Lets get serious... why are CUCs so advocated to new hobbyists?

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Besides being cool to watch - I don't believe that having a hundred hermits and three hundred snails in a 55g tank is going to solve all your algae problems.
Why are clean up crews so recommended around here? What happened to good ole' tank maintenance?
What should an average tank have, as far as a clean up crew goes?
For me... I have one Mexican turbo snail and 5 hermit crabs in my 75g... and I don't have a single bit of "bad" algae in my tank.
 

jay0705

Well-Known Member
I have a turbo,4 cerith and 2 margarita snails in my 75. Besides a few bristle worms that's my cuc. The numbers they give you for them is insaine
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by jay0705 http:///t/395393/lets-get-serious-why-are-cucs-so-advocated-to-new-hobbyists#post_3519925
I have a turbo,4 cerith and 2 margarita snails in my 75. Besides a few bristle worms that's my cuc. The numbers they give you for them is insaine
I feel it's not only the numbers that I find on various websites, but even here on the forums...
I'm just wondering how someone can justify having a snail per gallon or a hermit per gallon?
I know when I was setting up my 75g I was going overboard with my CUC simply because I didn't want a stagnate sandbed... but why are others so adamant about having so many?
 

jay0705

Well-Known Member
I have no idea. There a nice addition to the tank and they give you piece of mind that u have some help w keeping your tank clean. When your talking over a hundred critters for a 55 or 75 gal that's a bit excessive
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I think clean up crews sometimes contribute to the fouling of water quality... because the snails don't have something to eat or the fact that hermits kill and eat them - a dozen dead snails has to have some negative effect on water quality.
Why, then, are so many new hobbyists instructed that the absolute first thing they add to their tank is a large clean up crew... when there is practically nothing for them yet to eat? Waste of life and money if you ask me.
 

jay0705

Well-Known Member
I agree. I had a turbo die. When I took it out of my tank the smell was god awful!!!! You could still smell it in the water after I had removed it. I can't imagine if I had half a doz dead snails. Yikes!
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Hi,
I LOVE my CUC!
I have snails, lots of them...they are a variety of Nassarius, Turbo, Margarita, Cerith and Nerite (each feeds on certain types of algae). I also have peppermint shrimp and a hectors goby to eat the extra wasted food....Seahorses are very messy eaters.
When I had my tank set for corals I also kept serpent stars, and peppermint or cleaner shrimp, and hermit crabs...even a few emerald crabs and a Sally lightfoot. I loved my fan worms for the filter feeder to help with keeping the water nice and clear.
I have never ever had to vacuum my sandbed (not even on my seahorse tanks). Maintenance consists of water changes, and harvesting macroalgae. Along with the mag float to make sure the front glass is clear.
As a reef, my rocks never had to be "blasted" with a turkey baster, because they were clean as a hounds tooth....but I do believe that was because I aimed my PHs correctly to keep them clear of built up detritus. Sigh, I miss my Koralia PHs, seahorses hitch to them, and I don't want any tail injuries.
Jay...if anyone had a dozen dead snails, the smell is the least of their problems, because if the snails are dying by that number something is bad wrong with the tank. Live rocks means lots of eaters of the dead, and serpent stars are great for cleaning any dead critter in the tank BEFORE it could smell. If you had a proper cleaning crew your dead snail would only be an empty shell, and no bad smell. Our CUC critters eat more then algae.
Snake, you are correct about adding a bunch of snails when there is nothing for them to feed on. A good CUC is built slow as the need arises.
 

jay0705

Well-Known Member
I thought I was the only person that had a hectors goby lol I never hear of them mentioned. W the snail, really the only critters I have that would have eating it are a few bristle worms and peppermint shrimp. It wasn't there long tho,maybe 8 hrs before I noticed it. I always keep an eye on them incase they tip over
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by jay0705 http:///t/395393/lets-get-serious-why-are-cucs-so-advocated-to-new-hobbyists#post_3519995
I thought I was the only person that had a hectors goby lol I never hear of them mentioned. W the snail, really the only critters I have that would have eating it are a few bristle worms and peppermint shrimp. It wasn't there long tho,maybe 8 hrs before I noticed it. I always keep an eye on them incase they tip over
Asterae (AKA) turbo snails or star snails, so called by folks...can up-right themselves. There is a type that can't. https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/321812/turbo-snails
IMO
. And it is just my opinion.....if a snail is too stupid to know how to up-right itself, I'm surprised the species survives at all. I do not watch my tank and up-right a fallen snail. Never did, and never will. There are too many different just as capable snails to do the same job. Putting your hand in the tank is far more dangerous for the possibility of contaminating the tank, than the little dead snail.
I love my Hectors goby...he actually sifts the sand...just a few granules at a time, but it's pretty cool to watch. I also have a blue striped (had two but I've only seen one for months now) pipefish. Seahorses can only have certain tank mates. The Hectors goby was a nice choice, and a little different from the norm...The Rainfords is the same fish but a different color, I think Nova has one of those.
 
