Cuc

[kurtyboh]

Im planning a 29 gal tank. How big of a clean up crew is too big? I understand that at a certain pt they will mot have enough to clean and as such will be supplemented, but is there a limit? I was thinking of a couple of skunk shrimp as well as peppermint, a fighting conch, astrea stars, astraea turbo snails, and maybe an electric blue hermit or a dwarf hermit. It'd be pretty cool to have a tuxedo urchin as well.
I think that's a lot which is why im asking, is there a cut off for your cuc if you're supplementing them?

kurtyboh

 

[Gti_Leo]

heres a good link i've found about setting up a CUC

Establishing up a Clean-up Crew in Your Saltwater Aquarium - Rate My Fish Tank

read through it its pretty informative

 

[kurtyboh]

ok so i can have a bunch of snails and a few crabs, but what about the shrimp?

 

[Gti_Leo]

you don't need that many shrimp. few cleaner fish to help keep ich down

 

[austinsdad]

Cuc amount is directly related to the amount of rock and age of tank. 2 hermits, 2 snails, and 1 shrimp may be enuf if it is new tank. For now.

 

[Gti_Leo]

i agree, and the link also goes through that

 

[kurtyboh]

It does list out how many you should have per gallon for different snail and crab species but not the shrimp and stuff

kurtyboh

 

[Gti_Leo]

but it tells you what each shrimp does. so cleaner shrimp are good to control parasites and eat any un eaten food. peperments eat Aiptasia and help clean up uneaten food as well.

it all depends on your purpose. and how much of each are infesting your aquarium. one of each is good to keep unless things get out of control. they will always find food since you do feed your fish so they produce waste, as well as they miss food so your shrimps will always be fed