Clean Up Crew

[jaydm93teg]

for me having a 55 gallon fish only with live rock tank when should i add my clean up crew and what kind of crew am i looking at? how many of each crab or snail is basically what im asking?

right now my tank just got done cycling and i have 2 clown fish in there they are doing great so should i wait to see algae build up before i get a clean up crew or what??

thanks for all the help and great advice

[Reefland]

I would go ahead and add them before the algae starts to grow; be proactive here.

Get a variety of snails; we use Astrea, Turbo and Cerith snails in our Bare-Bottom tank. 1-2 snails per gallon of water is a good start for quantity.

[jaydm93teg]

do i need any crabs?

i have a sand bottom tank

[Reefland]

So people enjoy hermit crabs, others do not. It is known that crabs will often attck and kill snails for food and in an effort to acquire a larger shell. I personally would not include hermit crabs in my crew.

[Brian35]

i have some red footed snails and so far they are doing a bang up job on the housekeeping. I only have 5 right now but they are certainly eatin all the algae they can. Now if i could just get them to focus on the front glass so i can see the fishies better ;;

[Poseidon]

I would avoid CRABS!!! I use a mix of Astrea, Nassarious, and Cerith. I am looking to add a few Nerite soon. Scott is right though, you need a TON OF SNAILS to keep the glass clean. I would start with at LEAST 48 Astrea, unless you have "regular" lights, in that case algae won't grow so fast and you could get away with fewer... Maybe 24-36

[jaydm93teg]

well i have 2 "regular" lights and 1 actinic light. So i guess i will just get like 42 snails to start off with. Where is the best place to order them from?

[Poseidon]

www.reeftopia.com

Find a friend and split the order anything over 120 gets free shipping! My friend Matt and I have ordered from there a few times and they have been EXCELLENT!

[Reefland]

E-Tropicals is also a decent place that I've had good experience with. If you do the Build Your Own package, you get free shipping over $60.

[fishgeeksrus]

I purchased mine from IPSF:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dyn...23anchor299250

I have a ton of babies. I have at least 200 more ready to hatch.

[jaydm93teg]

I purchased mine from IPSF:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dyn...23anchor299250

I have a ton of babies. I have at least 200 more ready to hatch.

how about you work out a deal with me where u can sell me some of the hundreds that you have?? just to take some off of your hand unless you need them

[fishgeeksrus]

how about you work out a deal with me where u can sell me some of the hundreds that you have?? just to take some off of your hand unless you need them

The ones that I have are really tiny and the others are still in the sack getting ready to hatch. Maybe in a few weeks they will be big enough to pick off of the rocks. These are the little tiny strombus looking grazers. They do not get very big. Maybe about the size of a pea. I also have some kind of other snail that has hatched out but I have been unable to determine the kind. Too small.