tank janitors

[hp65]

my 50 gallon has been up for roughly 5 months and i was wondering what sort of cleaner crew i should put in there i have 2 turbos. 4 dwarf blue legs, 1 scarlet hermit, and a tiger cowrie. I wanted to get a few more hermits but i was wondering what other kinds of snails etc. to clean the different levels of my tank.

 

[meow]

Turbo grazers and astria snails will do the job. And you need TONS of hermits to keep the sand bed clean.

 

[chris17]

I would just look on this web site for the " cleanup crews" that will show you what would be good and how many for your tank............JMO

 

[hp65]

what about for the rocks?

 

[krishj39]

All of the following are good at cleaning up.
*emerald crab
sally lightfoot
*serpent starfish
*mexican turbo snail
turbo snail
*margarita snail
cerith snail
nassarius snail
*hawaiian nassarius snail
*scarlet hermit crab
zebra hermit crab
blue leg hermit crab
red leg hermit crab
I put asterisks by the ones I most recommend
My advice to you is to get a wide assortment of these.

 

[hp65]

how does this sound for a 50 gal
4 dwarf blue legs(already in there)
1 cowrie snail
3 turbo snails
2 astrea snails
2 nasserious snails
2 bumble bee snails
4 scarlet hermits
2 cleaner shrimp and 2 fromia starfish which i already have.

 

[krishj39]

I would triple those numbers (except maybe the cleaner shrimp, that'd be very expensive). Be careful with the cowrie unless you don't have a reef.
For approximate numbers in my 90g I have:
35 scarlet hermits
15 zebra hermits
25 blue leg hermits
15 cortez red leg hermits
10 mexican turbo snails
10 turbo snails
20 hawaiian nassarius
20 nassarius
20 cerith snails
10 of another small snail I can't remember the name
30 margarita snails
3 starfish in the brittle family
3 starfish in the linckia family
3 seacucumbers
1 blood fire shrimp
4 peppermint shrimp
1 fighting conch (2")
This has been an excellent crew, sometimes so efficient it completely consumes an animal still under guarantee before I can remove it. It is a mature and full reef tank so, no, it doesn't look like the tank is crawling with critters, they all blend in and hide very well.

 

[krishj39]

Nope, not astrea, I call those turbos. These have the same shell shape as the margarita snail, only smaller.
I DID recommend the cerith and smaller nassarius, I just didn't asterisk them as my personal favorites for cleanup. As you can see by my second post, I still like them enough to have a bunch of them.

 

[hp65]

how about
-10 dwarf blue leg hermits
- 10 scarlet hermits
- 10 zebra hermits
- 5 turbo snails
-5 astrea snails
-5 bumble bee snails
-5 nasserous snais
and maybye 1 emerald crab
and should i get any other shrimp?

 

[krishj39]

Sounds good to me. You can always add more as needed. I don't think you NEED to add another shrimp, but you certainly can if you want to.

 

[benj2112]

How about a fighting conch? They are suppose to do a good job keeping your sand bed clean...and safe as well (unlike sand sifting sea stars).

 

[marlins #1]

I will give you snails for 20 cents each, cheaper the more you buy..
I got hundreds of the small black ones, they usually have a light colored stripe or stripes, not sure if they are the bumble bee snails, ohh well
shipping on you

 

[hp65]

cool but how much do you think shipping will be to canada?

 

[krishj39]

bump for DandT40