Cleanup Crew Suggestions?

[PrettyFishies]

I am looking for ideas on a good cleanup crew:

I have 10 red-legged hermit crabs

I was planning on:

adding 15-20 more red-legged hermits
25-30 Turbo Snails
3-4 Emerald Crabs
3-4 Sand Stars

 

[fergieturk]

My bf has 3 jumbo turbo snails in his 165 g tank - they are about the size of a golf ball. They do an excellent job. Maybe you could get one or two of those.
What kind of stars are you planning to get?

 

[Guest]

I was planning on:

adding 15-20 more red-legged hermits
25-30 Turbo Snails
3-4 Emerald Crabs
3-4 Sand Stars

I would only add 20 more hermits blue legged though
10 Mexican Turbo snails ( make sure your rocks are well planted..these are clumsy snails but great)
The Emeralds are cool
No sand sifting stars or any stars for that matter......Let your sand/tank mature for at least 6 months ( you need the worms and benthic life to grow ), then use about 3 Nassarius snails... They are great..

 

[loganj]

I agree on the blue leg hermits. Personally I like the astrea snails better than turbos because they don't move things around as much. I like the emeralds too...have some in each tank. If you put sand sifting stars in the tank, they will decimate your sand bed. I also use cerith and nassarius snails. In the 180, I put in 100 blue legs, 10 scarlets, 50 astreas, 25 ceriths, 6 emeralds, 6 sally lightfoots, and 6 peppermint shrimp. Might be too much, but the tank will be well fed so I think they'll be OK. I have higher than normal numbers of cleanup critters in all my tanks and they're all doing well.
Logan J

 

[BrianH]

I would recommend keeping the blue legs to a minimum. Mine have killed snails, scarlet hermits and 2 conchs. I would go with the scarlets since they are much less aggressive. If you can try starting out with about 25 of each type of snail, (turbo, nassirus, cerith etc.) Once your tank has matured a little you can add a fighting conch, and a tiger tail cucumber. The conchs and cucumber are great for keeping the top of your sand bed clean.

Brian

 

[Guest]

Blue Leg Hermits "Pirate or Beneficial"

I have seen this in a few of the threads here and want to let everyone know that Blue Leg Hermits are very effective algae and detritus eaters and are very beneficial.

I read this in some posts early on and thought I would test the theory that blue leg hermits kill snails out of vengence or prey.. Not always true.

I have witnessed them killing snails, however, it was because the snail fell off the glass or rock and could not right itself (could be from the crab pestering it when I wasn't watching). This would leave the snail helpless. Astrea snails are famous for not righting themselves. Lunch begins.

It is pefectly natural for hermit crabs to fight and kill each other for shells, no matter what the specie. This is nature. Please don't stop using these cool creatures because of these stories of murder and mayhem with the Blue Leg Hermits, they really are our tanks friends...

 

[reefrunner69]

I have witnessed them killing snails, however, it was because the snail fell off the glass or rock and could not right itself. This would leave the snail helpless. Astrea snails are famous for it. This is clearly the fault of the snail.

That's kinda like saying, it's the banks fault they got robbed, cause they got all that money.

All crabs are opportunistic and if their preferred food runs out...they will eat what they can, whether it is snails (I have never seen one kill for food, they go for the shell), shrimp or sessile inverts.

 

[Guest]

This was my observance...Anyways, I guess if they can pick at the snail enough, it will let loose and fall to their demise...

 

[reefrunner69]

I just meant it wasn't the snails fault...now if the snail had been hitting on the crabs girlfriend, or had stolen his beer, that's a different story.

There is a war going on in our tanks, it's a violent place, if I can get some pics...I'll post, in a different thread, some of the warfare going on in my tank, just from the corals.

 

[Guest]

Save the snails

I edited the previous post to reflect that it is not always the snails fault in dying. Kevin pointed out that the crabs; when left with no other food source will attack pretty much anything they can get for food..So now, I guess we can run a campaign in our tanks to stop the violence..

