question on 'clean up crew'?

lazuruskfp

lazuruskfp

Member
Hello again all,
So after reading a few more posts and a few more chapters in my book on salt water fish I have again come across conflicting opinions on something.
Is a clean up crew a good Idea in a FOWLR tank (/w live sand)? I plan on shooting for a mostly peaceful lineup of fish maybe a non-reef friendly bugger somewhere down the road.
If it is a good idea what kind of 'clean up crew' is safe and will avoid becoming lunch should a Val. puffer/wrasse ect. find its way into my tank down the road?
Thanks again
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Puffers, most wrasses, and triggers will kill crabs, shrimp, and mollusks (snails, cucumbers, nudibranches, etc).
The best solution is to get the oversized hermits you see around... the ones that are 2" or more in shell size. Note that you cannot get the pet hermits from a pet store, those are not aquatic, but the size is comparable.
Those are less likely to get torn up by aggressive fish.
Forget snails, etc, they'll get killed.
As for your "cleanup or no cleanup crew" question, I can tell you that my FOWLR system does not have one and I am CONSTANTLY battling nuiscance algae. I am actually in the process of getting my SG raised in mine so I can get one or two of those big hermits. Excess nutrients are always a big problem in FOWLR systems because the fish we tend to put in them are messy eaters and generate huge amounts of dissolved organics, which just fertilizes algae growth.
Keep in mind that if you add inverts, you'll never be able to do a tank treatment with most medications, particularly copper.
 
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