Clean up crew

[aquinn425]

Best clean up crew members??

 

[Elykreefs97]

I have 4 blue leg hermits, 1 turbo snail, and an anemone crab. Them I got like 20 small brittle star fish with my one piece of rock. What size tank?

 

[aquinn425]

55g. I always thought starfish were hard to care for?

 

[Sniperhank]

55g. I always thought starfish were hard to care for?

That depends on the starfish. Some are very fragile and others rely on a very established deep sand bed...but stars like bristles and serpents aren't hard to keep at all once a tank has been established for several months and is no longer having any parameter swings...but that can be said for most inverts as they are sensative to such swings.

 

[Elykreefs97]

No brittle stars will keep all the areas under your rock you can't get to in the sand clean. With a 55 I would have 1 blue leg hermit per 5 gallons then maybe a turbo snail or 2. Then I also have my coral banded shrimp. You could have 2 cleaner shrimp I recomend eather coral banded or skunk shrimp. Then any other type of snail 1 per 10 gals. And other hermits 1 per 5 gals

 

[Sniperhank]

In terms of looking for a CUC and size, check out reefcleaners.com. A great site. I've ordered a couple sets off of him, always quite numerous. The thing about CUC's that I've learned is that every 6 months to a year they need recharged. This can come from hermits picking off snails or just natural death as breeding doesn't always occur in our tanks, even though in setups like mine they are always covered in snail eggs.

But in my 55, I try to have about 60ish snails in there at one time and 20 hermits. I have a serpent star, bristle star, and a fire shrimp as well, but they aren't something needed just optional.

 

[aquinn425]

Wow! That many?!

 

[Sniperhank]

That depends on the starfish. Some are very fragile and others rely on a very established deep sand bed...but stars like bristles and serpents aren't hard to keep at all once a tank has been established for several months and is no longer having any parameter swings...but that can be said for most inverts as they are sensative to such swings.

Here is your answer.

 

[aquinn425]

Thank you! What about fish combinations?

 

[Elykreefs97]

Im not to good with the fish combinations but I'll create o stock list and see if you like it.

1 yellow tang
1 watchmen goby
1 dwarf angel
2 false perc clowns
And maybe 1 smaller fish.

 

[aquinn425]

Thanks for the help!

 

[aquinn425]

In terms of looking for a CUC and size, check out reefcleaners.com. A great site. I've ordered a couple sets off of him, always quite numerous..

I checked it out.. Very cool. Would you still do a couple shrimp in addition to all the hermit crabs and snails?

 

[aquinn425]

Im not to good with the fish combinations but I'll create o stock list and see if you like it.

1 yellow tang
1 watchmen goby
1 dwarf angel
2 false perc clowns
And maybe 1 smaller fish.

As far as the dwarf angel, could you put a Flame angel in the the tank too? Or would they not get along?

 

[Mrc8858]

Only one angel per tank at this size and also do not add any tangs. A yellow tang needs a 6' 125 gallon minimum. The only CUC that I believe to be absolutely needed is nassarius snails. They are tiny but have a huge appetite and also stir your sand very well.

 

[Elykreefs97]

A yellow tang does not need 125 gals what do you mean they are recommended 55+

 

[TheTodd]

Flame Angels are dwarfs, so if the question is can you put one in, yes. 55 is a little smaller than recommended, but not that bad. Two in that size tank would not work. The Yellow Tang is a bad idea. They need much more room (most experienced aquarists suggest a 6' tank and the least I've seen online is 60-75g). I think that works for something like a Kole Tang or Tomini, but not a Yellow. The Kole or Tomini are usually fine in a 70+...I'm not sure about footprints between 55 and 75g off the top of my head, but I'm guessing it might be close enough.

 

[Mrc8858]

A 75 has 50% more footprint then a 55 so it is a pretty big difference. No tang should be kept in a 55 although many people do it and in even smaller tanks. Just because it has been done though doesn't make it right. The whole point to the hobby is to keep HAPPY, healthy specimens which how would you feel if you were swimming miles up and down a reef and one day a diver plucks you out the ocean just to throw you in a 55 gallon tank. Its just not right but no one can stop you from doing it. I'm just passing on my knowledge which is all any of us can do. The rest is left to the hobbyist to decide.

 

[aquinn425]

I don't want anything that's going to be crowded and not have the right amt if space. A book I have for saltwater fish gives an example for a 55g of 2 yellow assessors, 2 pajama cardinal fish, 1 golden wrasse, and 1 falco's hawkish..

 

[TheTodd]

That seems reasonable to me. Hawk fish can be a little testy at times (at least the ones I had), but they are also really interesting fish.

 

[aquinn425]

However, I'd love to have some sort of angel