S

saxman

Guest
Seth,
I have to agree that the numbers that are recommended are WAY skewed...I recommend much lighter CUC stocking, esp. in the beginning, and I'd never add a hermit per gallon (I actually go more like a hermit per 20 gals), and only add turbos if there's any HA. I do like to keep a few Astrea, Nerites, Ceriths, and Nassarius in the mix as well, but more like 1 snail per 3 gals, lighter on the Nassarius since they're not algae eaters. Margarita snails generally come from temperate waters and don't do well at warmer temps for very long.
Overstocking a CUC is like wasting money, as they'll die back to what the tank can support anyhow...it's better to start light, see what your tank needs and what does well in it, then bump up those species slowly.
However, as you've mentioned, good ol' fashioned maintenance goes a long way to keeping a healthy tank.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by saxman http:///t/395393/lets-get-serious-why-are-cucs-so-advocated-to-new-hobbyists#post_3520003
Seth,
I have to agree that the numbers that are recommended are WAY skewed...I recommend much lighter CUC stocking, esp. in the beginning, and I'd never add a hermit per gallon (I actually go more like a hermit per 20 gals), and only add turbos if there's any HA. I do like to keep a few Astrea, Nerites, Ceriths, and Nassarius in the mix as well, but more like 1 snail per 3 gals, lighter on the Nassarius since they're not algae eaters. Margarita snails generally come from temperate waters and don't do well at warmer temps for very long.
Overstocking a CUC is like wasting money, as they'll die back to what the tank can support anyhow...it's better to start light, see what your tank needs and what does well in it, then bump up those species slowly.
However, as you've mentioned, good ol' fashioned maintenance goes a long way to keeping a healthy tank.
Good, I'm glad I have found someone else that thinks like me. :D
Hecktors gobies are neat little critters. I've watched one at my LFS for a little while now.
 

cmbkml

New Member
Funny cuz our LFS is recommending 38 crabs and 10 snails in our 38gal. Currently we have 7 blue legged hermits, 2 sand sifting snails, 3 Turbo snails, and 2the pepermints. I thought getting what they were recommending seemed a bit much. In addition; we're going to add a blue tuxedo urchin and a star.
 

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Idk what these guys r thinking! You can't be so money hungry to try and sell people triple sometimes more than that. These critters are to maintain a healthy tank not clean it out then starve them selves
 

cmbkml

New Member
Correction on the 2 peppermints... one is totally clear and has some orangish spots. They told us it looked like some form of "camel/humpback" but they weren't for certain because their ghost shrimp are all freshwater... however after researching more when getting home, it looks like a ghost shrimp to us. Does anyone know anything about saltwater ghost shrimp and if they are for more than feeding larger fish... this guy is 1-1.5" in size and swims around like crazy. Very fun to watch but we are concerned it might not be something that lives very long if its a feeder shrimp. Also, one of our sand sifting snails has not moved since we put it in the tank earlier today... and our pistol shrimp has knocked to other one down in his cave so we cannot see if he's alive. Do they move in the sand a lot or could they still be trying to get used to the new tank. We don't want to leave a dead snail in the tank to smell it up and mess up the levels. Our pistol has already taken a mushroom hostage and tried with our frogspawn, he's not very nice it seems.
 

bang guy

Moderator
Other than a black Sea Cucumber I always preferred to have most snails that can reproduce in the tank as the clean up crew. Cerith, Stomatella, Bubble, Collonista, etc. They each cover their own little niche and their population increases and decreases based on available food.
I like the true Limpets as well, they are really good at cleaning out the plumbing.
I'm not a fan of Hermits and would not recommend having more than one except for very large tanks.
 

mohawkninja

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bang Guy http:///t/395393/lets-get-serious-why-are-cucs-so-advocated-to-new-hobbyists#post_3521990
Other than a black Sea Cucumber I always preferred to have most snails that can reproduce in the tank as the clean up crew. Cerith, Stomatella, Bubble, Collonista, etc. They each cover their own little niche and their population increases and decreases based on available food.
I like the true Limpets as well, they are really good at cleaning out the plumbing.
I'm not a fan of Hermits and would not recommend having more than one except for very large tanks.
When you say not having more than one hermit crab, do you mean the larger ones, or the smaller blue/red legs?
 

slice

Active Member
My opinion is that CUC is stressed to newcomers is because it is often overlooked in new tanks, and often newcomers lack the "observe and respond" ability. Don't confuse 'respond' with 'react'.
I think it was Saxman who said some time long ago that one must observe and respond to the changing needs of your particular tank. That was immensely helpful to me.
As an Engineer, I looked for 2*((x/y)+((4.3/z)/4)*a)=perfect tank, but it doesn't work that way. Observe and respond. My CUC needs wax and wane depending on me, the fish, my equipment efficiency, nebulous other considerations.
I've loaded the tank up, traded, thinned the ranks, enjoyed escargot according to the needs of the tank.
-the escargot part was a joke...
 
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