Cleanup Crew

[willhoward]

I've got 1 brown legged hermit crab in my 65G and it's not exactly doing the cleanup job I thought it would.

I've got short hair algae on my LR and sometimes leftover brine shrimp, plankton or muscle collect in hard to reach places and in corners in the tank fouling my water.

I've thought of getting 1 more brown legged, 2 x red/scarlet leg and 2 x blue leg hermits but don't know what else? I don't like snails - coz they fall over and die, fouling the water even more (do you get snails that can right themselves when they fall upside down) And I'm a bit skeptic about nudibranches coz I heard they will eat / attack zoos, and I definitely plan on getting zoos later.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Moonstream]

snails are a HUGE part of the cleanup crew. Id get 20 nassasaria snails and 20 cerith snails, as well as 20 astrea snails. the nas. snails will stay in the sand bed, and the ceriths are great algae eaters, detrus eaters, and all around cleaners, cleaner shrimp also do a good job of cleaning detris. maybe get a pair of skunk cleaners and a trio of pepermint shrimp. also cant hurt to feed a little less. if your trying to feed corals target feed, and do small weekly water changes, siphoning any nasty areas. hermits dont do as good a job as snails, and 1 hermit in a 65 isnt going to be much help.

 

[willhoward]

Thanx Moonstream, I'll have a look into it. Only problem I have with snails is that I've had 2 (think it was turbo snails), but both somehow fell and landed upside down and couldn't right themselves, and I didn't notice in time (coz both times was behind some rockwork) and found them dead later, extremely fouling the water. Can Cerith snails right themselves?

 

[flyguy7150]

nessarius can i've seen mine do it, dunno about cerith

 

[IndoorOcean]

I have a few cerith snails in my 20 and they right themselves.

 

[willhoward]

I've read that some of these cleanup snails (can't remember if it was nessarius or cerith) requires a DSB to thrive. I've only got about1.5 - 2 inches of crushed aragonite. And another concern is that they will collapse some of my rockwork Am I way off?

 

[salty420]

there are teenie tiny nass snails and big one's (tonga i think). if you are concerned about your depth/LR you could get the tiny ones. they can right themselves. i think turbos are the worst when it comes to falling over... i'd throw in a few emerald crabs into your tank too. I like hermit crabs personally, long as you give them plenty of extra shells. i've got at least 15 in my 37 along with 3 emerald crabs, 4 small nass, 6 big nass, about 12 cerith and 15 astrea snails. they do a great job and i never have to worry about overfeeding!