The Crew

[Mitchell0605]

I have a 90L (23.7G for you Americans ) marine tank that needs a clean-up crew. I know the basics (snails, hermits, shrimp) but anything in particular or any basic outlines of a good clean-up crew for a tank of my size would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fishboy444]

You will need something that eats detritus,stirs sand,controls algae.

 

[joy13]

Some people stay away from hermit crabs but it is really a personal choice. I have at least one in my small tanks.

I like the nassarius l, cerith and the columbellid snails. I only have one columbellid snail it was a hitchhiker and have been looking for more.

Another one you might want to consider is emerald crab I really like mine they keep picking around the corals keeping algae from taking over.

Nerite snails are nice but you need to have a cover on your tank because they try to escape. Margarite snails are cooler water snails and don't live real long in the home aquarium. Astrea snails aren't the easiest to keep either because one they turn over they can't right themselves. Some people like sea stars I only have the hitchhikers that came in on my rocks.

 

[melosu58]

I have a 90L (23.7G for you Americans ) marine tank

Thank you so much. I have such a hard time with metrics. I would consider a few hermits and some nassarius snails. Some snails for the glass. I like the astreas. Maybe a fire or blood shrimp.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Your welcome melosu. What about a CBS? Or a Scarlett Cleaner Shrimp? I'm leaning to the Cleaner but it's very expensive here. Also for snails and hemits how many? I can pick up some Turbos from my LFS but how many should I get?

 

[thincat]

CBS will cause you some problems as it gets larger. I had a pair and they became so territorial that I had to rehome them to another tank. For a tank of your size you would only need around 10 snails and maybe 2 or three hermits. Be sure to get extra shell for the hermits or they may go on a killing streak and do in your snails. Even with that they still might kill your snails.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Okay so far I have:
8-10 Snails
2-3 Hermits
1 Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp
How's that sound?

BTW I have a noticed a small crab in my tank already. It would be half an inch with legs included. It's brown with white aroud it's legs at the joints and at it's eyes. Any ideas? I've seen it eat some tiny pieces of brine shrimp but nothing else.

 

[eddie.cob]

ok you definately have enough snails, I would recommend getting a few more hermits. Either blue leg of Scarlette hermits. Also even 1 or 2 emrald crabs. They're great for algae control.

 

[melosu58]

The crab is hard to tell. But do keep an eye out as not all are reef safe. You might have to set the ole crab trap.

 

[Mitchell0605]

So far the only time he actually comes out of hiding is to shed his skin. He lives in a very twisted piece of LR that has lots of hidey holes. You can see hime just sitting there most of the time.

 

[fishboy444]

What kind of snails are you planning to get?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Okay so far I have:
8-10 Snails
2-3 Hermits
1 Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp
...

What kind of snails would those be?

[edit: oops... didn't see fishboy's question!]

 

[Mitchell0605]

Turbos most probably. Any recommendations though?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

For such a small tank, I'd avoid the turbos. They can get really REALLY big and are like bulldozers in your tank. If it isn't glued down, they'll knock it over. They're great algae eaters... but they're just big bumbling giants.

My favorties for rock/glass are trochus and astrea. Nassarius are great for the sand bed. You could easily pop 10 nassarius in there, and then spread the other 8-10 snails out between the trochus and astrea. Trochus are great because they're a little more acrobatic when they get flipped over and can many times right themselves, unlike the astreas.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Ok cool. Only prob is I've never seen snails apart from Turbos at my LFS. Guess I'll have to make a request. I'm getting some money for Christmas so it's LFS, HERE I COME!!!

 

[thincat]

How far is Wollongong from the ocean? I know Auatralia is big so I know it might be a problem. What kind of local snails do you have?

 

[Mitchell0605]

Wollongong is right on the ocean. No idea on the local snails though. Since we aren't in tropical waters there are no reefs.

 

[thincat]

That means that you are pretty much to the south. What is the water temp.?

 

[Mitchell0605]

Average? About 22 celcius. Too cold.
Wollongong is an hour south of Sydney also if you wanna find it on Google Earth or something.

 

[fishboy444]

Try and order them for your lfs like ask them to bring in a special order.