how many is too many

[chefssaltyballs]

was wondering how many snails and crabs people keep in their tanks???? clean up crews......

tank size vs amount of snails/ crabs???

wanted to post this question in poll format but dont know how..
thanks
cfsb

 

[mouserusker]

20 Gallon Tall
At least a dozen hermits
Probably 25+ snails (not counting the hundreds of tiny ones that cover the inside of the aquarium glass after lights out)
One 'cuke

I realize this is probably quite a bit overstocked by most people's opinions, these were all in the tank when it was given to me on 1-1-09. They are more than enough for a "clean-up crew", and occasionally I'll drop small pieces of thawed raw people-food shrimp in and watch the snails and crabs form a wriggling ball of inverts!

 

[chefssaltyballs]

damn i better add some more snails.... not to keen on the hermits though !!
I only have about 30 snails and about 5 hermts in a 160g show tanks.....
cfsb

 

[Guygettnby]

here are a few of my tanks. i included all my clean up crew.

58G: about 12 hermits, 20+ snails, 1 conch, 2 emeralds, sand sifting cucumber, 2 brittle stars, 1 serpent star, hundreds of mini brittle stars, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 monkey shrimp, 1 coral bandit shrimp, 3 clams, 1 pepermint for aiptasia

24g: 12 or so hermits, 15 snails, brittle star, hundreds of mini stars, sand sifting cucumber, 1 emerald, coral bandit shrimp, 1 pepermint for aiptasia, 1 conch, 1 clam

20G: 5 hermits, 20+ snails, 1 conch, 1 brittle star, 1 clam

12G: 5-8 hermits, about 10 snails, 1 conch, coral bandit shrimp, 1 emerald, 1 clam, 1 pepermint for aiptasia, 2 serpent stars

i prefer to have less hermits then i do snails. hermits end up destroying stuff. true scarlet hermits even though they cost more are alot better then any others you can find IMO. there is 1 other hermit crab that i found to be a great addition to your clean up crew that doesnt bother anything in your tank. they call them ghost hermits at 1 of my LFS not sure of the real name but they usualy come from the shipments of nessarius snails from florida.

 

[chefssaltyballs]

sounds like a very busy, but clean tank....... I added two pep shrimp to my tank on thursday at 3pm they were gone by 302pm........ it was like a piranha fury feeding.... I have 4 solon fairy wrasse that were suppose to be pep shrimp safe...... NOT....
cfsb

 

[Airwolf75]

180 gallon tank, has about 10 hermit crabs, and 100 small snails

 

[Guygettnby]

i dont like pepermint and as soon as all the aiptasia is gone so are they. they are nasty little shrimp that god put here to torment me! but for some small reason i seem to get an aiptasia or 2 everytime i get a new frag

my tanks are very busy but everything gets along and they are clean for the most part. every once in awhile i get a hair algea or small cyano outbreak. but that is quickly taken care of for the most part by my clean up crew. another invert i have a love/hate relationship with is my coral bandit shrimps! at times they are great to have and help keep some little nasties in check, but other times they like to try and nip at fish. never actually done serious damage but still anoying to think that it could if it felt the need. they are very bold shrimp but 1 of my favorites out there.

i have 1 more tank i am waiting for it to finish cyclying as of right now and that is going to be my frag tank. i will have maybe 2 hermits in there and abunch of snails, along with a few other coral friendly inverts.