Best Cleanup Crew ??? How many do you REEEEAAAALLY need?

[tellico tornado]

I went out yesterday and got meself 12 blue leg hermits. As soon as I dumped em in the water they went crazy in my sand bed. Eating stuff and sifting around all the sand and dark brown spots. The sand bed looks better than ever after LESS than 24 hours being in the tank. Now, what im wondering, most people say that you need like one crab for every gallon of water? Same fro snails. If this is true, everytime a fish swims by they will be getting snapped at by the crabs, and the crabs wont have anywhere to set cuz the snails will be hogging up all the room on the rocks and sand. So my question is this, how many crabs and snails should i put in my 55 gallon tank? Should i really put in 55 of each??? i dont know but i got 12 crabs now and they are everywhere. I know i could probably stand 12 more but any more than that i dont know. And what about star fish? are these good for cleanup crews? Horseshoe crabs? Thanks for any info.....

 

[zipperfish]

you'll be amazed at how many will survive in your tank. i'm not an expert but in my 75 i started with 25 turbos and 25 blue legs and it wasn't enough.

 

[tellico tornado]

I just dont see having THAT many crabs and snails in one tank. But hey, ive never SEEN that many in my tank so i dont know. I could put em in there and say man they were right. Thats why im posting this to see what you guys have and if you think its really a MUST HAVE to have that many inverts in one tank.
Oh by the way
I use a plenum system with 4" DLSB and 70lbs of LR and a power head. Thats all the filtering i have, so inverts will play a large part in keeping my reef looking great and play a HUGE part in the filtration as they will eat uneated food, dirt, and algae..... So who knows, maybe i should get a HUNDRED insed of just 55
Thanks for all the info guys

 

[captained]

In my 65, I have ~3 dozen crabs, ~2 dozen snails, the starfish, etc:
10 Scarlet Reef Hermits
18 Blue Leg Hermits (adult & micro)
6 Baby Hawaiian Turbo Grazers
6 Adult Strombus Grazers
15 Astrea Snails
8 Burrowing Cerith Snails
6 SandBed Clams
1 Brittle Starfish (2 feet across, huge!)
1 Black Banded Starfish
2 Burrowing White Starfish
3 Mithrax Crabs
1 Abalone
Plus:
2 Scarlet (Blood, Fire) Shrimp
2 Pacific Cleaner Shrimp
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
2 Feather Dusters
1 Red Tree Sponge
In the refugium I have:
Miniature Brittle Stars
Peppermint Snails
Micro Stars
Stomatella Varia (shell-less baby snails)
I am seriously considering adding another dozen Astrea Snails, and 2 more abalones to the main tank, and maybe a few peppermint shrimp.

 

[ky]

For instance, in my 90 gallon, I have about 5 dozen smails and 4 dozen blueleg hermits. Well, that's how many I put in. I'm sure that some have died and I have seen many babies. I don't know how many is too many, but I haven't found that number yet.

 

[shel]

I don't think you could have to many. I counted 31 hermit crabs last nite on one rock. <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" /> I know I have alot but I don't know how many. I buy them when ever I feel like. I enjoy watching them.
I also have 5 emrald crabs, 1 decorator crab, 2 brisitle (sp) star fish, a dozen snails with babies and a couple big hermit crabs. All in a 140.

 

[kris walker]

Hi Twister,
There is really no answer to your question as you might have already realized by the previous posts. It really comes down to how much of an ecological niche is available in your tank. Factors for the size of this niche are: size of tank, amount and type of food fed to tank, amount of other lifeforms in tank, nutrient levels (nitrate and phosphate), and light (these latter two give rise to algae, which feed the snails and some crabs).
There are probably other factors, but IMO none more important than the ones I just mentioned.
In theory, if your niche is huge, and you only put in 10 crabs/snails, then your crabs/snails will breed and produce more in time that will fill the niche. But in practice, this isn't efficient, as in the long meantime you might have algae or nitrate problems.
Cheers,
sam

 

[mlm]

In my 55 gallon I have 4 emerald crabs, 14 scarlet hermits, 3 turbo snails, 10 trouchus snails, 4 fighting conchs, 2 sandsifting stars, 1 brittle star, 1 serpent star, 5 peppermint shrimp, and one scarlet cleaner shrimp. Out of all af these I like the conchs the best. The trouchus eat a lot of algea. They are much better than turbo snails. I had 15 turbos but they just keep dying.

 

[sheni_angel]

Having all those in the sand are O.k with Mandarins, or some fish like those? I was thinking some cleaner shrimp and something else, but I'm not sure I want a tank full of crabs. It's really necessary? I was thinking 100 gallon full of live rock and sand.