New cleaning crew coming but nothing to clean. How do I feed them?

[AaronRV45]

I have a cleaning crew coming for a new 10g AIO tank. It is cycled but there isn't anything for the cleaning crew to eat. I was hoping to have more 'stuff' for them to eat but I guess I have stuck too closely to the rules. No algae. Just some critters in the sand.

I live in a fishing village where I can buy fresh shrimp. I was thinking that I could finely mince a small piece of shrimp and add it to the tank without any mechanical filtration.  Thoughts?

 

 

[braaap]

Wouldn’t worry about it. They poop. Poop feeds algae. They eat it. Cycle repeats. But you could do ghost feeing with pellets or flake. 

[mcarroll]

How big of a cleanup crew?   And composed of what, precisely?

[AaronRV45]

This is what I bought:

4x	Assorted Red & Blue Leg Hermits
2x	Scarlet Reef Hermits
3x	XL Nassarius Snails
3x	Astrea Snails
3x	Cerith Snails
1x	Turbo Snails

[AaronRV45]

Only a few things are alive. A couple of snails and a couple of hermits. They were packaged well but most were DOA. I emailed the company but they never responded. I won't do business with them again. I will drive 1 hour each way to my closest reef store to buy a new cleaning crew.
 

I just don't trust online live purchases anymore. I spent almost $100 on those and ended up with maybe 5 live ones. My tank was already cycled with great numbers and what was alive when they arrived are thriving. One Astrea, one Nassarius, one Cerith, and possibly two small hermits are alive. The scarlet hermits arrived dead with their bodies out of their shells and the turbo snail was dead and I almost died from the smell when I opened the bag. I took the shipment in the moment they arrived. The weather was in the mid-60s and there was a heating pad on the box. 

 

[AaronRV45]

The Nassarius is big though. I don't see much of her often. Just a black feeder sticking up occasionally.  

[mcarroll]

That is a bummer!

[Staticmoves]

Algae wafers will satisfy them until oh natural arrives.