what site has the best "cleaner crew" outline?

[areze]

I dont buy living stuff on the net that I can get in person. just dont see the reason honestly.

however I need a cleanup crew desperately. and Im not sure what all that should entail.

I know all the different sites list their cleanup crews, but they all vary.

so I want to know what really is a good list to follow.

as in species, and quantity.

tank is 75g FWIW. and it needs cleanup in every possible way. this is a bit of a last ditch effort before starting over. due to 3 inhabitants and 2 corals, Im trying to avoid that though.everything seems generally acceptable, but it took a while to get there, and gathered some random brownish hair-ish algea in the process. the initial 6 astrea snails didnt stand a chance. Id like to have a tank that resembles something attractive if you know what I mean. I was being cheap. Im ready to spend whats needed on clean up now.

[migston]

I've been doing research on the same thing as of late and so far the two front runners imo are http://saltwaterfish.com and http://etropicals.com

etropicals looks great because they have a section where you can build your own cleanup crew. This lets you tailor make your crew without getting stuff you don't want. i've found that a lot of cleanup crew packages have stuff like blue hermits, cukes, stars and what not that I don't want so being able to tailor make a package with just emerald crabs, astreas and scarlet hermits is great. Also, as long as your order is over $60, shipping is free.

If you want a bigger cleanup crew and don't mind not being able to tailor make it, then salwwaterfish.com has some pretty good packages. They have a minimum $79 order to get free shipping but they also add a couple of additional fees like fuel and box charges so overall you'll probably spend more but you'll get more inverts total than at etropicals.

[areze]

anyone know a list of the various snails and which can get off their backs?

I had astrea snails, but I believe I lost all but 2 now because they would fall off rocks or glass and I of course would never see them; so gone they went.

I know some can right themselves... which are those?

[fsa]

areze, my lfs sells mostly margaritas, nassarius, nerites, ceriths and astreas. I've got 3 or 4 of each of them. I would look at exactly what I want/need to do with my tank, then look for/buy the things that would accomplish it. The margaritas I have seem to do a really good job of cleaning my rock and glass. If you only have 6 astrea's for your 75, then that is probably not enough.

If you have a dsb, then I would consider a fighting conch for that part of the cleanup. Depending on how much rock you have, I think that I would try and get another 25-30 or more snails for that size of tank. I have a 45 hex and have bought (6 at a time) about 25 snails over the past 3 months or so. I only see about 10-12 of them at a time, though, so really don't know how many are actually living.

You might consider a couple/few hermits. A lot of people don't like them in their tanks, but I do. I have maybe 10-12 small scarlets and blue legs. Just today I brought one home, what is called a left-handed zebra hermit by my lfs. He is pretty small, but boy, does he have one huge claw. I hope bringing him home was not a mistake.

I don't know much about many of the other things used in cleanup crews like brittle stars, cukes, urchins, etc. Maybe others will give you some good suggestions.

Good luck, Frank

[areze]

unfortunatly Im not sure what I need to happen in my tank.

its dirty, stuff is coated in a "layer" of hair algea I think. not sure what it is.

also have big fuzzy brown balls, that seem to be giving way to plants... uhhh yeah; no clue whats up with that. fuzzy plants at that. kind of cool looking though. a yellowish color.

anyway; tanks just a bit gross. needs help on all fronts. I had a queen conch, but havent seen her in a while. had a emerald crab; and I know he's KIA for unknown reasons(nothing else in the tank has had any issues.

only other resident cleaner is a peppermint shrimp who's slacking on his aptasia duties.

[Sk8r]

Try to avoid getting: a cucumber [big fleshy inverts can make a mess if they die]; an emerald crab [don't eat what they're supposed to and have been known to take a piece out of fish]. I'm not fond of brittle stars, either, but some people love them.
I like: every variety of snail, but I'm cool on Mexican turbos; scarlet hermits; conchs; bristleworms; sponges.
Your queen conch is probably in there under the sand. She'll be working, 24/7, but not always visible.