my clean up crew

[reefcheef]

24 gallon nano DX, viper light. Planning clownfish pair, and 2 gobies for fish.

mushrooms, ricordreas,sps.

 

Heres the list, thoughts appreciated.

1- Queen Conch - Aquacultured (BYO) $3.50 x = $3.50

5- Nassarius Snail (BYO) $0.90 x = $4.50

5- Cerith Snail (BYO) $1.00 x = $5.00

5- Astraea Turbo Snail (BYO) - Large $0.90 x = $4.50 (is large a prob)

4- Orange Marked Hermit Crab (BYO) $2.50 x = $10.00

4- Dwarf Red Tip Hermit Crab (BYO) $1.50 x = $6.00

4- Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab (BYO) $1.20 x = $4.80

4- Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab (BYO) $2.50 x = $10.00

 

Subtotal: $48.30

Shopping Cart Subtotal: $48.30

 

this would be a build your own from fosters and smith.

I would have another $15 or so to spend before i get the free shipping, what would you get? I am building a 5 gal cadlights, emergency/ extra tank.Im lost on shrimp any help there would be nice.

[nanoty]

24 gallon nano DX, viper light. Planning clownfish pair, and 2 gobies for fish.

mushrooms, ricordreas,sps.

 

Heres the list, thoughts appreciated.

1- Queen Conch - Aquacultured (BYO) $3.50 x = $3.50

5- Nassarius Snail (BYO) $0.90 x = $4.50

5- Cerith Snail (BYO) $1.00 x = $5.00

5- Astraea Turbo Snail (BYO) - Large $0.90 x = $4.50 (is large a prob)

4- Orange Marked Hermit Crab (BYO) $2.50 x = $10.00

4- Dwarf Red Tip Hermit Crab (BYO) $1.50 x = $6.00

4- Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab (BYO) $1.20 x = $4.80

4- Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab (BYO) $2.50 x = $10.00

 

Subtotal: $48.30

Shopping Cart Subtotal: $48.30

 

this would be a build your own from fosters and smith.

I would have another $15 or so to spend before i get the free shipping, what would you get? I am building a 5 gal cadlights, emergency/ extra tank.Im lost on shrimp any help there would be nice.

 

 

 

Cleaner shrimp seem to be the norm. I used to have a coral banded but he had a taste for fish, he was very cool to watch though. I don't see any probs with you list except for this:

 

Strombus gigas is a true conch and the largest mollusk native to North America. It can grow to 15-31 cm (6-12 inches) in length. Common names for S. gigas include (Caribbean) queen conch, pink conch, caracol reina, caracol rosa, caracol rosado, caracol de pala, cobo, botuto, guarura, and lambí.

 

S. gigas lives in the wider Caribbean region including Mexico, southern Florida, and the Bahamas, north to Bermuda. It lives in seagrass meadows and on sandy substrate feeding on detritus, macroalgae, and epiphytes. The nacre of its shell blushes a sunrise of pink, yellow, peach and cream colors.

 

The female lays between 180,000 and 460,000 eggs. A small cardinal fish, known as the conch fish sometimes lives in the mantle of the conch for protection.

 

 

Be careful unless you have a huge tank to move them too.

[kismetsh]

There are tons of conflicting opinions on CUC stocking. IMO 16 hermits is too many for a 24 gallon. I have 6 in my 20 and that seems about right. I have 13 snails, I think I could use a few more of them.

 

I think overstocking on the hermits may lead to more aggression issues, ie killing snails and each other.

[tstone]

Yeah I would drop the conch, just use maybe 4 blue leg hermits and 4 scarlet hermits.

I would up the Nassarius to 10.

 

The rest look good.

 

Cleaner shrimp are cool. Peppermint or two would be good also.

 

To get the free shipping buy a ric or some cool zoo's

[Withers]

Ditch the blue legged hermits, they'll terrorize your snails and each other. I think 4 red legged and 4 scarlets ought to be able to handle a 24 gallon tank anyway.

[tstone]

Ditch the blue legged hermits, they'll terrorize your snails and each other. I think 4 red legged and 4 scarlets ought to be able to handle a 24 gallon tank anyway.

 

Ok I am wishy washy. I agree with the ditch the blue legs. I did not ad any to my current nano for this reason.

 

I have just scarlets right now in my BC14

[Withers]

I know everybody has their own opinion and there are 1,000's of different critter combinations that will all do the same job.

 

That being said, here's what my experience has been with everything you've listed.

 

1- Queen Conch - Really interesting but grow big (slowly). They're great at cleaning algae though and very unique.

 

5- Nassarius Snail - Extremely good at keeping your sand bed turned over and interesting to watch

 

5- Cerith Snail - I'm not too impressed with these guys, it seems all they do is lay eggs all day, too small to make a difference

 

5- Astraea Turbo Snail - Probably the most effective algae cleaning snail I've seen

 

4- Orange Marked Hermit Crab - Dunno I've never had any

 

4- Dwarf Red Tip Hermit Crab - If these are the red legged I'm thinking of (which, ironically, don't have red legs at all), then they're by far the most effective member of a cleanup crew.

 

4- Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab - Bad, these things are pests and give all hermits a bad reputation because they're the most commonly available and cheapest

 

4- Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab - Striking but lazy. They're beauty queens who enjoy sitting around looking pretty, but still good to have around because they look nice.

[reefcheef]

alright, thank you all

 

Im cool with ditching the queen conch and 8 hermits. I will definetly get rid of the blue legged. Probably go ahead and get 10 nassarius snails. Maybe trade in the cerith snails for more turbos.

[reeftard]

where can you get free shipping on dr.smiths i dont see it anywhere.

 

also you may want a brittle star fish because they eat fish crap

[reefcheef]

Hey, Reeftard

Go to live aquaria, on the home page. Click on the small square in the bottom right of the screen that says E-tropicals. It is a sister site to live aquaria, once there go to build your own cleanup crew. Anything between $60 and $100 is free.