2 Blue Leg Hermits per gal.??? What else?

[SeaMountain]

1 pound per gallon Live Sand.

2 pounds per gallon Live Rock.

1 Serpent or Brittle star per 50 gal.

2 Tiger Tail Cucumbers per 50 gal.

2 Blue Leg Hermits per gal.

1 pistol shrimp per 50 gal.

1/2 Turbo Snail per gal.

 

The above is what's considered "The Package" from TampaBaySW. I'm ready to break out the plastic for LR for my 10g.

 

But for some reason 20 Blue Legs seem like quite a few. More like a herd! And I am going to forgo the Pistol Shrimp in favor of a cleaner shrimp. I also thought 15 lbs of LR would be enough to get going and see how it fits into the tank.

 

And how deep will 10lbs of LS be in a 10g tank?

 

I'm not going to keep anything tough. Some inverts and add a perc. once all is up and running smoothly. Lighting is 2x36 PC's.

[Crakeur]

first off, I would skip the cukes and the stars. Serps and brittle stars get large, tend to walk around and damage corals and, when they get bigger, can be a general pain in the rump. Cukes are just not worth the risk. I have never had much success with them and when they die it ain't pretty.

 

I agree on the cleaner over the pistol. Cleaner shrimp are usually fairly friendly and often will walk up your arm whereas pistols are more often heard than seen. (ime)

 

Do not bother with the turbo as they get golf ball sized and will bulldoze around the tank. Also if they fall (and they do fall) and you don't turn it over, death to smoochy. Go with smaller, self turning snails.

 

I have around 20 or so blue legs in my tank (7 bow with 2 1/2 gall fuge). They are everywhere. A real herd but they serve their purpose.

 

Perhaps, instead of the cuke, a sand sifting snail like nassarius or conch snails.

 

Or, if you go with the pistol, get a watchman goby and your sand should be pretty clean.

[SeaMountain]

Sounds like "The Package" should be placed back on the shelf for a nano.

 

Maybe I should just call Liverocks.com and have them choose some sweet LR for a 10g. The hermies and snails could be added afterwards.

 

You know how some businesses are... No exchanging parts of a package ever hear this? "No! You cannot have Won-Ton soup instead of an eggroll!!!!"

 

NO SOUP FOR YOU!!! says the Soup Nazi!!

[Crakeur]

those packages generally consist of the critters they have the least trouble getting and they are usually fairly cheap animals. Brittle stars are the worst thing to order online. I have had them thrown in on about 10 online orders over the years and I have never had one survive the shipping. They always come in pieces.

 

Serpent stars have fared better in my experience but the two times I have kept them they have grown to immense proportions and ended up being way too large for the tank they were in.

 

There are a few decent make your own clean up crew sites. Can't think of any offhand but you can get decent critters from premiumaquatics.com, inlandaquatics.com and a few other places.

 

Glad I could be of some help. Please note that my suggestions are based on my own experiences and others might tell you that brittle stars always ship well and are wonderful additions to a tank. (just using them as an example)