Clean up crew question

[FinalPhaze987]

Hello everyone...im a little caught between a purchase...

which would be a better buy in your opinion..

50 blue reef hermits (the tiny ones)
or 25 Mexican turbo snails

The LFS here is having a special and im not sure which would be a better buy...there both roughly the same price...

BTW my setup is a 150 gal w/ 240 lbs of live rock...so there would be plenty to eat for both...

Thanks again

 

[metalac]

that sounds like an awful lot of crabs/snails. I have a 55 gallon and have 6 snails and 3 hermit crabs, things seem to be OK with them, they're busy grazing. I think snails are much safer since crabs are predatory and will attack snails to get new houses, etc.

 

[Brian5000]

I agree, you need more like half a dozen Mexican snails at the most.

Also, I think Mexican snails are the colder water type. They can survive in a normal aquarium, but I don't think it's easy for them.

Crabs are predatory, and some people have had problems with them. I think not overstocking will help to prevent desparate, starving crabs causing problems. You need 15, not 150.
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[mr_X]

the hermits will most likely steal the shells from any snails you will end up keeping. the way they steal the shell is they kill the snail first.
i agree with the above- 20 snails maybe, and 5 or 10 hermits if you want them. IMO hermits don't do alot of noticable cleanup. not like snails do. i'd rather take a chance with a few emerald crabs than hermits. atleast they are pretty interesting to watch, and i haven't seen any bothering snails.

 

[Anonymous]

Mexeicans get huge and will quickly become a bother with everything they mow over. They also eat huge and will need lots of supplemental feeding once the algae runs out.

50 tiny blue legs would quickly be lost in a tank that size.

Why not go for scarlets and the jumbo tonga nassarius?