Cleanup Crew Packages

[swoop_ds]

Hello,
I am looking into getting a cleanup crew as currently all I have is a couple snails, a dwarf hermit, and a conch in my 55gal. I haven't decided exactly what to get but the store I usually order from has a few 'packages'. My question is this: is it safe to put 50+ new things into my tank at once? I know that they are inverts but this still seems kinda extreme. Thanks for your help!
-Dave

 

[angelsj247]

well im not sure to much, but everyone on here does i believe. going to get my clean up crew this week, and im planning on getting about 5 shrimp and possibly 10 snalis

 

[bjonesjr1]

I started with 3 peppermint shrimp, 10 blue legged hermit crabs, 10 snails. I also have a 55 gallon tank. After about 2 months I went and got 10 more hermit crabs, and 10 more snails... I was told that 1 invert per gallon for your tank to keep it nice

 

[yogisfriend]

Gosh, I just ordered 100 snails and 100 hermit crabs, along with 2 emerald crabs for my 120! I hate algae.

 

[bertoni]

I think the cleaner packages sold online are mostly hugely oversized for the tank in question. Usually that means a lot of death by starvation over time.

For a 55g tank, I'd probably start with 3-4 Trochus, 3-4 cerith, and perhaps some Stomatella. If you can buy snails locally, you could just buy a few at a time as you see the need.

I avoid all crabs and hermit crabs since I've gotten tired of the predation. Peppermint shrimp aren't really cleanup crew, IMO. They will eat leftover food, but there are lots of animals that will do that. If the tank has a sandbed, 3-4 Nassarius vibex would do the job, and they're more reef-safe.

 

[swoop_ds]

Thanks for the help. I think what I'll end up doing is buying some snails and maybe a few crabs then.
-Dave

 

[charile1]

Can someone tell me what snails needs help with turning over? I would like to avoid them.

 

[sttroyiii]

turbo snails....I have them, but none have ever died. Ive flipped one only a couple of times in 3 months.

 

[bertoni]

Astraea snails aren't capable of righting themselves if they fall on sand.

 

[swoop_ds]

I had margarita snails that were just horrible when it came to flipping them back over. I'm not sure if maybe something kept knocking them off onto their back but I only had 3 or 4 and everyday I'd have to flip one or two back over. I will never buy margarita snails again.

 

[tabndust]

yogisfriend where did you order from

 

[msudawgs56]

i just ordered my clean up crew yesterday from www.etropicals.com ...they have a build your own package that includes shipping if you order 60.00 worth. pretty good selection.

 

[yogisfriend]

Tabndust, I ordered from reeftopia. I got them today--and like bertoni said, it was far too many! Luckily I have an 80g FOWLR and a 10g qt that could take quite a few, or I would have been in trouble. I would strongly suggest getting just what you need. However, if you do want a good sized package, mine was $139 and everything but one emerald made it alive. Not reeftopia's fault, they were delivered 4 hours late and I couldn't leave work to get them in the tanks until much later.

 

[swoop_ds]

So is the '1 crab and 1 snail per gallon' rule still the norm? Also, do any snails or crabs eat macro algae?
-Dave

 

[bertoni]

I think that's far too many animals in about every case. I avoid all the crabs and hermit crabs because of predation issues. Each tank is different, and so are the snail species.

 

[Swanwillow]

I had the 'too many snails' problem... but it was easily fixed because I got some of the sand type that die off quite quickly: I'll have to look up what type, the site I got them from is currently down. so, in a 35 after being up since November, I have 4 turbos, and about a dozen nass snails. oh, and one lone zebra hermit, of whom EVER TRIES ANYTHING BAD will be PUT DIRECTLY INTO THE TOILET.

there WAS a cute little micro hermit, but after I got my rock, he went MIA... he hitch-hiked in on macro algaes

 

[HBtank]

10 astrea, 10 cerith, 10 nassarius, 3 turbo, 1 hermit, 1 abalone, 2 peppermint shrimp and a few hitchiker stomatella and small snails are perfect in my 55. I have close to 90 #'s of rock now though.

I added all in stages, and the groups of ten were weeks apart and after new blooms started back up.

I ditched 14 of my 15 hermits rather quickly. All of them just seemed to be mauling my rocks, knocking over fragsm they had to go! The last one is my largest, about 3-4 inches across, but rivals any creature I have ever seen in keeping my sand sifted though and white. It is obsessive in sifting the sand, climbs rarely and has yet to hurt anything. Just lucky for now I guess, I really hope it remains a gentle giant, I like him.