Tomorow I am going to the LFS with the $25 I have allotted for a cleanup crew. They have red-legged, blue-legged, and Zebra hermit crabs for $.99 and Turbo Snails for $1.99. Right now I have about 5 red legged (I think they are called Scarlet hermit crabs?), 1 big Zebra, and one turbo snail. I am looking for some opinions on making the most out of the money in order to battle a recent diatom outbreak and normal brown algae growth on the glass. For example...spend all $25 on snails or crabs, or 5 snails and 15 crabs, etc. Thanks for any help! Oh, and if there is another critter you could suggest instead of crabs or snails, that would be ok too. I had a sand sifting star, but got rid of it after learning of the havoc it makes on DSB.
cleanup crew and $25
- Thread starter tripleup05
- Start date
IMO, you don't need as many crabs as you do snails. You have six crabs now, I honestly think that's enough. I have 10 zebra hermits in my 75, and there is absolutely no trace of microalgae in the tank.
I'd spend the whole lot on snails, if he's charging that much for tubos, see if he's got ceriths and nassarius as well. Get a mix of these for your tank. I like cerith snails much better than turbos and if ceriths were as available to me now as they were when I set up my tank, I would have nothing but ceriths, nassarius and an emerald mithrax crab as my clean-up crew.
J.
I'd spend the whole lot on snails, if he's charging that much for tubos, see if he's got ceriths and nassarius as well. Get a mix of these for your tank. I like cerith snails much better than turbos and if ceriths were as available to me now as they were when I set up my tank, I would have nothing but ceriths, nassarius and an emerald mithrax crab as my clean-up crew.
J.
I've been hearing that hermits can tear up DSB also, so yea i'm definately going to go with snails of different varieties. I went to the LFS today, and the peckerheads had closed though!! I called the guy up on his cell and he was like sorry man, had to help my family out cause their house got tore up in Dennis. So he better cut me a deal lol. Nah jk, i wasnt mad i can understand
No shortage of oppinions here, but I thought I'd add mine too :lol:
I love nassarius (not sure I spelled that right) They're carnivors, so IMO/E they do a good job taking care of leftover bits of food. My feelings on hermits are mixed, I have about a dozen in my 30g , I think they tend to keep my *pods to a minimum. I have no hermits in my 50g that is more recently set up, and lots more *pods (now, this could be just from it being a newer system, time will tell). I have substantially more Nassarius in the 50g because of the lack of hermits.
One thing to watch is that you don't get more hermits than your system/feeding practices can support, because there is the risk that they will kill your snails for food/housing (which sometimes they'll do for no reason).
If you do get more red-legged hermits, make VERY sure they are Scarlet, there is another red that my LFS called "mexican red-legged" that is a real trouble-maker and not reef safe (I got one somehow and had to trap it after it split open a featherduster and ate it!) Scarlets have bright red legs and this mex. was more of a maroon.
If you're looking for a "safe mix" err on the side of more snails. IMO there's not a big problem with too few hermits, but you can certainly have too many. And the opposite is basically true for smaller snails (within reason). Overdoing crabs will cause them to eat things they shouldn't, whereas overdoing snails will possibly starve one or two. (Which of course should be avoided, but at least you don't have to trap-out a sneeky troublemaker, like I did w/the Mex. hermit, that was quite an ordeal and I lost a $20 featherduster in the process.) I think this is the biggest contributing factor to why I have a "hermit-free" 50g.
I love nassarius (not sure I spelled that right) They're carnivors, so IMO/E they do a good job taking care of leftover bits of food. My feelings on hermits are mixed, I have about a dozen in my 30g , I think they tend to keep my *pods to a minimum. I have no hermits in my 50g that is more recently set up, and lots more *pods (now, this could be just from it being a newer system, time will tell). I have substantially more Nassarius in the 50g because of the lack of hermits.
One thing to watch is that you don't get more hermits than your system/feeding practices can support, because there is the risk that they will kill your snails for food/housing (which sometimes they'll do for no reason).
If you do get more red-legged hermits, make VERY sure they are Scarlet, there is another red that my LFS called "mexican red-legged" that is a real trouble-maker and not reef safe (I got one somehow and had to trap it after it split open a featherduster and ate it!) Scarlets have bright red legs and this mex. was more of a maroon.
If you're looking for a "safe mix" err on the side of more snails. IMO there's not a big problem with too few hermits, but you can certainly have too many. And the opposite is basically true for smaller snails (within reason). Overdoing crabs will cause them to eat things they shouldn't, whereas overdoing snails will possibly starve one or two. (Which of course should be avoided, but at least you don't have to trap-out a sneeky troublemaker, like I did w/the Mex. hermit, that was quite an ordeal and I lost a $20 featherduster in the process.) I think this is the biggest contributing factor to why I have a "hermit-free" 50g.
Anyone ever thought to keep starfish as more of a control than snails?
So far having snails + hermit crabs = hermit food.
I havent tried it... was just wondering if anyone else has and could give some feedback.
If I could say to get anything, it would be a sally lightfoot. I love mine and I just bought 3 more that should arrive wednesday with my coral shipment.
So far having snails + hermit crabs = hermit food.
I havent tried it... was just wondering if anyone else has and could give some feedback.
If I could say to get anything, it would be a sally lightfoot. I love mine and I just bought 3 more that should arrive wednesday with my coral shipment.
I like emerald mithrax crabs. They are characters, don't bother the snails and they mow nuisance algae like there's no tomorrow. I once freaked out on one and returned it to the LFS, because I had a cleaner shrimp that was dying of acclimation shock, so the emerald crab wandered on up to it, did the hulk pose with his claws, then plucked off its eyes and ran away.
At the time, I didn't realize the cleaner shrimp was dying of acclimation shock, nor did I realize that crabs don't attack healthy animals. I just panicked and went through holy heck to remove the crab.. then immediately took it to the lfs without asking them any questions.
Now, I want two mithrax crabs in my 75, because I know better
J.
At the time, I didn't realize the cleaner shrimp was dying of acclimation shock, nor did I realize that crabs don't attack healthy animals. I just panicked and went through holy heck to remove the crab.. then immediately took it to the lfs without asking them any questions.
Now, I want two mithrax crabs in my 75, because I know better
J.
They're good detritivores - some prefer them as an alternative to hermits. Not so great with algae grazing though (at least IME).
Trochus, Margaritas, Turbos, Astreas and Ceriths are all pretty good at grazing film algaes IME with Turbos being the best (but also the largest). Ceriths also eat detritus.
Trochus, Margaritas, Turbos, Astreas and Ceriths are all pretty good at grazing film algaes IME with Turbos being the best (but also the largest). Ceriths also eat detritus.
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