Cleanup Crew

[fishforme]

90 Gallon tank with 90lbs of Live Rock. Have one cleaner shrimp and really neat looking corals growing everywhere. Just finished cycling last week. My first three purchases will be a Purple Tank, Clown Fish and Anenome but my question is regarding a cleanup crew. At what point should I add one? Should I wait a month or two while a stock the tank with some corals and fish? Should I add at the beginning? Will there be enough food/alge for them to eat with minimal coral and fish?

 

[q]

I don't understand. How can you have corals everywhere when you just cycled the tank and plan on adding more?
What kind of light do you have for the anenome?
You should wait and let the tank mature. Add the clean-up crew first. You can also add a detrivore kit. Adding these two things and letting the tank get established will help you in the long run. You can lightly feed the tank once it has been seeded and the clean-up crew is in.
[ December 26, 2001: Message edited by: Q ]

 

[fishforme]

I shouldn't have said corals... more like mushrooms, macro algae, yellow looking carpet-type stuff, green stuff, red stuff. Doesn't really look like algae though. There are even some stuff with little tenticles... I was thinking of a green carpet anenome. I have two 250W 12500k MH bulbs.

 

[predator]

Sounds more like spounges and macro algea.A clean up crew can be added now.Your lighting sounds fine for anemonie.

 

[fshhub]

i agree, especialy the part about waiting,
as for the anemone, anemones, are not as easy as most think, their life span is over 100 yrs., however in the reef aquariums, in mature tanks(over a year old)& in the hands of experienced vets(5+yrs exp. in sw), they very rarely survive a year, some one may disagree and say they did fine, however even these people will admit it is a very rare case, that they live years (11 months in an aquarium is a long life for them currently, years is old age and they should live decades)
IMO this is a very delicate creature to keep
i would add a clean up crew and detrivores now, and wait 2 to 3 weeks before adding any fish

 

[fishforme]

OK, however, I always thought that the cleanup crew kinda at the crap expunged from the fish and/or corals. Without any fish/corals in the tank, I just wanted to be sure that there was enough for the crew to eat. IN ADDITION, is it bad to buy one of these packages I see around the internet. I had one person tell me not to because there will be a tremendous amount of die off adding everything at once... Like [[70 Astreas , 10 Trochus, 30 Scarlet Hermits, 40 Mexican Blue leg Hermits, 8 emerald crabs]]

 

[karlas]

i personally would look at a different clean up crew, the emeralds, when they get big, could pose a problem for your smaller fish, even though they are supposed to be algaevores
the snails and scarlet should be fine for they are primarily algae eaters and you will get algae blooms before you add fish. do you have any sand?, if so , i would also look into a detrivore kit, if not i would look into sand before anything
we did not loose any of our cleaners due to die off, just as long as your tank is completely cycled before adding them
and the internet is a good source for both, we got our dets and cleaners from online
HTH

 

[frenchman]

Personally...
1. Go for a cleanup crew NOW
2. SALTWATER fish cleanup crew package are the best cheap and very nice. Go for it too.
3. Wait for at least 6 months before you put an anemone in your tank.

 

[fishforme]

This package?
50 Scarlet Reef Hermits
25 Blue Leg Hermits
50 Turbo Snails
4 Sally Lightfoot Crab
3 Horseshoe Crabs
10 Emerald Crabs
3 Serpent Stars
3 Brittle Stars
3 Flame Scallops
3 Feather Dusters
3 Peppermint Shrimp

 

[frenchman]

Well, all their packages are great. I was at first very skeptical about ordering through internet but I have now total confidence in SALTWATERFISH.COM and the way they ship. You have to choose according to your tank size. I suppose that the one you saw is the 100gal+ and that would be OK. If I were you though I would probably take the 55gal+ and purchase empty shells so that the crabs can grow. That would be enough and good to start with. In addition, it is next to impossible to keep flame scallops for a long time even though they look nice - so you probably don't want to purchase something that will die very soon. One important thing is the empty shells - otherwise your crabs will kill each other and attack the snails as well. But bottom line, it's your choice.