Clean up crew!!

[FloridaNewbie]

Well i went "shopping" this weekend at the lfs and wasn't thinking when i got my clean up crew. I got 3 peppermint shrimps, 2 dwarf red leg hermits, 4 astrea snails and 1 skunk cleaner shrimp. everyone was fine for the first few days. Snails ate all the diatons in my rocks, all 4 shrimps were eating what my fish eat. and the hermits were have a feast in my live rock.

Today one of the hermits was dead, well at least i saw like 3 legs in the sand, so i have no idea who did it. everyone is small. hopefully i won't have any more problems.

Leo

[roka64]

How did you acclimate them?
He could have molted.
Do you have extra, larger shells for them to move into, when they grow?

[FloridaNewbie]

well i did the "floting bag way", leave it floating for about 30 minutes, then add couple of cups of water into the bag, then i picked it up and placed it at the bottom. But it has been 1week. I did buy 5 extra shells. Also i don't think its a molt because you could like see the white fuzzy stuff coming from inside the legs.

i just fished mixing some new water, and sunday i will do a pwc, so i'll look for the rest. I just did a test and everything is ok. Nitrate was at 10, last time was at 5, so that went up a bit!

[roka64]

I like to drip acclimate my inverts for 2+ hours. They are more sensitive to changes in water conditions than fish.
When my hermit molted, it looked exactly like the hermit. I thought he was dead, but a few days later, I noticed him moving around. Is he still in his shell?

[melosu58]

That`s also what I am thinking that he molted. Where is the shell?

[FloridaNewbie]

Ok, this is proof that i am truly a newbie. He is alive!! Lol. he did molt and change shells. I saw his empty shell and pieces of him, so i figured he died and the shrimps ate him. But i saw him today hiding in the back, in his new shell. Do they get shy after they molt ?? he has been in the same place for hours, but his eyes and little legs move to pick up stuff.

[roka64]

As far as I know all crustaceons (sp?) need to molt to grow. Think of it this way, they don't have skin that can streatch, they have an outer shell, it splits, when they grow and shed (a lot like reptiles). After they molt, it takes some time for thei new "shell" to harden. They tend to be very shy at this time. Shrimp are the same way...

[FloridaNewbie]

thanks alot, he moved a little bit now, but still hides.

Do you think my skunk cleaner and peppermint will be ok together? there is only one skunk and 3 peppers, and the peppers are like a little gang, they do eveyrthing together!

Dont feel bad. I did it with my peppermints and twice I swore my Emerald Crabs died. Their molt really looks like the entire crab!

HI,
my clean crew was a little to good after a while the hermits started killing snails, some experts are careful with hermits they feel the snails , and worms and other critters do more good than the hermits.
Mine also don't seem to like the spec grav less than 1.204.
They will sulk and not do much.
Doug

Not always the case. I think the key is to limit numbers and have extra shells. I only have 5-7 hermits to about 40 snails.

1.022 + is fine. Water evaps and specific gravity raises.