Clean up crew

[Ja Moule]

My tank as now been cycling for 4 weeks , n I'm ready to put in my clean up crew,
It's a 260 litre tank with 31 kilos of live rock n 60 lb of live sand .
I'm stuck on what species n ho many to add to the tank ,
Any suggestions please.........

 

[begginersluck]

Go with a few hermit crabs. You can get some pretty cool species like 'haloween' 'blue legs' 'red legs' etc. Look them up they're really cool!

 

[Phranque]

There are so many options.... If you plan on having any snails (which I highly recommend), I'd stay away from blue or red leg hermits. They have been known to gang up on snails & kill then for no apparent reason other than to do so (seen it). Scarlet hermits are great reef friendly crabs. As far as snails, my favorite cleaners are astreas....great appetite for their size. Nassarius snails are good for cleaning & stirring your sand bed. You also have to get a couple of shrimp in there!! They are very cool critters to have in your tank.... recommend skunk cleaners. When they get comfortable, they will be out all the time, where fire (blood) shrimp tend to hide during the day. I'd stay away from banded shrimp.... they are really cool looking (wish I could have one myself), but they can get really aggressive as they get older.
Start with a couple/few of each, and add more as your tank matures. If you dump a whole pile of CUC into a new tank, there's really nothing for them to eat yet, so you have to worry about keeping them fed as well.

 

[Ja Moule]

Thanks for the advice
I was thinking about electric blue hermits ( not the blue legged)
I will have a look in the Lfs to c what they have in,
Need something that will feed on green glass algae
Thanks again

 

[Phranque]

Never dealt with electric blues, so no opinion there.... As far as algae on glass, I'll stick with my earlier recommendation: astrea snails

 

[obscurereef]

Why would you want the electric blue knuckle crabs opposed to the blue legged ones? They are about $8 more each and wouldn't make a huge difference.

 

[Ja Moule]

Some one told me they are great with green hair algae
Think I'm going too put a mixture of scarlet crabs n electric blue
But add a few each week untill my tank is stocked enough

 

[obscurereef]

Whatever you like. Scarlet crabs are usually $10 or something crazy high. Personally I rather have lots of cheap priced hermits instead of a few expensive ones.

 

[Ja Moule]

,,,,,,,,,

 

[Ja Moule]

A few pounds difference is not an issue
I like to have different things to my friends so we can compare,

 

[Ja Moule]

Cost is not an issue
I like to have different specimens to my friends, to try n get that different look to my tank
There is 6 of us with tanks so I don't mind paying a few more £'s for other specimens

But thanks for the advice it's greatly appreciated
I will post some pics after I've bought them over the weekend

 

[Phranque]

Scarlet crabs are usually $10 or something crazy high. Personally I rather have lots of cheap priced hermits instead of a few expensive ones.

WOW.... they're about half that price around here.

 

[Pufferlove]

You could try an emerald crab for hair algae I have the blue leg hermits and they have great personality

 

[Ingy]

My blue leg hermits a too small to be a menace, but my 3 red leg hermits have killed every asteria snail put in there. Possibly the turbo too, but I'm not sure about him.

 

[Ja Moule]

Meet my new Halloween hermit
Went to lfs bought 2 Halloween hermits 1 skunk cleaner shrimp 4 nassurias snails n 1 turbo snail
Going to add more in a few weeks
I've ordered a few Astrea snails n a electric blue hermit crab

 

[Beengirl]

Meet my new Halloween hermit
Went to lfs bought 2 Halloween hermits 1 skunk cleaner shrimp 4 nassurias snails n 1 turbo snail
Going to add more in a few weeks
I've ordered a few Astrea snails n a electric blue hermit crab

He's cool!! He picked a kinda jacked-up conch shell for a home, though. It looks like it has some sharp jagged edges from being broken. I guess it doesn't bother him though it he would move, right? And love cleaner shrimps! So much personality and always out and about.

 

[obscurereef]

WOW.... they're about half that price around here.

Oh wow I was thinking of the white claw hermit crab, but the scarlets are about $6.

 

[obscurereef]

Love the Halloween crab. And the other CUC members are awesome especially the cleaner shrimp.