Cleaning Crew

[kason42]

Ocean Gallery II sells cleanup crew packages. I'm looking at the 55 gallon package, and I'm wondering if it's a little over kill, both price wise as well as livestock wise. What do you guys think?

http://www.oceangalleryii.com/livestock/index.php?cPath=5_26&osCsid=79ea69b60328f60e5fdf1f78574353cc

 

[JRWOHLER]

This is just my opinion...I wouldn't want that many hermits, sifting stars, brittle stars, or emerald crabs.
I would go with something like.
Scarlet Reef Hermits 5
Blue Leg Hermits 10
Astraea Turbo Snails 10
Nassarius Snails 10
Nerite Snails 10
Cerith Snails 10
Peppermint Shrimp 2
Sand Sifting Star 0
Brittle Star 1
Emerald Crab 2
That is sort of max total.  I like conchs too in general so would take something less then above with 1 or 2 conchs.

If you have shrimp don't get more. I love the sea cucumber(aka sea turd)that we have also.

 

[mnat]

Check out this link from one of our sponsors it give short yet valuable information on the function of each member of the clean up crew.

http://www.pacificeastaquaculture.com/ShowProductCategory.aspx?CategoryId=4

Every emerald crab I have ever had became annoying as they molted and started picking at everything in the tank. They eat bubble algae which is nice if you have bubble algae. When they molt they can almost double in size especially when you have several together.

You don't need a sand sifter star if you have plenty of nassarius and cerith snails, they do a great job of stirring up the sand bed.

I am also more partial to cleaner shrimp over peppermints. I know peppermints are supposed to eat apstasia but only when small and sometimes they might just ignore it. At least cleaner shrimp with clean your fish and keep them healthy.

I also like conchs, we have 1 in two of our tanks and they also do a good job of stirring up the sand bed.

Brittle stars are nice when they are small, as they get larger then can bump some things loose if they are not epoxied down and the MIGHT get predatory towards smaller things in your tank.

 

[kason42]

Thanks for the link, very good information there. Does anyone have experience with adding skunk cleaners with peps. I have two peppermint shrimp already, and I was actually thinking about getting the cleaners, but I'm not sure because the peps have been in there now for about six months.

 

[mnat]

When my fiancee had her 20 setup in law school we had a pair of fire, pair of peppermint, and a pair of camelbacks all together and they did not bother each other. I don't know how big your tank is, but you should be fine with pairs of each. If you can, always get a pair they tend to stay out in the open more. The cleaners are hermaphoditic so just get two of them, you don't have to search out a male/female pair.

 

[ynotme4886]

I have 3 peppermint 1 cleaner and a coral banded in my tank....I have never had an issue with them getting along.

If I had to worry about anyone getting nasty it would be the coral banded.

Some days you will see my cleaner hanging out with the largest peppermint shrimp I have.

They dont fight in the least....steal food from each other once in a while but thats to be expected.

 

[jimroth]

Most sellers encourage you to add wayyy too many hermits. IMHO, you shouldn't have more than a handful, if any.

Most people who buy cleanup crew packages as recommended experience a lot of die-off.

 

[duijver]

It looks like one of the writers over @ http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-04/newbie/index.php suggested that hermits will wipe out your pod and brittleworm populations as well. Anyone ever experience something like this?

 

[Hawkeye]

It looks like one of the writers over @ http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-04/newbie/index.php suggested that hermits will wipe out your pod and brittleworm populations as well. Anyone ever experience something like this?

physically, all crabs - hermits, emeralds, etc. have jaws that are designed to smash and grind. So physically speaking, they are perfectly capable of eating bristle worms.

I'm not so sure about copepods - since they are tiny little guys. Lack of copepods is more likely due to a small refugium or not providing phyto for them to eat.

I do not keep hermits or crabs in my tank - but my reasoning is more because i felt they actively attacked snails and in my old tank they loved to rip food right out of the sun coral polyps. As an aside - Shrimp are also excellent at stealing food from coral polyps, but they are pretty cool to watch in a tank - so I might still get one.