Newb ? about cleaning crew.

[eleer]

I was wondering..say i get a pair of shrimp..any pair like peppermint, fire, cleaner. And I have 2 of them in my 10g tank. Do i need to have a lot of hermits or snails still and do the shrimps eat algea?

 

Thanks

[caja]

Yes, you'll want some snails too. Hermits are entirley up to you. Some people like them, some people hate them.

 

And everytime I see your av that Stones song starts playing in my head....mu mu mu monkaaay!

[Crakeur]

pep shrimp eat aiptasia and sometimes zoos and star polyps. fire and cleaner shrimp eat parasites. all will eat flake if they are hungry. the only algae eating shrimp I know of are the ghost shrimp sold at mariculturetechnology (or soemthing like that) and I don't know if they are worth putting in the tank (I'll be trying them out) as they eat detritus and encrusting algae (corralline). here's the link:

 

http://www.mariculturetechnology.com/

 

snails and hermits are more effective at ridding the tank of algae. turbos are probably the best but they get real big. stomas are also real good. astreas are ok as well.

 

nassarius snails are good for detritus, as are the conch snails.

 

for the most effective method of keeping the sand clean, check out saltwaterfish.com. they have sand crabs that burrow in the sand and move around underground. I have three in my tank (started with three, who knows if they are all in there) and they were highly visible for about a week, swimming around and then divebombing into the sand. Haven't seen them in a month or so but every soften I see a puff of "smoke" come from the sand

[eleer]

wow..thanks alot guys and gals!

[eleer]

would keeping one cleaner and one peppermint in the 10g be ok with hermits and snails?