Clean-Up Crew Recommendations

[FishTri]

Is there a respected source to learn about Clean-Up Crews? I've heard hermits are good/hermits are bad. Crabs are good/crabs are bad.

I thought starfish were ok. Then my peppermint shrimp and chromis started to disappear and the starfish looked stuffed and contorted, so I moved him to the refugium.

I thought I was lucky to find a dozen tiny stars that came in on some LR. Then someone told me those little stars love to eat corals!

Suggestions on where to start?

[Chibils]

I can't give you a source--sorry. But I can tell you what I know.

Hermits are wonderful. They just don't mix too well with snails, because if they get a chance, they usually will kill the snail for food or shells. If you feed your crabs (supplement algae and meaty foods), they ought to be fine. Other crabs may or may not be too good. They can cause problems like taking out sick or slow fish, snails, etc., and some are only arguably reef-safe. Some just aren't at all. I would avoid starfish. They either eat your fish/CUC or all the denitrifying bacteria in your sand. And then starve to death when it's all gone.

Brittle stars (what you probably found) shouldn't eat your corals, imo. Was it a green serpent star that you had? If so, yes, it will eat anything it can grab.


Snails or hermits are a good place to start. You can mix them, but be ready to restock snails (they're the cheapest anyways). Snails die a lot on their own, so be prepared for that either way.
Make sure you get empty shells if you want hermits, especially if you have snails and hermits.

[melsetar]

I just ordered my clean up crew on petsolutions.com

Because my order was over 200 shipping was free. I did a "deliver by saturday" and that was only 15 dollars. That order I did on Thursday. You might try looking at them. I got algae team, sand sifters & pollution team too.

[FishTri]

Chibils,

Thanks for the comments. I'm still a little conflicted, though. Hermits are good/Hermits eat snails!

Guess I definitely have to get rid of the star.

Melsetar, thanks for the tip on vendors. I'll have to check them out.

[kawicivic]

hermits are great if you dont mind restocking on snails occasionally. I find them to be something different to look at. You can easily get by without them if you dont want to keep buying snails though. Etropicals is another good place for a CUC bc they have a build your own reef package with free shipping over $60. Prices are slightly higher but you wont get stuck buying a package with tons of overkill.