Reef Safe Clean up crew

E

ElijahTurtle

Ok I've been looking at enough crabs/snails to make my eyes cross tring to figure out what is or isn't reef safe & what won't kill each other.
What would be a good mix & quantity for my 37G tank when I am ready to buy them?
I see some fairly good deals online, but is this something better purcahsed from the internet vendors vs the LFS?
 
LFS prices are way too high ... There are quite a few vendors out there with some good packages. I purchased mine through LiveAquaria.com.

I got some Turbo snails, misc snails, hermit crabs, and some emerald crabs. All cleaned up my brown algea and keep everything clean. I also introduced a lawnmower blennie and then a banded gobie to sift the sand.

My gobie keeps the sand clean and my blennie keeps my koralia's/rock cleaned.

I've had a few deaths as most will ... but nothing to be alarmed of. The hermits will kill the snails for shells. So put some extra small/medium size shells in there for them to exchange. I got some of these for free at pet-o-rama.
 
Yeah, I would have to go with an on-line vendor for CC's if you're needing more than just a couple.

I use the LFS to replace snails that have been picked off by my blood thirsty hermit, really he isn't blood thirst so much as fascinated by margarita snail shells. He's quite fond of those.....even for just a temporary move. Craziness.

There is a GB on Cleaner's in the forum that closes today if you're interested in buying some. Great prices and they need a couple extra people to fill out 100-lots.

Good luck!
 
Yeah I saw the GB. But my tank is still sitting on the counter where I was scraping the glass. Still about a week or 2 out from it having water in it. Otherwise I would have jumped on it.

What's a good quantity on hermits & snails of each type or is ther a magic number?
 
Well, I just finished a book about marine inverts that I rented/borrowed from the DFWMAS library (grim-bob) and it was kinda hit and miss. Really it depends on the amount of substrate, rock work, algae, etc.

The way I did it, and the reason was impatience, was to buy a couple hermits and snails from a LFS. See how they tackle it and you should be able to make a fairly accurate guesstimation as to what you would need.

The hard thing is that if you get too many they will kill eachother off and pollute the tank...they are messy guys. If you dont get enough, tank gets messy and they will still kill eachother off, I think its fun for them to show off their claws.

In my 10 gal, I had 3 hermits, 3 astreas, 3 margs and a couple emerald crabs.

They are all still doing quite well, save 2 margarita snails that one of my hermits "offed." He wasn't made of the right stuff I suppose.
 
Thanks for the help. I might try Aquabid or ebay too. I see Dr Foster's has a package deal, so there are likely other OL retailers that offer the same thing for less.

I'll probably have 2-3" of substrate in the tank. Not to sure about a DSB in the tank yet. Plan on some zoas & other softies. For fish I know I wan't an ocellaris, Lawnmower blenny, & probably some green chromis.
I'll probably need some input on the fish list.
 
For a tank that size, I would recommend you go local for a couple of reasons. First is that they will be acclimated and healthy in a local system (more than likely) and you will be able to select the specific animals you want. The price difference on an order that size will not be that significant.

As far as what to buy.. I adhere to a 'nearly' strict no crab policy. I put some emeralds in my display to eat up some bubble algae but that is it. Though I do have hermits in my Paly tank simply for look.

In a tank that size I would recommend 10 small or medium size grazers. You have choices but I would go with black margaritas/astreas, ceriths etc. If you could find Trochus locally I would get those over the margs and astreas. If you have sand, get about 20 or so nassarius snails and maybe a tiger tail cuke. A sand shifting goby would help with the sand as well. If you want some neat critters, a tongan fighting conch (small) would be good as well.
 
You'll also want to make sure that your sand bed is mature. CC needs food, if your sand bed is new, you'll be more likely starve them to death.

Speaking from experience, when I first started I bougth 10 turbo snails and lost 7 in a 2 weeks.

Now, I have 2 that are healthy and well..

stan
 
Amon, I did the group buy that closed Monday. I ended up getting a few extra inverts. If your system will be ready by the meeting next month, I can bring some of the extras for you. I only use scarlet hermits, because I really believe they are the most docile of the hermits, and some astreas. Let me know. I could bring 5 of each to start you off.
 
OK I'll see if I can pull that off. I should be able too.
Thank you all, for all of your help & info. I'm sure everytime a noob shows up these questions get repeated. :shock:
 
@kthomas wrote:
LFS prices are way too high ... There are quite a few vendors out there with some good packages. I purchased mine through LiveAquaria.com. I got some Turbo snails said:
i have to agree with this however i buy from my LSF anyway, he cuts me deals on things all of the time so it balances out. i am a firm believer in supporting my LFS ove an internet E-tailer anyway seeing as how if i have a problem all i have to do is go to the store instead of trying to talk to a company who may or may not help because they already have my money. just my $.02
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