Save the snails

 

[loganj]

I've only had one incident where a hermit killed a snail and that was to get its shell. It was neither a blue or scarlet though...an oddball that slipped through somehow in an invert order. I kept him and he hasn't caused any more trouble. I have heard the astreas were bad about getting upside down, but I haven't had any trouble with mine. I think one of the important things here is to be sure that enough food is provided. Once the initial algae blooms are over, we probably need to feed enough so that some gets to the crabs. I target feed my emeralds about once a week with a small piece of krill. Maybe I'm just a bit strange, but I like my snails and crabs as much as my fish 8O .
Logan J

 

[PrettyFishies]

WOW... I had no idea what a debate I'd be starting... Save The Snails... that's pretty funny there guy... But back to the topic...

My LFS says... "Don't mix blue-legs and red-legs because the reds will rip the smaller blues right from their shells." And from my research, the reds are much more docile.

Now... the LFS also says "Emerald crabs are okay, but they may fight each other, and if their food runs out, they will attack other crabs and snails." I see that most everyone agrees about crabs being opportunistic. I will consider that...and know that if I get emeralds, I need to make sure they have enough to eat.

So, no stars... I can understand that...But, aren't there any that DON'T sift in the sand bed and just climb the rocks?

What about clams and Scallops? I was told I have the light, but my concern is feeding them.

 

[reefrunner69]

So, no stars... I can understand that...But, aren't there any that DON'T sift in the sand bed and just climb the rocks?

Most of your sepent stars and brittle stars are OK as well as the mini brittle stars, IMO, they are good members of a clean up crew, just stay away from the Emerald serpent star, they are known fish eaters.

What about clams and Scallops? I was told I have the light, but my concern is feeding them.

Scallops do not require light, as most clams , they are filterfeeders and not considered part of a clean up crew. They require lots of phytoplankton to survive, which can foul the tank rather than clean it up. I'm not knocking adding phyto to the tank, as much as telling you to be careful with it. The only clams that do not require (and actually they do much better if fed, especially when they're small) are Tridacnids and Hippopus clams, they contain zooxanthellae in their mantles and can produce their own food.

 

[BrianH]

Scarlet legged hermits stay relatively small. Make sure the ones your buying have yellow eye stalks. This is the easiest way to make sure your getting true scarlet (not red) legged hermits.
As for the blue leggs, after they ate 2 of my fighting conchs (@ 12.99 a piece) I'm done with them. I actually saved one of the conchs one night when I saw it being carried away by one of the blue leggs. I saved it that time but the next morning the hermitt was wearing a brand new conch shell.

Brian

 

[Guest]

How big was the Hermit?

 

[BrianH]

Th hermits were very small at that point.

 

[alrmc4]

i have scarlets and blue legs...and one we call big blue that is a banded blue leg..they don't bother each other at all but i keep a lot of empty shells for them to choose from (i get my lfs people to throw a couple of them in for free when i buy other things.) lor

 

[loganj]

That's pretty much the method I have been using...keep a good supply of empty shells available. And, as I said before, I make sure there is plenty for them to eat. Possibly that's why I haven't had any problems with the blue legs. The emeralds, who are usually pretty shy, will come up and get their piece of krill from my fingers now. I guess I'm just a sucker...I make a pet out of everything. The kids were trying to name all the snails last night 8O .
Logan J

 

[Guest]

Can you say Energizer Bunny?

This is cool, I didn't expect this thread to keep going the way it has.. good info/stories.

The LFS here actually has hundreds if not thousands of astrea shells. They will sell them also 12 for a dollar.. They don't give anything away for free except some bad/good advice now and then... It has turned into anything for a buck these days. Well, I guess I can't blame them.. it takes a lot to run a business...

I just buy the astreas because they will fall off the glass or the rocks and then it will either rot, or get chewed, and hmmm, a shell for the hermit..