Help me tweak my clean up crew.

[SURVEYMAN46123]

 

 

I'm in the final stages of planning before I get my NUVO 10 wet. I got to be honest with you I'm slightly overwhelmed when it comes to the discussion of clean up crews. So I'm posting a list that I believe is a good start/package. However I'd like some input/ideas if you don't mind helping out someone who is a bit naive when it comes to clean up crews.

 

1 Trochus Snail

2 Nassarius Snails

2-3 Cerith Snails

1 Strawberry Conch

1 Green Emerald Crab

1 Cleaner Shrimp

1 Blue Legged Hermit

2 Scarlet Hermits

 

Should I add more Snails? Mind you I don't want to over populate and then these guys start to starve. I also plan to keep a tailspot blenny.

[jabudda]

I went a different direction, in the past I've used clean up crews & would watch them slowly die off. By accident I discovered my clean up crew was nonexistent & all was well in my aquarium. This led me to maintain my aquarium without the traditional clean up crew. There are lots of small critters that have formed or hitchhiker critters on live rock, corals, etc. I've observed mini brittle stars, various copods, and bristle worms. People have different opinions on bristle worms, mostly they eat dead stuff but there are different species. The clean up crew is fun to watch & observe but I will continue to omit them from my aquariums.

[Newstead]

I would add the trochus first once the tank is cycled, then the nassarius once there are fish to feed. Never had a comch but I have read they need a certain amount of space, not sure how much there is in a 10. I love my 2 cleaner shrimp but they are in a 75 and still are pretty big, plus they love to dig food out of my acans :-(.

Emeralds are hit or miss. I had one on the 75 I watched tear apart a zoa polyp. He now lives in the sump. The one on my 29 is a gent, took care of the few strands of gha I had, but is now probably 4 to 5 inches across with his claws spread! He gets a mini algae wafer and 2 mysis a day now to try to keep him from viewing the mandarin as food - will probably move him to crab haven in the sump as well. With that size tank I think 1 hermit would be plenty.

JME.

[Clown79]

Its a little much for a new tank.

 

You won't have enough to sustain them all which can lead to death, which leads to other issues.

 

For a 10g start with 1 trochus, 2 hermits.

 

Add nassarius once you get fish and are feeding the tank.

 

Once the tank starts stabilizing then add more hermits and snails.

 

Conches need a lot of food, well established sandbed.

 

Emeralds can grow rapidly and outgrow a 10g quickly.

 

Cleaner shrimp aren't really a cuc, they will eat left over food and clean fish of parasites. I'd wait to add the shrimp as they can be sensitive to changes. Wait till after you do a fish.

[SURVEYMAN46123]

All useful information. Thank you!

 

Also I wasn't thinking these would all go in at once. It was more of an "eventual" stocking list. However I can see the confusion.

[ajmckay]

The basis for a solid CUC should be your basic snails. Trochus, cerith, nerite, astrea, turbo, nassarius (sparingly)... Add crabs with caution. Shrimp don't technically do much as a member of a CUC but they're neat.

 

I would avoid the more exotic snails and crabs other than hermits for a while.

[Polarcollision]

I've also mostly found that cleanup crews are useless, until there's actually something for them to eat. The only crew I regularly stock is nassarius snails. 8 in 24 gallons. They keep the sand stirred and eat any leftover food. Bristleworms, brittlestars, amphipods, limpets, and chitons all hitchhike in and take care of most other issues.

 

When the tank was overrun by gelidium I added a small blue tuxedo urchin. I just added 3 large emerald crabs to eat a bubble algae infestation, and a sea hare handled a sea-lettuce breakout.

 

trochus and cerith snails will just die off. They never made any difference in my tanks. And I want to murder my red-legged hermit but am too soft. Want him?

[fermentedhiker]

I enjoy having a CUC but I think it's best to be conservative. With such a small tank I'd definitely omit the conch and the emerald. I'd also skip the blue legged crabs(especially if you get Ceriths) they are fun to watch and more active than the scarlets but they are snail killers. If it were me I'd go with two scarlets and then add up to 8 additional snails over time if the tank looks like it will support them. You can use whatever kind you like(trocus,astrea, nerite, cerith etc...). As others have recommended I'd add the nassarius after you add a fish so there is something for them to clean up. As to the cleaner shrimp I'd spend the extra for a blood red. Mine is much less of a jerk than my skunk cleaner.