Cleaner crew ?

[abbeyspal]

Howdy everybody! I was just wondering would it make more sense to add a cleaner crew a few critters at a time. Or to buy one of the packages on the net. Seeing as how I am in an isolated town where criiters bring hihgh dollar ($2.50 for hermits and snails). It would definatley be cost effective to buy a package. My only concern is that adding 60-100 new little buddies into a new tank would star a re-cycle. and there may not be enough food for them. By the way my tank is only 10 days into it's initial cycle so this is not going to take place right now. Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

I assume you have LR so that'll speed the cycling process along..I would wait a month before adding the clean up crew...give it time for algae to build up and so forth. this will also give the tank time to cycle...this doesnt mean the tank has finished cycling. but snails and crabs will be cool to add in about a month.2-3 weeks after you add the cleaner crew you can start to add corals and fish...just remember to do this process slowly when adding corals and fish...dont want to biologically overload the tank...before adding 60-100 new critters, what size is the tank...if this will help..I have a 20 gal reef tank with 4 large turbo snails and about a dozen blue legged hermits that keep my tank clean.
hope this helps

 

[abbeyspal]

Thanks for the reply. I do have live rock, the tank is 60 gallons. I was planning on having around 30 hermit crabs and assorted snails. I would also like to add a couple diffrent shrimp species. However, I was unsure about there territorial needs. I really like the coral banded shrimp. On top of that I was thinking about adding a couple of abalone. Im not so sure as I haven't found much info on these guys. I love fish but my passion has always been invertabrates!

P.S. An urchin would be super cool.

 

[Anonymous]

Coral Banded...should be single or a mated pair...an urchin would be fine too...try to stay away from the long spinned..tuxedo would be ideal....

 

[abbeyspal]

Again thank you for the info. Can the coral banded be housed happily with another shrip (cleaner). Also what about abolone are thes guys reef safe? I am not going to be getting any corals for at least 6 months. But, when I want to start adding them I don't want any critters that are going to eat um up !

 

[Anonymous]

Yes to both of your questions...Abolone snails are definitely reef safe and having other shrimp in the tank will be fine...Ive had 3 species of shrimp in my tank...I have a CB and a peppermint as we speak...the dominator is definitely the CB. Neither of the aforementioned shrimp will touch corals..