Invertebrates

[hnf2k]

how long do you have to wait from when your tank is cycled until you can add crabs, lobsters, cleaner shrimp, snails, etc? do they need any specific levels(salinity, ph, nitrate, etc)? is there a max amount you can put in one tank. like with fish like 1.5"/5 gallons. is there any little formula like this for invertebrates? any additional info would be greatly appreciated...thanks

 

[azrile]

scarlet hermits, blue-leg hermits and most of cleanup snails are pretty hardy though. I would stick to these three at first, because they are very cheap and very hardy.
Fish and cleanup crew are opposites. Fish make the water bad, cleaners make it well.. cleaner. The only limiting part of a cleaner crew is if they starve to death. You don't want to have so many that they can't find enough food.l

 

[hnf2k]

what type of cleanup crew should i have for a 180 gallon fowlr?
at my lfs they have these very elaborate good looking lobsters, are they ok to add? they are about 30-40 dollars. i believe called blue lobsters or something. anybody have any lobsters and expensive invertebrates like this?

 

[diceman]

The clean up crews from this site are very good. I have bought from here several times and was very pleased. Just look up the package for you tank size. If you want to build your own cleanup crew you can do that to but at a higher price. I highly recommend the Mexican Turbo snails. These guys don't stop working.

 

[biggjohnn]

I have a blue lobster in my reef tank, he was about $40. He just wanders around the tank lookin for stuff to eat, 1 thing that scares me about him is that i always see him picking up my snail and crab shells diggin his little feet in there so im kinda wondering if he's killed anything, and i have noticed that my clean up crew has kinda slowly dissappeared but i think that is due to a mantis shrimp. I also wanted to say that i have ordered from this site many times and have always been so happy with the animals i received, i just got my new order in today and everyone was excelent.
Biggjohnn