[Unlved]

what would be the best combo of cleaning crew for a 50G?

Would Urchins or a shrimp work out?
or would it be best to stay with snales and hermit crabs?

Currently i have a Bicolor angel, Four eyed butterfly, a clownfish, and 3 damsels.

The tank is just over 2 months old everything is great but have noticed some alge and want to attack it before it becomes a problem

thanks.

[Unlved]

on another site this is what they have for a cleaning crew for a tank about the size of mine.. can anyone tell me if this is correct or overkill?

Scarlet Hermit Crab:10Blueleg Hermit Crab:10Nasssarius Snail:10Brittle Star:2Coral Banded Shrimp:1Emerald Crab:3Turbo/Astrea Snail:20

Would an urchin work?

[dave00gt]

Originally Posted by Unlved

on another site this is what they have for a cleaning crew for a tank about the size of mine.. can anyone tell me if this is correct or overkill?

Scarlet Hermit Crab:10Blueleg Hermit Crab:10Nasssarius Snail:10Brittle Star:2Coral Banded Shrimp:1Emerald Crab:3Turbo/Astrea Snail:20

Would an urchin work?

i know urching look cool, but ive heard of urchins killing slow fish like gobies , but i heard it killed a mandaring dragonet...so im iffi on a urkin, besides the spikes on it are sharp.. 10 snails is too much if theyre fairly large, i have 3 large ones that control the algae, but i am looking in to hermit crabs, and 10 sounds good to me.. 10 brittle stars sound also alot for your tank, i thik its the brittle starts that have been know to eat slow fish.take it easy on the brittle stars, but i would do my favorite , which is a serpent seastar , like 3 of them , brittle stars get big, but i like them too. and i thought you cant mix 2 coral banded shrimp,so i would do one of those shrimp...one emerald crab would be fine. 3 turbo snails would be great too... but then i would decrease the number of nesa snails to about half if theres small.. if you get big snails then your good, they eat alot , but also produce more waste. but i like the snails cause they do a good job on the live rocks, i need to work on the bottom floor,so im getting some hermits for that

edit ! maybe you can do more emeral crabs

[Unlved]

well what i was thinking, mind you im getting back in to the hobby after 10 years..

1 brittle star
1 conch
2 urchin
3-4 hermits
and a couple peperment shrimp

now a question regarding the snails, do they multiply like crazy like freshwater snails? if not i would not mind having a couple but my past exp with freshwater snails is they take the tank over..

[dave00gt]

Originally Posted by Unlved

well what i was thinking, mind you im getting back in to the hobby after 10 years..

1 brittle star
1 conch
2 urchin
3-4 hermits
and a couple peperment shrimp

now a question regarding the snails, do they multiply like crazy like freshwater snails? if not i would not mind having a couple but my past exp with freshwater snails is they take the tank over..

that i dont know but my guess is not, maybe after months , but ive had mine for 4 or 5 months and nothing

but i cant imagine my tank without snails, theyre just too good of cleaners themselves... my live rock practically sparkles when they clean it

[Unlved]

so then what would be a good number of snails? 5? 8? 10? def intrested in an urchin, well the wife is she thinks they look "cool" i like the starfish and shrimp but with the shrinp will i have to worry about my butterfly or my angel going after them? i have 1 scarlet hermit and a crab (forgot what kind) just not enough in the tank to keep the tank nice and sparkley.

[dave00gt]

Originally Posted by Unlved

so then what would be a good number of snails? 5? 8? 10? def intrested in an urchin, well the wife is she thinks they look "cool" i like the starfish and shrimp but with the shrinp will i have to worry about my butterfly or my angel going after them? i have 1 scarlet hermit and a crab (forgot what kind) just not enough in the tank to keep the tank nice and sparkley.

i doubt the butterfly shrimp and the angel will got after a medium coral banded shrimp.

urchin would be fine , but beware theres stories of them killing other fish, or watch out when you stick youre hand inside the tank.

on the snails theres usually small , medium , and large, you could do 4 large and that would be plenty along with the crabs, the snails are going to hang around the rocks and walls, so if the ground is dirty look into more hermits

[Unlved]

cool thanks for all the help dave it is much appreciated!.

[dave00gt]

your welcome!

[Unlved]

now get back to work HAHA

[dave00gt]

this is part of my work