hoe often do you guys purchase clean up crews?

[tyr-sog]

I found my first causuality today. Half of a blue legged grab lying there, no shell either to be found. I did find a blue legged in a new larger shell that came on a peice of newly purchased LR. He's bullying now.

 

[phil1964]

I have had 5 astreas from a clean up crew die in the last 3 days, plus 5 scarlet hermits. Test are ok. Just going to wait it out and get more sometime. What else can you do?

 

[wrassecal]

As your tank matures you need more. I agree with Ophiura that some of the cleanup packages are way overdone. When I first started I added too many snails at a time and lost half of them. I went through a similar experience about 6 months into it when I decided I needed another 1/2 dozen or so turbos/margaritas/astreas to my 55g. Lost 1/2 of them. So I diversified, added a dozen nassarius, dozen ceriths, sally lightfoot, emerald crab, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 fireshrimp and I have about a dozen turbo/marg/astreas....I haven't had any deaths since changing my crew around. I have no hermits at all. I also consider my yellow tang, coral beauty and sixline wrasse part of my cleanup crew. JME

 

[tangman99]

I think I'm going to have the opposite problem, but I'm not complaining. I bought a cleanup crew with Hawain Turbos, Nerites, trochous and several other things. It's only been about 5 months since I bought them and something is reproducing like mad. At night, my glass is covered by hundred of baby snails of some type.
I do have a rock crab (hitchhiker on my rock) that takes out a few every now and then, but I don't think I'll need to replace anything for quite some time.