Captive-Bred Clean-up Crew?

[TimeConsumer]

Does anyone know retailers who carry captive-bred snails and/or hermits? My next tank is in the planning stages and my goal is to make it a 100% no impact tank using all captive bred livestock & corals.

 

[jayball]

there are always stominellas, mini brittle stars, bristle worms and other hitchhikers that reproduce in the tank. Problem there is efficency and making sure you do not have anything in the tank to eat them.

 

[TimeConsumer]

Yeah, my plan is to do approx 7g nano reef and the only creatures would be a peppermint shrimp and a neon goby (both captive-bred). However I don't know if I will have any hitchhikers given my goal of zero impact means I'll likely be relying on dry rock unless I can scrounge a few pieces from someone's refugium. So I was hoping I could find a couple of captive-bred snails or crabs to help that process.

Also since I'll be doing a build thread that will highlight the sustainability aspect of the hobby I was hoping to be able to feature purchases of those niches to perhaps inspire others to do the same.

 

[Sk8r]

Some of the best are ceriths, dove snails (aka strombus grazers), bristleworms, and limpets, which will populate your tank on their own, given any start. They readily reproduce and are more often given away than sold. Crabs have a problem reproducing because their hatch is so tiny and they don't survive the filters.

 

[cubsFAN]

http://ipsf.com

I ordered from these guys for my old tank.

 

[TimeConsumer]

Thanks, I emailed those guys to see if they would be able to put together a package for a nano tank. Hopefully they can work with me on it, otherwise I may need to see if I can get some guys to go in on it with me.

 

[FullBoreReefer]

For a 7gal nano, with a shrimp and one fish. You may not need anything else.

 

[TimeConsumer]

For a 7gal nano, with a shrimp and one fish. You may not need anything else.

Yeah. At the very least I could try and find a local reefer to swap me some collonista snails, asterinas, bristleworms, etc for some macro photo work. But a nassarius and trochus would be handy too.

 

[TimeConsumer]

Just an update I heard back from ipsf and they said they can arrange a custom package for me. Only captive-bred and for any size tank/budget. So in a few weeks when I do this build I'll definitely be reaching out to them for this project. It's great to have a company dedicated to providing a sustainable product for this community.