. The snails were all about the same size, maybe 3/4". The hermits varied from tiny to about an inch. After a couple weeks all the snails and the emerald crab were fine, but the hermits, especially the scarlets, were not doing too well. Personally I just think because there were so many, there was not enough food. They died off to which seemed to be a sustainable level then were fine from then on. So for the money it was a good deal, and good quality, but I would only do it again if I was buying a smaller package than what I need. For example, if I had a 100gal tank i would buy a package for a 50. Oh yeah, this package was recommended for 30-50 gallon tanks. I cant imagine needing this many critters for a 30, as they seemed too much for a 55.

 

[vsmith]

I have bought clean up crews from aquacon and etropicals. I 've been pleased with both companies. The etropoicals stuff all had nice purple coraline algae growth on them which was amazing. That was last year though. I recently bought from aquacon again a week ago. (had a huge algae bloom can't narrow it down to the new additves I'm using or I need to replace my filters in the RO/DI)
Anyway (sorry for the side track) I find the larger snails I think the trochus more hardy in that they I've seen them turn over and the same 5 I bought last year are still going. They stay pretty muuch on the glass though. The larger variety of blue crabs well ate everything inluding my abalone and some other stuff fuc...... the bumble snail are cool but I'm sure what if anything they do. I have a brittle star which is black and has grown from about 1 inch to about 6 it just sits there under the rocks Ive never seen it out.(my girlfriend hand feeds it though...lazy sucker) the emeral crabs are busy little guys but never had success past a few months maybe becuase they ate everything then died. not sure of the life span of the crabs. some have been in my tank for 1-2 years i'm not sure because the last order of live rock i bought had a mantis shrimp in it which dessimated my crabs. (anyone got an idea on how to get rid of it)
hope this was helpful. new to the site/forum
Vince

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I think all you really need is a good variety of snails. As many different kinds as you can get, including a conch or two.

People are mixed on hermits- I don't use them because in my experience the always tear the food out of the LPS polyps.

Shrimp don't have much in the way of janitorial skills. Serpent and brittle stars are fine, although nassarius snails do the same job. The big army green brittle star frequently sold is a serious predator, and will eat shrimp and small fish.

Really? I have 6 different species of hermit and none enters any of my LPS, but my skunk cleaners will be all over an LPS with food in it. :?

 

[Anonymous]

a nimble slave houseboy, nimble and skinny enough to reach into any corner of the tank. he would spend his days cleaning the glass, testing phosphates and using a tweezers to pick detritus off the reef. i'd pay him with scraps from the dinner table.

You could have made it a girl, H. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Really? I have 6 different species of hermit and none enters any of my LPS

Actually, I guess they were more of a problem with sun corals, ricordea etc.

 

[Anonymous]

Clean up crews on line are OK, just watch the numbers.


Stay away from cucumbers and nudebranchs. If they die and you don't notice right away, it can be trouble.


I think a good rule of thumb for cleanup should be bosed less on gallons of water and more on amount of rock, lighting, and bioload. If you have a lot of rock, but not too much light and a very low bioload, then you would need less hermits and snails than a person with high light and tons of fish to feed nitrate to the algae.

I would say 1 hermit and 1 snail for every 3 pounds of live rock. Less if they are large snails and hermits and less if you have other algae eaters and clean up critters.

I have a 72 gallon with just under 100 lbs of rock.

I use 25-30 hermits of assorted varieties. Scarlets, blue legs, zebras, a couple of green, one white one, 3 or 4 of these grey ones with red whiskers, and one neat purple one.
about 25-30 turbo snails
2 trochus snails
2 bumblebee snails
4 queen conchs
1 fighting conch
2 cleaner shrimp


You might wonder about the conchs and why I have so many. Never get multiple fighting conchs, because they need a good territory of sand to burry in and find food. I don't think my tank could support more than one. The Queens are just glorified snails and they spend most of their time eating algae off the glass and rocks. I was able to get them for $2 a piece so I got 4, planning to sell them when they get too big to eat enough in my tank. They get to be pretty big, but they grow very slowly, so unfortunately, your odds of raising one to be a foot long are very slim.



IMO, it's better to add less hermits and snails and then increase the number if they can't keep up with your system than it is to buy too many and have them starving and eating eachother. Personally, if it looks like there isn't enough algae growing to feed everyone, I feed the hermits, which also causes more algae because of the extra nutrients...there's ususally plenty of algae though. :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

I don't buy packages......I just keep a few Large Turbos,a Star,Fighting Conch,a few Blue and Red Leg Hermits,and a Coral Banded Shrimp in my 100 gallon tank. I do not keep corals or anemones.

 

[hillbilly]

>... A lot of these packages seem overkill.

That is a very good observation. IMO, some of the critters were there for the purpose of as food for the survivors. Go with maybe 1/4 of the "recommanded" ratio and usually that is what most people needed.

These packages are overkill. Most will die, and the hermits kill the rest , and then kill each other. That has been my observation anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll throw in as a proponent for Conch's as well. There's one critter that you generally won't find in any package that I think is a great addition that I might recommend are Abalone's. Although they tend to stay only on the glass, they do a fantastic job of it...and they're very cool to watch...

 

[Anonymous]

Agae and detritus control seem to be the biggest continuous problem for many aquarists. I also believe that, in the proper balance, certain "clean up" critters are absolutely appropriate.

On another note.....

Am I the only one who feels the need to duck to the right whenever I see Manny's new av?