[xsavior]

Ok, on the good advice of many peeple on this board I took out my undergravel for a more natural approach with live sand. In addition to that, whot would you guys consider the perfect cleanup crew for a 38 gallon tank? We have a brittle star and many hermits, 22 small blue legged, and 3 scarlet, and a turbo snail (we're planning on getting more of those, how many?) We're letting them take care of the tank while it goes through it's blooms and settles. We want to get a clown or two and at least one anenome (sp) a fire goby or two, and one or two other well mannered fish. We're eventually thinking of corals, so what would work with all of that? Arrow crabs? Peppermint shrimp? Emerald crabs? what are your favorites?

[hcp28]

I'd say the perfect clean up crew consists of snails and lots of them and umm... no crabs. Arrowheads will kill anything they can in the tank so I would stear away from them. Nassaurious snails sp? are great to sift through the sand bed. Turbo snails can clean your class... I would go with a variety of snails some snails are non-beneficial but for the most part they are good for your tank. Also a good sandbed starter kit with bristle worms and live sand from other tanks will help to diversify your sand bed. there are plenty of places to order these snails online, like www.premiumaquatics.com and www.flyingfishexpress.com those are just a few. HTH

Henry

[scubadude]

I agree w/ Henry, I would consider some ceriths and If you can find a stomatella or two they would be a good addition. About the only crabs I do like are Emerald mithrax and thats if you have some valonia aka bubble algae. Really the perfect cleanup crew is derived from the algaes that appear to be specific to your tank IMO. HTH

Rocky