Clean Up Crew.....how Many And What?

[ice maiden]

wont be ready for this for a few weeks....but so i can start my research now.....my tank is 20 gallons, how many and what do you suggest

 

[steelhealr]

There are many suggestions out there and people have different experiences. I'll give you what mine have been and then you can decide for yourself:

1) astrea snails, the backbone of the cleanup crew; if they fall upside, they die if not righted

2) cerith snails, good glass cleaners

3) turbos/trochus snails...excellent cleaners, but, bulldozers, batten down your corals

4) skunk cleaner shrimp...personality to the max

5) emerald (mithrax crabs)....may eat your bubble algae, good detritivores but can be opportunistic when larger

6) nassarius...good sand sifters

7) hermits...I think they are overrated. If you get them, stick with scarlets

Rule of thumb:
1 snail per 1-2 gallons
1 crab per tank if large


Sample crew for a 20 gallon:
-5 astrea
-5 nassarius
-5 cerith
-1-2 trochus or turbos
-1 skunk cleaner
- 1 mithrax

SH

 

[trekbear]

Now, Now steelie!

Hermits do have their place and niche in the tank . I do agree with scarlets but also zebra or Hawaiian hermits are also good. They stay small and don't seem to be as agressive as the electric blues.

Ice Maiden, the reason people don't like hermits is because if you don't nail your corals down (affix them properly), the hermits will move them around for you... sometimes they steal food too from the polyps but they generally do more good than harm at least IME!

HTH,
TB

 

[fish_keeper2]

ive had no prob with my hermits. they do perfectly fine and have done no harm. they have character too.........i lost one for some reason so i got another today and as soon as it was in the tank it went to every empty shell and tested it out...........now he has a new home and new shell. it was really funny to watch him.

while we are on the topic of cleaning crew i was wondering what else i could get in my tank. its ten gal and right now it has 1 hawaiian feather duster(along with several small ones that were hitchhikers), 1 zoo colony, 1 true perc clown(will be two but the other is new and is in quarantine), and my cleaning crew which is 3 astraea snails, 3 nassarious snails, and 3 hermits. i once had an arrow/spider crab but it died mysteriously. ive also had skunk cleaner shrimp. ive had two(at dif times). both were full grown and cost 33 bucks each and then died mysteriously. i was just wondering what would be good to clean brown algea off of the class(scrapping once a week with my mag float is enough to take care of it but i would like something to eat it) and i would like some type of shrimp or crab.

 

[bunjiweb]

I've seen my green leg hermit attack and kill a snail for its shell but the red-legs seem perfectly harmless.

They certainly do a good job of cleaning if you let them

I'd go for..

3 Hermits,
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp,
5 Cerith Snails,
5 Nassarius.

And how about Sexy Shrimps, Thor amboinensis. I have 4 in my 15G and they are a great littler cleaner and super fast so don't risk getting killed or eaten (by anything too big). I've also got an orange-striped Hawiian hermit which is a gorgeous little critter but was very expensive.

Ben