CLEANER CREW SUGGESTIONS FOR 125 g

[iroc894153]

im tryin to get together a clean up crew for my tank...its not a reef tank but in stead of getting into the corals i wanted to get a mixture of inverts.......so far on my list is 6 emerald crabs,,,,40 blue leg hermits,,,5 red leg hermits...a flower anenome...50 empty shells...5 sand sifting crabs......a pencil urchin...10 cerith snails...two feather dusters..knobby starfish...6 pepp. shrimp...1 cleaner shrimp...1 or 2 camel shrimp...1 coral banded shrimp...pink pin cushion urchin and 20 turbo snails....im not sure if im over doing it with the inverts....but the online store im gettin the stuff from gives you a shipping break for additional items....any advice to the list is appreciated

 

[neilanh]

how old is your tank? If it's newly setup, you don't have enough junk in there to support anywhere near a crew that size. If new, you'll want to add in small groups gradually, else they could starve.

 

[iroc894153]

its about three months old

 

[intimatecple]

do it in small packs....You need a much more mature tank for all that

 

[iroc894153]

the reason i had so much listed is i was getting the stuff online and im able to combine shipping to save money.....i was maybe leaning towards the shrimp and crabs and maybe just a few snails since i dont have a whole lot of algae in my tank now....

 

[Patroklos]

You won't save any money if they all starve to death

I would go with the emerald crabs and the snails first. You don't have algea now, but with a three month old tank you will have a bloom eventually, and having those algea eaters already there will help keep that frustrating event in check.

Shrimp are cool, but they are pretty much there to scavenge left over food and what not as opposed to keeping nuisance algea in check. I'd add them last.

 

[austinsdad]

Gotta know how much live rock in the tank to make a recommendation too. Stay away from the starfish for a bit. I'd opt for a couple more months of water stability. And when you do them, don't do the sand sifter stars IMO. They'll starve quickly. One or two may by a very high percentage chance. 5 would die definitely. USe nasarrius snails for the sand bed. Wonderful little creatures. Maybe 1 brittle star or serpent for now.

WHat fish are in there and what do you plan on having? Could make a dif on your invert selection easily.

Bottom line, need fish and amount of rock info to help you.

 

[iroc894153]

Tank a been up about15 weeks ...started with rall live sand,,,I let it cycle and first fish in were 2 maroon clowns. Then yellow tang 7 green chromis foxface rabbit. Banner fish 2 firefish yellowhead sleeper goby bluehippo and flame angel I also have a bubble tip aneneme. And traded my valentino puffer for a pinchion urchin since idecided to go with more inverts,,,,I also use r/O water which I guess helps my algae control,,I don't plan on doing any corals in the near future

 

[austinsdad]

17 fish I count in 15 weeks - including cycling time???

How much rock? What are your water readings? Nitrate especially. What do you feed?

Sorry, but I'm feeling a disaster is around the corner. Moving too fast IMO. No cleanup crew at all now?

 

[iroc894153]

i feed flake and pellets ........and every other or every two days.i feed some frozen... mysis shrimp ...i have no clean up crew other then one urchin which i just bought... and i have a starfish i just got as well......i was getting one fish per week on an avg. the chromis i added in two groups....one group of four and one group of three.....they are smaller fish so i wasnt too worried about any spikes...i was told the live sand would help the cycle....i waited a few weeks after i added the sand before i got my first fish....knock on wood....nothing has died yet and everything seems to be pretty happy and healthy.....are you suggesting i need a clean up crew...??....i do have one turbo snail in there which i added when my puffer fish was in there but i think a few of them got picked on...i did have four total....now just have one...my nitrite level is fine the nitrates according to color chart seem to be okay as well....looks maybe 30 ppm.....a lil high but i guess not bad as far as the chart indicates

 

[iroc894153]

suggestions on how big and what to get for cleaner crew

started with all live sand,,,I let it cycle and first fish in were 2 maroon clowns. Then yellow tang, 7 green chromis, foxface rabbit, Banner fish, 2 firefish, yellowhead sleeper goby, bluehippo and flame angel I also have a bubble tip aneneme. And traded my valentino puffer for a pincushion urchin since i decided to go with more inverts,,,,I also use r/O water which I guess helps my algae control,,I don't plan on doing any corals in the near future.........tryin to figure out which crabs...which shrimp and which snails and how much of them i should get...any sugggestions ?

 

[MarineFlake]

I gather from your other posts this tank is about 3 months old or so. So, if I have this straight, you cycled a tank, added a bunch of fish and a BTA to boot, no clean up crew....I would suggest a good read up on starting a tank. I would also invest in a good net.

 

[melosu58]

Both threads merged together since they ask the same question.