Originally Posted by
Clay12340
In my 12g I use:
2 astrea's
6 nassarius sp. (My favorite)
1 nassarius vibex(too big in my opinion, but he was sent by mistake)
1 blue legged hermit(and he is a pain in the butt)
6 mini brittle stars
2 cerith snails
Bunch of Spaghetti worms
Countless bristle worms
Pods galore
If you like your snails stay away from the hermits. I've lost a half dozen snails, because my hermit decided to *try on* their shell. He wears the new one for a couple of hours and then gets back in the original one he came with.
I guess he likes that one best. Putting 10 hermits in a 12g tank is pretty much going to guarantee all of your snails get killed in short order.
All crabs are opportunistic omnivores. If they see something that looks tempting they'll eat it. They don't care if it is a piece of missed food or a prized coral. They are really cute and make nice critters in their own right, but use them with care.
Your best and most active cleaners are your bristle worms. They won't touch living matter and they will eat anything dead amazingly quickly, plus they come for free with live rock. Some people don't like them, but they are actually a fun critter to watch. When you feed the tank you see their little pink heads pop up out of the sand and then you see them all fighting over any tiny pieces of food that hit the sand.
The reason I say the nassarius sp. are my favorite is that they are very comical snails and are a ton of fun to watch. They are about the size of a pea, while the Nass. Vibex are almost exactly the same but are about an inch long. They bury themselves in your sand and you'll hardly ever see them until feeding time. When you feed the tank they all come to the top of the sand and head right to the food. They also have one of the coolest looking flipping mechanisms I've seen in any snail. When they get turned over they stick their whole body out of their shell and do a kick flip that turns them back over so that they can get traction.
i just wanted to comment that the bristle worms are beneficial in smaller numbers but they can sometimes get out of hand
also i havent had a big problem with my hermits and snails so far
and when you are choosing snails you might find which is best for you (i know that sounds funny) but in my tank ive had a few kinds of snails that havent been too hardy and have died easily right now i have black margarita snails that cont flip themselves over so im constantly having to reach in and right a snail
good luck on the nano
and now its time to add a clean up crew. I was thinking about ordering the Nano Pack from this site, but it says i need a minimum of $79 (livestock only) to place the order. So what else can i get to go along with the Nano Pack?
