clean up crew

[pmauro]

I hear alot of you talk about turbo snails and a variety of crabs for cleanup crews but don,t these animals cause problems besides keeping the tank clean? For a clean up crew should I stay away from snails, crabs and hermits? don't snails have a habit of extreme population growth? and crabs are feeders of opportunity if I am not mistaken, I would rather not loose a fish to a lucky crab. OR am I completely off base here? I have seen some huge hermit crabs. Do all species grow large? I realize it will take alot to keep my tank clean but I don't want a bizillion snails all over my tank like in the freshwater days. Help me out and set me straight. I will eventually be adding coral to the tank but not for a year or more. Please give me some advise, I only have a couple of month before I start populating this tank.
Thanks in advance

 

[sinner's girl]

"extreme population growth" I wish my snails had that problem. ours like to die. I have never had that problem with swf tank. You don't have to have tons of snails to keep the glass clean (it easier to have the snails do then for you to have to do it, plus, imo the snail clean the glass better than i do)
small hermits and crabs will not harm your fish. Blue legs may eat snails though. and some crabs will eat shrimp.
not all hermits will get huge. we've had some in the tank for about 2 yrs and they aren't that big (half an inch maybe)
stars and shrimp are also part of the clean up crew.
"cause problems besides keeping the tank clean"
from my expriance the members of the clean up have not caused any problems (other than a CBS who ate all the shrimp). If a snail falls over the hermits will eat it, but if the snail stays on the glass or even on the lr it's fine.
hth

 

[jagermeister]

Saltwater snails don't propogate like their freshwater cousins. In fact a lot of the descriptions for saltwater snails will say they're actually very difficult to breed in the aquarium environment.
For hermit crabs it depends on what types you get. Look into the scarlet reef, blue leg, and hawaiin zebra hermits. Scarlets will grow to about 2 inches. The other two kinds will get to be about 1-1.5 inches. I have 30 zebra hermits in my 55 right now. None of which are larger than 1/2". They're constantly moving around and eating. They're fun to watch.

 

[krishj39]

if you don't want to have lots of snails on your glass, you might not bother even getting any. it takes a lot of snails to do much cleaning, the exception is the mexican turbo, they do a lot of cleaning, but they are also huge. jagermeister has given you three good hermits, all are unlikey to cause problems. what about a fish that eats algae? kole tangs are supposed to do a good job at eating diatoms, as well as hair algae. I plan on getting one of them in the near future. If you have problems with hair algae, a lawnmower blenny is a great choice, but it won't do much to help get rid of diatoms.

 

[hairtrigger]

I hear when it comes to hermits, stick to scarletts. I hear the other types will eat coraline algae, sometimes fish. I don't know if that is accurate information. I am curious too though, because I am about to stock up on cleaners. And I need a lot of em.

 

[pmauro]

Thamks to all of you I hope more will give their insite to my problem. my tank is so large I want to be sure I do it right the first time and I know there is a lot more knowledge out there with more great answers

 

[saltyrich]

I do not agree with the post that states it takes a lot of snails to do any cleaning. That greatly depends on the snails. For example trochus snails and strombus grazers are tremendous cleaners. One trochus does the job of five turbos. Anyway, here is my pitch on a cleanup crew. They are necessary and beneficial for any system IMO. What I like to do is to acheive the greatest amount of diversity in a clean up crew as possible. The reason is that diversity in a tank looks great and different clean up guys fill different niches in the system, cleaning different things. Of great importance is to add a few members of a clean up crew at a time. If you add a bunch all at once, they will probably completely clean up the tank and then several of them will starve. By adding a few at a time, you will eventually strike a balance between keeping the tank clean and being able to feed your clean up crew.
Snail suggestions: turbos, trochus or strombus (not too many of these), cerith, nassarious, bummble bee; fighting conchs
Crabs: red legs, blue legs, Hawaiian Zebras.
Try these for starters. There are several others like starfish, etc.. but these will get you on your way.

 

[donkeykong]

I agree with saltyrich,
start adding some then slowly add more to you find the right amount that will keep everything in balance. I have mexican turbos, trochus, cerith, and plan on getting some fighting conch as soon as my store gets some in.
I have scarlet and zebra crabs that do there job to a "T".
I is just a matter of finding that balance

 

[pmauro]

Thanks for the info, but how large do the red legs blue legs and hawaiians get? I don't want anything that will become large enough to become a threat to the rest of the tank. and with the hermits what happens if there are no larger shells to move into?

 

[eddie g]

I have some right handed hermit crabs. They are about 1/4" and I think I read they only grow to about 1/2" or so. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? They do stay on the sand a lot. It looks like they are always putting the tiny sand grains into their mouth. But they don't seem to clean the little brown algae bloom I have on some of my sand.
Eddie G

 

[eddie g]

I was watching the right handed crabs again. They put the grains of sand into their mouths and then spit it out. I guess they are cleaning the sand.
Eddie G

 

[donkeykong]

Pmauro you have to add shells for them to move into.

 

[majakarot]

i once counted how many baby snails i had, 10,000,000,003, then my hermits killed my three store-bought snails and now i have exactly 10 billion snails!!! i don't know what they are, and they are not from the ones i bought because they showed up with a piece of lr before i added snails, so i can definitely say that it is possible to get a snail infestation in SW... but like i said, it had nothing to do with the store bought snails

 

[koiman6]

If you want to keep your clean up crew alive dont add any Hawkfish. My hawkfish has already eaten several of my crabs.