Cleanup Crew...

[dedwards]

I was looking at the clean-up crews here for a 20g tank and wanted to know what everyone thought of the packages. Are all of the inhabitants compatable? Any more desireable than others? Here is the list
20g-55g
Scarlet Hermit Crab: 10
Blueleg Hermit Crab: 10
Turbo/Astrea Snail: 20
Nasssarius Snail: 5
Brittle Star: 2
Coral Banded Shrimp: 1
Emerald Crab - Limit is 5: 3

 

[boomper]

I would probably avoid the blue legged hermits if possible because they can be mean sometimes. You only need 1 emerald crab as well. I would also recommend more than 5 nassarious snails, at least 10 or more.

 

[big911dog]

i'm not a big fan of stars, but mostly because i dont want them eating my sand fauna.
I like nassarius nails for detritus and cerith snails the best for wall algae. fighting conches are my favorite for diatoms in the sand. Mexican turbos are HUGE algae grazers and will mow down most everything, but they will starve without a LOT of algae to eat. I like the Banded Trochus better than the turbos. They seem to live longer.
i recommend the scarlet hermits for the rock algae. IMO, they are the most docile. I have found the blues and zebras just like to kill things. Others have had good experiences with them tho. emeralds are great fun, but can starve also. they are especially good with bubble algae.
in general, aim for one cleanup crew member per gallon. take a look at what ur having problems with and gear the cleanup crew to that type of problem.
just my .02.....