Do I need more janitors?

[sigmachris]

Hello all, I hope some people can help share their experiences.
I have a 14G BioCube with stock lightening. I am in the process of swapping out the bio balls for LR rubble, but doing only 6 or 7 balls a week. I have 15# of LR and 18# of LS. The tank is just over a month old and it cycled in the first 7 days. I also have removed the Bio's filter cartridge and will be doing a bag of carbon for 1 week at the beginning of each month.
The second week of the tank I added 2 Orange Turbos, 4 nass, and 2 scarlet crabs. The tank seemed to being doing great and still is. The parameters of the water were good and the diatoms were noticable but not too bad.
In the last 10 days I have added a cleaner shrimp and a false perc. The cleaner shrimp seems to be a really messy eater. He goes around collecting all the pellets he can and then sits to eat. The clown seems to get 2 pellets on average at each feeding twice a day.
So that brings you up to speed, now for the questions. With the fish and pellets in the system adding to the bioload, should I add anymore janitors to help with the cleaning and what do you suggest? I was thinking cerith or asteria snails or both.
To clarify, I don't have any algae problems to solve, I'm just trying to see if the balance of janitors is good.
As always thanks for your input,
Chris

 

[jacksonpt]

I would argue to feed less. Janitors are just a bandaid to a problem (not that you have a problem, but...), feeding less is a cure.
Also, perhaps you could find a type of food not so easily "horded" by the shimp. I find flake and frozen brine or mysis to be very good foods.

 

[sigmachris]

Originally Posted by jacksonpt
I would argue to feed less. Janitors are just a bandaid to a problem (not that you have a problem, but...), feeding less is a cure.
Also, perhaps you could find a type of food not so easily "horded" by the shimp. I find flake and frozen brine or mysis to be very good foods.
Would cycopleeze fall under the brine or mysis category or are they different foods altogether. I'm not at home so I can't look at the cycopleeze package for ingredients. I do like the idea of changing up foods to avoid the hording. Tht guy will get 4 or 5 pellets in his legs then go off to eat them.

 

[jacksonpt]

I'm not familiar with cycopleeze, sorry.

 

[sigmachris]

Jackson if you are still lurking or someone else here is a new question. The clown is about 7 months old tank raised and maybe 1" long. How many pellets should he be eating a feeding if I feed twice a day?
This info will help so I don't overfeed, thanks again.

 

[jacksonpt]

yikes... I feed twice (maybe 3x) a week... I would definitely cut back on your feeding.
Something to consider... the clown's stomach is about the size of his eye, and you certainly don't need to fill that stomach every time you feed. I'd cut back to once a day, and I would think 1 pellet would be plenty (depending on the size of the pellet).

 

[sigmachris]

I read your other thread at an attempted poll on feeding, I assume I helped initiate that one with this thread.
I am attempting to feed small portions twice a day. I have read pro's and cons as to people feeding small amounts twice a day or larger amounts every other day. I can see both sides of the arguement...the one point that got me was that fish eat small meals every day so I wanted to try and replicate that.
At the same time of feeding smaller portions twice a day I DON'T want to overfeed and have food degrading in my tank. So your hint that their stomachs are the size of their eyes is a good one.
Thanks again for your help today!
-Chris

 

[jacksonpt]

Yes, there are pros and cons to feed once vs twice a day. IMO, the kicker is the waste produced both from excess food in the water column and fish waste. If you really are feeding SMALL amounts twice a day, then you are probably fine, especially if you water tests well and you have no algae problems.
But for 99% of the people in this hobby, overfeeding is a big enough challenge feeding once a day, never mind twice.
As for the other thread... feeding is a common question and I thought if I could get a poll going then it would be very easy for people to look quickly at the poll results and see what most people are doing. It's kind of a pain to have to search a thread and read trough 50 response just to get a feel for something.

 

[sigmachris]

Trying a little trial and error with the feeding. I probably made mistake by starting with 10 pellets and moving back to 6 instead of starting low and going high. But 6 seems to be a good number, 4 for the shrimp and 2 for the clown.
Thanks again for your help, I do appreciate it

 

[sigmachris]

Bump...in case any West coast night owls have any new suggestions.