Clea Up Crew Questions

[fish 511]

Ok, I am starting to get the clean-up-crew for my 50 gallon FOWLR (I guess its FOWLR and inverts!:lol: ) Anyways, I have some diatoms in my tank and was wondering what wold get rid of them best

Also, how difficult are starfish to keep alive? I am interested in a red knobby star fish (African starfish?). Has anyone had expierience with those?

Thanks everyone for any input...

 

[Leandrae]

If this is a recently set up tank, the diatom problem will likely go away on its own (the whole algae cycle of a new tank).

I've found hermit crabs to do pretty good with diatoms on the sand. Some people don't like having hermits in their tanks, so that's something up to you. No need to go crazy with hermits if you do get them as there isn't much need for 1 per gallon. Once the algae/food is gone, they'll go after snails if you have em.

Snails are good for stuff on the glass, but don't do much for the sand (at least none of the ones I have touch the sand) Perhaps someone else could pipe up with their snail recommendations. I use astrea and cerith snails.

Hope that helps at least some!

-Janel

 

[fish 511]

Ok, awesome! Yea I am kind of nervous about getting hermits because I know the can go after snails. Right now I have 4 turbos, 2 pink Margarita snails, 3 large cerith snails, and 2 emerald crabs. The guy at the LFS said that ceriths and margaritas would do the trick ...shows what he knows. But hey, more snails couldn't hurt, right? Maybe I can get some hermits sometime this week. How many should I get? Also, what kind?

 

[Leandrae]

I like the scarlet leg hermits and the tiny blue leg hermits. The itty bitty blue legs are great for getting into nooks and crannies in the rocks and such, and being so small, they won't be going after the snails anytime soon. I like the scarlets because they do a great job with hair algae in my experience. Both of the will clean the sand up as well.

My 65 gallon has 8 scarlets and 20 blue leg hermits in it which is plenty for me =) There are also 20 astreas in there and I hope to add some ceriths soon as well.

Oh, and toss in some larger shells for when the hermits need a new one. You can shells on ebay, just be sure to boil em for a few minutes before you put the in the tank, just to be on the safe side.

Lastly, I forgot about your question on the star fish...I don't have star fish, but I do know they require pretty extended acclimation time as they are very sensitive to changes. Other than that, I'm clueless

-Janel

 

[IslandCrow]

If you have enough extra shells in the tank for your hermits, they should leave your snails alone. I've never had any real problems. The red leg and scarlet hermit crabs seem to be a little less aggressive than the blue legs, but you tend to find the latter more often than the former. I'm unfamiliar with that type of starfish (not the same as a chocolate chip starfish, is it?), but there are quite a few starfish that are considered either not reef safe or just unsuitable for the average home aquarium. Brittle and serpent stars tend to be the most appropriate of the starfish, but realize you'll never see the things, because they'll probably crawl under a rock and only come out at night. . .great detrivores, though!