clean up crew or not

[artiewylde]

I have a 29 gallon fowlr. Just added a pair of clowns.in the process of setting up a quarantine tank. My question is should I be thinking about a clean up crew or just a bottom feeding type fish? I only intend on Stocking the tank with 5 fish total.

 

[thegrun]

You should add a clean up crew once the tank has cycled.

 

[artiewylde]

I was going to do that but was told to hold off until they had something to feed on.

 

[anthonys51]

only get a few of each. dont get like 10 blue leg hermits or 10 turbo snails. i would start with a few of each and you should be ok. if you have sand get 2 nass snails.

 

[joshua_00030]

You should get a few CuC members for now. My live rock often comes with more than enough food for them in new tanks.

 

[ClownFishGuy6]

I would get no more than 2 turbos if your going to get that for that sized tank. I would get 2 red legged hermit crabs 2 blue legged hermit crabs 2 Astrea snails some ceriths and maybe a watchman goby to keep the sand on point. My cuc doesn't do all the sand in my tank they just keep all the rocks and most of the glass clean and a little of the sand so i am going to get a goby as soon as my tank get a protein skimmer

 

[artiewylde]

How about one of the pre made packages from reefcleaners? Its like $30. Specially picked for the tank size.

 

[TatorTaco]

I agree with the above posters. You'll want a small CUC after the cycle has completed and they'll feed off what is already present on the live rock, glass, and sand. If you're super paranoid, I suppose you could feed an itty bitty amount of food.

 

[juniorrocketdad]

Most packages give you more than you need and will have a lot of them just die so start out small and add more as you need, just I would stay away from emeralds

 

[bat21]

Scarlet hermits are friendly, blue leg hermits will murder snails for sport.

 

[anthonys51]

I like emeralds I feel they get a bad name never seen them go after a fish in the 18 months I had my 4. Just what I noticed plus they clean like crazy. I got a frag from a friend with algae all over it they demolished it over night

 

[cloak]

I was going to do that but was told to hold off until they had something to feed on.

For that size tank, maybe 3 or 4 Trochus snails and a Scarlet Hermit crab would be a good start. Use something like a Mag-Float to keep your glass clean and either stir up or vacuum your sand bed on a regular basis. Hopefully if everything goes right you won't have to add any more janitors to the tank later on. As far as not having anything for them to eat goes, don't worry about that. Algae growth is inevitable in the beginning. It's definitely on it's way. GL.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+564&pcatid=564

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+501+620&pcatid=620

 

[lifeoffaith]

I wouldn't go hog-wild on clean up crew. For the longest time I had a fairly small clean-up crew in my 24 gallon. I only added more once I saw more algae growth, and then realized there were other issues I had to get under control.

 

[Sonyardo]

I would just start out with a few assorted snails and add from there.

 

[artiewylde]

I can see how this "hobby" is addictive. I am already looking into expanding in the future. Thanks to everyone for the advice. I'm going to go with 4 or 5 snails to start. Meanwhile as this is going on I have a 10 gallon fresh water tank with 2 platies...and guess what, they just had a bunch of babies.