Clean up crew, how many?

[phil1964]

I see packages on this site for clean up crews.
Who really has 50 hermits and 50 snails?
Seems excessive to me. Right now I only have 3 hermits and 3 snails. I know it is not enough and need more but I was thinking like 20 of each. Would this be enough?
Also I hear that hermits ordered on this board are tiny. Maybe that is why they sell them in such large qty.

 

[foulbrew]

I don't think 50 snails and 50 hermits is unreasonable for a 180 gal tank. I don't know how many I have - but I bet it's close to that in my 125.

 

[birdy]

I have about 30 snails and 15 hermits and 2 emerald crabs in my tank and it is just 46gal. Of course the amount of clean up crew needed does relate to the amount of algae and detritus you have in your tank. I had a major hair algae problem and my clean up crew has done an excellent job taking care of it.

 

[mlm]

In my 120 I have about 70 snails, 10 hermits, 3 fighting conchs, and 2 emerald crabs. Things are very clean and I like to keep them that way

 

[hondo]

Think diversity when you buy your clean up crew. You want to go heavy on the snails as they are great cleaners and don't cause problems. Go with trouchas, cerith, margarita, strombas, nassarius, fighting conch. for hermits only go with the scarlet hermits as they are the least likely to kill off your snails. you also want to make sure you have a healthy population of pods and worms as these are great detrivores. For numbers look to start with the following and keep in mind some of these guys are prolific breeders so you really don't need to replace the ones that die off in your tank.
trouchas - 30
Cerith - 20
Margaritas - 20
Turbos- 5
Strombus - 20
Nassarious - 30 (they clean your sand bed)
fighting conch - 5
Scarlet hermits - 20