Good clean up crews for nanos?

[Foogoo]

The thing I find unique with nanos is there there's usually much less space and lot of small frags and rocks, which gets algae in hard to reach places and difficult to pluck.

So what are good clean up crews that can get the small rocks without bulldozing everything? I've never had much luck with astreas or hermits actually eating anything, but they do look cool...

 

[Crackerballer]

I was wondering the same thing. I need to know what to add to my 20l and where people get their crews

 

[reefman23]

I have found a good combo for my 20L to be a couple astrea snails for the rock, a couple small hermits, and a couple nassarius snails for the sand. People severly overestimate the needed amount of critters. The astreas are small and will occassionally fall and land on their backs... due to were they are found on the reefs, they havent established teh ablilty to upright themselves and can die. They are nice and small though which is good for nanos and they have an inexhaustible appetite for algae. The nassarius are tried-and-true detivores for the sand.

HTH,

Jesse

 

[Purple Penguins]

I would stay with small cleaners, dwarf hermits, and I personally like the margarita snails, for sand cleaning sandsifting seastars, cerith snails, and possibly an urchin, although as good as they are at cleaning up algae they are also bulldozers and tend to push over frags and corals not glued down along with sticking everything they can to themselves to camoflauge (mine had a seaweed clip stuck to it for 3 days the little bugger) as to how many that depends on what size tank you have

 

[matt_schultz]

in mine i have a LMB for the glass and some rock. 5 small hermits 5 turbo snails and 2 nass snails. i havn't had a problem since i got them.

 

[junkitu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9446077#post9446077 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefman23
I have found a good combo for my 20L to be a couple astrea snails for the rock, a couple small hermits, and a couple nassarius snails for the sand. People severly overestimate the needed amount of critters. The astreas are small and will occassionally fall and land on their backs... due to were they are found on the reefs, they havent established teh ablilty to upright themselves and can die. They are nice and small though which is good for nanos and they have an inexhaustible appetite for algae. The nassarius are tried-and-true detivores for the sand.

HTH,

Jesse

I agree with staying with the basics: astreas, red and blue legged hermits, and nassarius. I'd stay away from the turbos since they get big and can really move frags around in a nano. Same goes for larger hermits like the blue-knuckle. I haven't had much luck with margarita snails. They seem to die off pretty easily.

 

[Crackerballer]

Question, over time will the clean up crews mate and make mo? I was just wondering.

 

[Foogoo]

I'm pretty sure successful reproduction of astrea snails and hermits in nanos is pretty rare. Pods are a different story...

 

[24gnanonewbie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9449234#post9449234 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matt_schultz
in mine i have a LMB for the glass and some rock. 5 small hermits 5 turbo snails and 2 nass snails. i havn't had a problem since i got them.

What's a LMB?

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Lawnmower blenny