Clean up crew

[Rich_1833]

I have a 25 gal cube. With a 3inch sand bed and about 30 # of LR. Im ready to put my clean up crew in and wanted to know what everyone has had luck with. I was thinking this but am up for anything.

4X Red Legged Crabs
4X Scarlet Crabs

5X Turbo Snails
5X Nerite Snails
5X Nassarius Snails

 

[Bubbashrimp]

How about a sand sifting star?

 

[drummereef]

I tend to stay with only snails these days. Haven't had the greatest luck keeping both hermits and snails together. I'd stay away from stars as they will eventually starve in your tank. I like nassarius for the sandbed and astrea/turbos for the glass.

 

[homestar]

same here with the hermits, they end up killing all your snails for their shells, then you have no one to clean the glass. i always like the emerald crab, they do a great job on the rocks

 

[Bubbashrimp]

is the 3 inch deep sand bead "live sand"?

Well if you keep a couple of dedicated systems for just the food or even a refugium or hand placing the food right on the tube feet and watch it get taken away like it was on a convayer belt, you might see that it is hard to starve almost any thing. Also it is possible to purchase extra shells for your hermit crabs so they do not engage in this behavior. Nassarius snails i love them, as for emerald crabs...yeah they are alright i guess...I think fire shrimp do a better job of cleaning the bottom of you tank.

 

[axciom333]

I don't think your numbers are real high but I would start slow. Buy a few critters at a time from your LFS. I have the following in a 75 gallon tank and it seems to be more than enough.

5 Astrea
3 Banded Trochus
1 Trochus
2 Nasarrius
1 Nerite
5 very small Cerith's that hitchhiked in on the rock
7 Blue legged hermits

Once your tank is stablilzed and assuming it is well run the algae seems to go away on its own mostly. But the critters keep the house picked up, you just don't want to add too many and have them starve.

Eventually a skunk cleaner shrimp is good too. Get a small one so you can watch him grow. They all seem to have funny personalities and they are very pretty. Will eat right out of your hand. They also help keep things picked up.

 

[The Kapenta Kid]

I'd agree with Axciom, start slow.
From what I read Turbos grow big and have an enormous appetite, so maybe 1 or 2 max is enough and get a few Ceriths for sandsifting if you can find 'em.
I have found that Trochus and Tectus are pretty effective algae eaters.
If you can find Calcinus Elegans, the electric blue hermit, you might want to substitute them for a couple of the others. IME they are good herbivores and are very attractive.
Make sure you have at least a couple of extra empty shells for each hermit. This will reduce the likelihood of them killing snails for theirs.

 

[Rich_1833]

So maybe 2-3 nassarius for the sandbed and 2-3 astrea/turbos for the glass. What kinds of shrimp do good I never thought about them. Maybe even get one for the Watchman Goby.

 

[rcypert]

What about emerald crabs? Has anyone had one of these suckers actually catch and eat a small fish?

 

[petoonia]

These are what have worked best for me. I agree with adding them slowly over time as well. This is what I would stock in a 25G tank.

5 Scarlet hermits
3 Astreas
2 Turbos
5 Banded Trochus
5 Nassarius
1 or 2 Cleaner Shrimp