Too Much Cleaner Crew To Start With???

[ohiorn67]

I WAS GETTING READY TO ORDER....have a few already in there but if I order the package I see I will end up with this...is this too much???? New 90 gallon tank just cycled. thanks!
26 turbo snails
50 nassarius snails
40 scarlet crabs
20 blue leg crabs
2 cleaner shrimp
2 cleaner clams
3 emerald crabs

 

[ctgretzky9]

Hey Ohio...!
It does sound like a lot right now as if your tank is just cycled, I'm not really sure if you have enough for them to all eat!
Do you have a good amount of stuff on the rocks growing, or any algae they can get rid of for you? I mean, you could always add food for the shrimps etc, but all those scarlets and especially snails...yikes!

 

[ohiorn67]

thanks!! I guess I will not have to spend so much then...whew!! Well this is a first since I have started this venture....gonna go into shock!! thanks for the advice!

 

[ctgretzky9]

lol...well maybe you want to wait for more opinions? I think I am right, but hopefully someone will second it

 

[ohiorn67]

what about a grand total of
30 blue leg hermits...
50 nassarius snails
6 turbo snails
2 cleaner clams
1 brittle star
2 emerald crabs
is this enough?

 

[ctgretzky9]

I would say that the brittle star should be nixed just for now. Wait until your tank is established a bit more. If you read any of the posts by ophiura, she has a lot of good advice for stars, and one is they should be introduced a bit later-after 6 months plus.
I like the scarlets better than the blue leg, but that is taste, what about 15 scarlet/15 blue leg so you have more color variety? 50 nass snails still seems like a lot, I'd cut that down to around 30.
I have no experience with cleaner clams, but there is a good thread going on about them now...check it out. I am thinking of getting a couple myself, and I read in the thread you need around 1 per 5 gallons....again, i dont know mch about them.
Emerald crabs I'd get a few more. I really like these guys, they really get into crevices and holes in the LR. FOr a 90 I'd say get 5 for now.
Remember, you are just starting out...part of the fun is adding things, so the slower ya go now, the healthier it wil all be, and it gives you more opportunities to go back and buy more stuff!
Hope this helps a little!

 

[ohiorn67]

yes helps alot!!! thank you so much. I did however win an auction for those 50 snails...got them all for 14.99 shipped! So will probably throw them in for now when they come....think I will go ahead and get maybe 10 more of those scarlet crabs and then just 5 emeralds....and 2 cleaner clams...sounds like a good start!! thanks again!! Do you think that sounds better!

 

[ctgretzky9]

Hell, for $15 would have probably taken them too!
Yea, I think youre fine with your new list. Beleive me, it sucks in a way once your tank is filled, and you can't put anything new in because your at a bio load limit-although that didn't really stop me, and I have an overstocked tank.
However, nothing has died in a long time now even at my overcrowding because I have been diligent with water changes, cleaning the tank, changing out the carbon more often in my cascade filter etc...
I have posted before I have at this point what I consider an "experimental tank" that I am running as on overstocked tank, of which eventually, when I have continued success, I wil post my methods and why I think it is working. I was a bit tired of just having 5 or so fish in my 60hex, so no I have around 12 fish including 3 yellow tang! So far so good, but don't want to say its a success until it's been stable for at least a year or so!

 

[ohiorn67]

I hear ya. I am hoping to have 2 tangs, a pair of clown fish a mandarin goby some day....a royal gramma...that is the kind of thing I want....gonna go real slow...just adding these inverts first to see if they die off! tee hee. might get my set of clowns next weekend but ordered a skimmer and waiting for it to arrive. Do you use Iodine in your tank? Would you use Kent or Seaquem, something like that.....both on saltwaterfish.com, just ordering and not sure which to get.

 

[ctgretzky9]

Probably shame on me, but I don't test for or add anything to my tank as far as iodine, calcium etc. I do not have hard corals, only softies, and they grow very nicely, so i figure don't fix what aint broken. I figure if I see a decline in anything, my LFS isnt too far I can always get something if I really need it. I think the more time you spend with your tank, the more likely you'll catch something early enogh that it can be fixed. I kinda look in my tank every morning before work while i brush my teeth, and as soon as I get home, and before I go to bed besides the times I just sit and veg if I have nothing going on that night.
I do use-and I'm sorry I dont know the exact name-but i think it is kent superbuffer dkh every once in a while.
Other people on the boards can be much more helpful with additives than I am