Clean-up Crew

[andrew1113]

Ok so i have just set up my tank and all i have in it is a turbo snail
And i was wondering what would be some good snails and crabs to have in it to clean things up..its not thats its dirty or anything but i was just wondering what would be good
I heard that some crabs were bad and i wanted to know which one they are if anyone knows please tell me

 

[jimmy40741]

SWF.com sells clean up crews, perhaps you should look at their packages to see what they have together. I have had one in my tank for a week now and everything seems to be getting along fine. Along with turbo snails they included Scarlet Hermit Crabs, Blueleg Hermit Crabs, Nasssarius Snails, Emerald Crabs, Coral Banded Shrimp, Sally Lightfoot Crab, and Cleaner Clams, so I can tell you from experience that these crabs, snails and shrimp will get along with your turbo snails. I'm sure others can give you some more suggestions.

 

[andrew1113]

thanks alot yea ive been looking at the clean up crews that swf offers

 

[sigmachris]

Blue leg hermits tend to be more aggrresive towards smaller snails (nass and certh) and will kill for their shells. It doesn't seem to matter if there is extra shells laying around. The scarlet leg hermits seem to be the nicest playmates.
Certh, nass, and conchs seem to stay on the sand beds, while turbos / astrea stay more on the glass and rocks. Hermits seem to split their equally between the sand and rocks. I liked my Emerald for his appetite for bubble algae and also for his looks, when I was able to see him which isn't much.
I don't have any experience with the Coral Banded or sally light foot.

 

[scopus tang]

Just my $.02 worth. Scarlets tend to be territorial, so if you get too many in a tank they will kill each other till there are only enough left for the available territory. Red-leg hermits are more of a community hermit and I've had better luck with them - however, they will also kill snails for shells. Beyond that I'd say SigmaChris was right on, and I also have no experience with the Sally Lightfoot. The coral banded generally is recommended only as a single organism per tank, unless you get lucky and get a mated pair they fight till one of them is dead. I've never personally found them to be great as clean-up crew members - they come out and eat when you feed the tank, and will eat/scavenger dead items. Unfortunately they get fairly large, and they sometimes will kill and eat smaller/weak or sick fish that they can catch. Never had a problem with them eating other members of the clean-up crew. Emerald crabs can also sometimes get aggressive - do a thread search for associated threads - and I'm not all that convinced they do all that great a job of doing what they are including in a clean-up crew for, which is supposed to be eating bubble algae. I've seen mixed reviews and never had great luck with them myself.

 

[gns]

I'm in the process of setting up my nano tank, should I put a clean up crew into the tank when I add my live rock and live sand, or should I wait for the levels to stabilize and then add the clean up crew.
Thanks

 

[sigmachris]

Originally Posted by gns
http:///forum/post/2477733
I'm in the process of setting up my nano tank, should I put a clean up crew into the tank when I add my live rock and live sand, or should I wait for the levels to stabilize and then add the clean up crew.
Thanks
Wait until your ammonia spikes and then comes back to zero and nitrites are at zero. Try not to let the ammonia get over 1.0 as it could kill off some good critters in the LR.

 

[gns]

Thanks!