Cleanup Crew ideas for a 75g al

sean_w_mcgrath

New member
My current plan for a cleanup crew and initial invert order looks something like this:

10 x Blue Leg Hermits
10 x Scarlet Hermits
20 x Astrea Snails
2 x Cleaner Shrip
3 x Sexy Shrimp

I am also thinking of getting some stars to help clean the sand bed. Any recommendations? An I on the right track here?

FYI, I have a 2 inch sand bed.
 
do not get "some" stars - they require a LOT of sand each - so a 75 gallon is actually kind of small for even one sand-sifting star - I've heard the figure 10 square feet PER star - and you probably don't have that much.

I have one SSS in our 72 bow and he's doing fine - we've had him for about 9 months - but I made sure I bought a SMALL one. Same with the tiger tail cucumber - I have a REALLY small one, that has doubled in size in about 5 months, and I'm getting worried that he may outgrow the supply of detritus (we only have 6 fish).

Also - we have on in our 30 gallon long reef at home - and this is the one that REALLY has too little sand to survive according to the available data - but again, I bought him really small, and he's 11 months in the tank now.

Conchs, I've never been able to keep alive - I won't buy any more for a long time.

I would recommend an emerald crab for cleaning the rocks, and I'd get a couple more different types of snail - and less of the ones you mentioned. My preference is to have fewer examples of each, but as diverse a cleaner crew as possible.

For instance - my 72 bow has:

2 zebra hermits - these grew too large in the 30
8 blue legged hermit
4 scarlet hermits (these did not survive)
10 astreas (down to 6-7 now)
6 turbos
1 sand sifting star (small)
1 tiger tail cucumber (small)
10 limpet snails (came with live rock, and breed like crazy)
4 nerite snails (down to 1)
3 cleaner shrimp
1 emerald crab

I am about due for a top-up, and I'll probably get just half a dozen of each of my preferred snails and hermit and put a couple of each in the 30 and the rest in the 72... when I would have my cleaner crew too biased towards one type, say blue legged hermits, then I found that the attrition rate was increased significantly. Now I have diversified, I find they live longer - imagine that eh?

hth

Greg
 
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