Rate my cleanup crew

[engine]

This is my proposed list for my cleanup crew that I plan to put in my 75 gallon tank w/ about 85lbs of live rock and 2" sand bed. Let me know what you think, and if I should add/delete anything.

12 hermits
4 nassarius snails
1 fighting conch
1 mexican turbo snail
8 trochus snails
1 Linkia star
1 sand sifting goby
2 cleaner shrimp

[RichConley]

I'm not a fan of Linkias or sand shifting gobies.

Cleaners aren't really cleanup crew.

You need more nassarius snails, and I'd add some ceriths. Other than that, looks good.


Too many people put way too much stuff in.

[SeanT]

I'd ditch the:
Conch,
Shrimp,
Star,
Goby (unless you like the fish, he isn't "helping" your tank).
Hermits (unless they were micro-blues or Scarlett, eventhen they cant be trusted around snails).
Turbo, It's a temperate water snail and won't last all that long.

I will advise Astrea and Cerith snails.
2 Ceriths per 1 Astrea.
50 Ceriths and 25 Astrea's.

JMO,
Sean

[woz9683]

Yeah, the Linkias have a tendency to die in a lot of setups (some people do keep them successfully though). I don't think their natural food is known, but it's definitely not something you want to drop into a new tank. At the very least it needs a pretty well established system.

Cleaner shrimp are good for cleaning parasites off your fish, not for keeping the tank clean.

If you get hermits, get the little ones. Mexican red legs or the small blue legs, but they will still kill some snails. Nassarius, IME, do a pretty good job of fighting them off most of the time, but they don't always get away.

I really like SeanT's suggestion. Just remember to keep it as simple as possible, and you can't get much simpler than 2-3 types of snails. I'd add nassarius to the astrea and cerith he suggests. If you want more variety you can always add more later.

[Travis L. Stevens]

12 hermits: Nice, but can be aggressive. I wouldn't get any more.
4 nassarius snails: Good. I would get a few more for a total of up to 15
1 fighting conch: Good for your size tank
1 mexican turbo snail: You might want to get another one or two of these. They eat alot and grow big, as well as knock coral frags over, so I wouldn't get many of these.
8 trochus snails: Not a bad choice, they can get rather large, but it will take a while.
1 Linkia star: Not even part of a cleanup crew and does nothing for your tank. The actual survivability is slim and should be avoided.
1 sand sifting goby: Again, not actually part of a cleanup crew. Most likely you want this to keep your sand clean. Good maintenance and sand stirring snails like Cerith, Nassarius, and Ilyanassa are more adept at this.
2 cleaner shrimp: Again, not actually part of a cleanup crew. They are cool, but they don't do anything for you.

Some things you might want to look into are Astrea snails. They do a terrific job at managing film algae on the glass.

[CookieJar]

I agree that too many people have too large a clean up crew. I don't get the 1 snail/ gallon guideline for example. I have a 180 and about 10 snails & 4 hermits and don't have any algae problems. I will be adding more over time as they're needed, so don't worry about the final #, just get some initially and see how they do, if you get more algae buy more, if you don't have too much algae then you're system is pretty well balanced.

[coralnut99]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10120606#post10120606 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
I'm not a fan of Linkias or sand shifting gobies.

Cleaners aren't really cleanup crew.

You need more nassarius snails, and I'd add some ceriths. Other than that, looks good.


Too many people put way too much stuff in.

Agree with all of the above, especially that most folks put too much in. Also, I would reverse the ratio of trochus to hermits, and buy the tiny blue-legs if you buy any at all. The little guys work much harder, and I would remove them as they get bigger as you'll notice them wearing trochus snails shells eventually. The mexican turbos are probably the best grazers out there, but they can be huge, and push corals around quite a bit. You won't see the linkias do much in the way of cleaning up, and are difficult to acclimate. But they are cool lookin'!

[sixspeed]

For my 75g i just got 24 astrea snails, 6 hermits, 12 nassiarius snails, and 1 emerald crab. I prefer snails over hermit crabs, so i am hoping this should be enough, if it isnt i can always add more. Just watch your tank and make a decision whether or not your cleanup crew is sufficient.

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10120673#post10120673 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SeanT
I'd ditch the:
Conch,
Shrimp,
Star,
Goby (unless you like the fish, he isn't "helping" your tank).
Hermits (unless they were micro-blues or Scarlett, eventhen they cant be trusted around snails).
Turbo, It's a temperate water snail and won't last all that long.

I will advise Astrea and Cerith snails.
2 Ceriths per 1 Astrea.
50 Ceriths and 25 Astrea's.

JMO,
Sean

You buy that, and in 6 months, 2/3s of the snails will be dead.


There are tropical turbos sean.

[Scuba_Steve]

I dontknowwhy everyone is suggesting blue hermits, they are small, but the most aggressive ones you can buy. Scarlet reef hermits are the least aggressive, I would use these instead. They are a few dollars each, but ive never had a prob with them attacking many snails.

[Aware]

I used to have 6 or 7 snails in my 24g nano, over time they died off, now i don't have any snails and to be honest theres no difference, i find them quite useless in keeping the glass clean... i still ended up doing it myself. Now, a conch is worth every penny! i often think my conch is the best thing in my tank... he's called colin.(sometimes he thinks hes a snail)

[SeanT]

Rich,
I completely disagree with your assesment.
Sean

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10121622#post10121622 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SeanT
Rich,
I completely disagree with your assesment.
Sean


Sean, IIRC, you also reccomend "restocking" your cleanup crew every six months or so.



I've had the same 10 astreas, 2 trochus, 1 turbo, and handful of nassarius in my 58g tank for a year plus. They eat all the algae. Any more, in my case, and they'd die off.

[Melbourne]

I would ditch the hermits and linkia. Goby is ok if you really want it but I don't consider them a clean up crew. Add in a few more snails.

[engine]

wow, thanks for all the replies. It will help me stock a cleaning crew. Sounds like im going to pass on the linkia and start slow on snails/hermits and add more as needed.

[engine]

Are the porcelin crabs with the 'fan filters' part of the cleaning crew? What are your thoughts on them?

[SeanT]

Rich,
I did say that and I stand by it.
The average lifespan of an Astrea is about a year.
Your snails must be the Methuselah's of snails. ;)
Sean

[coralnut99]

I've got astreas in one of my 125's that have passed the 2 year mark, speeding towards 3. One of the keys I found was to limit the # of blue-legs/hermits. My ratio is 20 to1. It gives them a fighting chance. I just saw the first few empty shells I've seen in over a year.
I'm lucky enough to live close enough to drive to Something Fishy, and RC sponsor. They carry much smaller Mexican turbos. These guys have an enormous appetite, and are about a quarter the size of the boulder-sized ones you usually see. I only keep 10 of them in my 90 LPS display and another 10 in one segment of my prop system, and they just do a great job.