My 46g clean up crew

frankthetank

Active Member
Ok experts! I have piece by pieced my clean up crew for my 46g. Here's the list:
10 scarlet hermits
15 turbos
20 nassarius (to be ordered) (still thinking on this one, someone suggests Tonga Nassarius instead?)
2 sand sifting cucumbers
1 brittle star
1 orange linckia
3 emerald crabs
1 coral banded shrimp
2 halloween hermits
1 porcelaine crab
2 cleaner clams (I've had them for a year)

Is this a pretty good package? Hopefully with this I can keep the algae off the glass better and keep the sand bed clean. I really want that sand bed as clean as a whistle.
Comments, suggestions?
 

integral9

Member
Personally, I think the blue leg hermits stick to the sand bed better than the rest, but are more aggressive.
The linckia star, emerald crabs, coral banded shrimp and percelaine crab are mostly decorative and provide little in the way of cleanup. They do eat off the sand bed, but aren't scavengers that hermit crabs are.
My favorite cleaners are: trochus snails (awesome glass cleaners), nassarius snails, blue leg hermits (I think mine are nocturnal) and serpant, brittle & sand sifting sea stars.
 

grabbitt

Active Member
the linckia will not survive in a 46g.
They need at least 150 lbs of LR and a well-established tank.
 

grabbitt

Active Member
Also, your snails might get picked off by greedy hermit crabs if you don't have a lot of spare shells lying around.
 

emm0909

Member
You wont be able to provide enough for that linka. It WILL die. They are too nice of a creature to kill.
 

frankthetank

Active Member
Originally Posted by GRabbitt
Also, your snails might get picked off by greedy hermit crabs if you don't have a lot of spare shells lying around.
My scarlet hermits don't attach my snails at all. That's why I love scarlets versus blue legs. But I got a couple halloween hermits just for variety.
I might get a couple electric blue hermits at a later date (they're a little different than blue leg)
And I do have empty shells hanging around in the tank.
 

frankthetank

Active Member
Originally Posted by emm0909
You wont be able to provide enough for that linka. It WILL die. They are too nice of a creature to kill.
I have heard this before... I have heard from others that I can keep one too. I ordered a small one... actually ordered small in everything. They are acclimating right now.
 
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