Wanted: Clean Up Crew

D

drewpotens

New Member
So right now in my 55g saltwater tank I have 3 red leg crabs, 3 nassarius snails, 1 choc chip starfish and 1 fire shrimp. My sand bed has a decent amount of crud laying on top recently. Maybe I'm having unrealistic expectations of my CUC, but I was wondering what you guys have.

I seem to be having some problems with them coping with each other as well. I just found 2 crab shells that havent moved in 2 days. They didnt eat any snails for their shell because I counted 3 snails still. Also i havent seen my shrimp in about a week. I've heard people say they like to hide, but I think it's getting a little too excessive now. If he did unfortunately die I find it pretty curious I havent found the body. Any thoughts? Perhaps buried in the substrate? I'm still a beginner I started this tank about 4 months ago and I'm trying to get the hang of it.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Your cc star is not part of a cuc its a carnivore. It probably ate your shrimp. Now iam not saying it killed it, but it def would eat it. Brittle stars are more of a cuc.
Do u have any power heads?
 
D

drewpotens

New Member
jay0705 said:
Your cc star is not part of a cuc its a carnivore. It probably ate your shrimp. Now iam not saying it killed it, but it def would eat it. Brittle stars are more of a cuc.
Do u have any power heads?
Click to expand...
yeah i have an aqueon powerhead thats a 950
 
D

drewpotens

New Member
jay0705 said:
Hmm, any live rock? How did you cycle the tank?
Click to expand...
yeah about 50 lbs of live rock. i cycled it for a month then put snails and crabs in. then around two months i added the starfish, shrimp, 4 damsels, and two clowns. i only have 1 damsel left =(
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I only add 1 fish every 3 months. The only exception is mated pairs.

How high did your ammonia get before they died?
 
D

drewpotens

New Member
it didnt spike up at all which confuses me even more. the guy at my local fish store told me to just keep an eye on the ammonia, pH, nitrates and nitrites for the next few weeks but still nothing out of the norm
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
What r u testing your water with? Type of kit. Adding that many fish should have caused a spike.
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
drewpotens said:
yeah layed the bags in the water for about two hours and dumped em in. was that bad?
Click to expand...
Not only should you not have added six at once you also should be putting them in a QT tank for 4 weeks give or take before putting them in your display tank...

These guys have taught me a lot and I still ask questions every other day lol

I use a 5 gallon tank for my quarantine and perform water changes about every 3 days...when I get a fish home I float it in its original bag for 20-30 mins then dump the fish and its water into a small container...I then use airline to make a siphon from my QT to my container and tie a knot or 2 in the airline as to let 2-4 drops per second into the container until my salinity, temp and ph match may take an hour or so...

Welcome and good luck :D
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Alot of info at once I know. All good info tho. Even if the fish you add are healthy god knows whats in the water.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top