Clean up crew questions

D

David Gibson

Premium Member
So, my base rock arrives tomorrow, and I plan on letting it have a nice bath for a bit before putting it in my tank. Which means live rock is to come soon.

Thinking a few steps ahead, I'm starting to plan my clean up crew. I've read some lists about adding X number of snails and Y number of hermits per gallon, etc., but I'm seeing that not all snails and crabs are alike. For instance, I see at least three different species of snail discussed on a regular basis, and I imagine there are quite a few more that I haven't heard about. Even hermit crabs come in red versus blue legged varieties.

So, what are some of the common members of a clean up crew, and what are some of the pros/cons of each? I imagine that depending on the species will also change how many I should consider getting.
 
I have alot of blue leg hermits and love them, they are smaller then scarlet hermits. IMO i like the blue legs better due to the smaller size, and they tend not to knock over my frags :wink: Not to informed on the different type of snails but my margarita snails (bout the size of a dime) do a good job on the glass and rock.
 
Well, maybe I should ask a little more focused question instead of wanting the "Everything You Wanted to Know About Snails" answer.

So, the most frequent crabs I read about that are desirable are, blue legs, scarlets, emeralds and the Sally Lightfoot. The emeralds I learned are algae eaters, and the Sally Lightfoot is like a goat when it comes to what it eats. What about the blue legs or scarlets? Mostly they are just listed as "scavengers," but I also have heard one or two people recommend skipping hermits because of them killing snails for shells and/or food.

For snails, there are a LOT of them. Margaritas, turbos, ceriths, astreas, and nassarius are the most frequent ones I see. But, these are a little harder to track down what the differences are between them.

Is there any good online articles focused on the different snails and crabs common to home aquaria?
 
David, the size of your tank will of course dictate the amount of CUC you'll need. I don't know about any formula, I would just eyeball it, so to speak. I like blue leg hermits for crabs. You should be mindful that the larger crabs could pose a threat to knocking over some coral frags and other small stuff, especially if you have a smaller tank where most of your pieces will be relatively small. Same goes for the big turbo snails, although they work wonders in terms of eating capacity. Astrea snails will be smaller than turbos, and in my opinion should form the majority of your snail population. You'll use nassarius snails to clean up your sand bed.
You could check liveaquaria.com for some good info on each species, for a start.
Here's what I have in 14 gallons: 4 blue leg hermits, 3 astreas, 4 nassarius. Plus a tile starfish but he's more for show than for cleaning.
Tell us how big your tank is and perhaps somebody could recommend an actual number for you. Hope this helped somewhat...
 
Guess I didn't notice your tank size in your sig - sorry about that. If you have 58 gallons, then you could figure maybe 15-20 blue leg hermits, maybe 10-15 astreas, 30 or so nassarius. And of course you could always shoot a bit low and then adjust based on how the crew is performing in regards to algae control, etc. Maybe throw in a few turbo snails, and a couple of larger hermits if you like. I don't know a great deal about sally lightfoots, someone else will have to chime in there. I would say an emerald crab is optional, some love 'em, some appear to hate 'em. Take a look at a percelain crab - they won't help with clean up and you may not see it often in a 58, but they sure are cool...
 
It actually wasn't in my signature until you asked. I figured that would probably be a helpful bit of info to include there though.

And thanks to everyone for the help.
 
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