Tell me about your cleaner crew

[bleedingthought]

Wow, do you think your crabs are killing all of your snails or do you think there is something else going on?

Well, I honestly don't know if it was all the crabs' fault. I had some snails that couldn't turn themselves upright after falling on the sand or when the got wedged between rocks. I did see some being killed by crabs and some of the crabs that I have in there are bigger than some of my fish now. One day I just realized, "hey, I have no more snails." But I still have most of the crabs I started off with, with some of the smaller ones also perishing. (More reason to believe that the other crabs killed them, I guess)

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I think hermits are bad news (for those reasons and others)
I know you aren't open to this suggestion, but snails don't have any trouble righting themselves when they get flipped over on a bare-bottom tank.

It seems that they aren't very well equipped to live w/ sand (astreas that is... some snails are clearly adapted well to sand)

 

[bleedingthought]

I agree with you on the bare bottom. But I like the sand.

I also will probably go with less astreas and more of the big turbo ones this time around. They seem to be a little better at that.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree. Good luck
When is "the new tank" happening?

 

[bleedingthought]

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... ight=build

I bought the tank 3 months ago. Haven't done much (not enough to my liking) but it's coming along. I hope to have the tank drilled (first time for me) and in place by next week. Probably ordering lumearcs and bulbs this week and starting on the rack.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice!
But you clearly need to update that with more recent pics

 

[bleedingthought]

Yep. Hopefully soon!

 

[Anonymous]

i read a begginner's book by Shimek when i first got into reefkeeping.
as i recall it recommended 1 hermit per gallon and 1 snail per every two.
the reason for this number was not explained but i followed this advice and had a crazy tank for awhile.
the crew numbers thinned pretty quickly as the hermits battled it out.
it was an expensive lesson.

i think a clean-up crew makes a tank more interesting for non-reefkeepers so i will throw in a few hermits and snails in my 90g sometime soon... this would be mostly for my kid and guests viewing the tank. i don't really like hermits as they tend to raise hell.

as for my opinion on neccessity, when i had this 90g set up before i always had a good number of nassarius in the sand bed for a stir.
and i too have had peppermints perform aiptasia eradication, though i rid my tank of the shrimp soon after as i noticed they eat all kinds of things that i would rather keep.
in my opinion, all the rest of the crew additions that i ever made, intentional or otherwise, have had little effect on "clean-up".

 

[pcardone]

I have the same three turbos for 5 years now. Lots of little ones come and go. My best cleaner is a tooth brush taped to a stick.

 

[Brian5000]

Buying way too many snails from the fish store: $30

Hearing my wife yell, "Oh, my God! It looks like a vagina!" the first time she saw one licking the glass: priceless
_________________
Mercedes 560

 

[bleedingthought]

Wow, do you think your crabs are killing all of your snails or do you think there is something else going on?

So, a couple of months ago I added about a dozen astreas to my tank since the glass gets colonized with algae a lot faster without any snails and coralline is right after it. Going 2 months without scraping means an almost completely covered glass with coralline for me. :roll:

Anyways, couple of days after I added the snails I kept finding empty shells. I started setting them aside and found that basically half of them were gone. And then, couple of days after that, I find my queen conch, which I've had for at least a year or so, DEVOURING one of my astreas. Literally had the whole snail, shell and all, in its mouth. I pulled it out and it was too late for the snail. I banished the conch to the sump and since then have had no casualties. :evil:

I guess I owe the hermits somewhat of an apology.

 

[metalac]

any recommendations for a sand cleaner? something smaller that can get into tight places? I know about the sand sifter stars but they seem to be rather large.

 

[ab420]

Buying way too many snails from the fish store: $30

Hearing my wife yell, "Oh, my God! It looks like a vagina!" the first time she saw one licking the glass: priceless

LOL!!!!

 

[mr_X]

any recommendations for a sand cleaner? something smaller that can get into tight places? I know about the sand sifter stars but they seem to be rather large.

tigertail cucumber-they eat dirty sand, and poop out clean sand :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Algae in and of itself is not a problem, but the results of a problem. Deal with the problem and the algea will go away.

That is just crazy talk. If there are over 9,000 species of algae with an equal number left to be named, maybe your "problem" is you don't have the right alga?

Algae go away?

(Maybe you should patent that name like "weed begone, bug begone, exhusband be gone...")

 

[extremepb319]

I have a 30 gal with 2 nassarious snails, 3 scarlet reef crabs, and used to have a big turbo snail....

I have to say they do a pretty good job. O and from one of the first posts 1-2 per gallon lol. they would be crawling all over the place. I say 1-2 per 10 gallon maybe