Invert Help

[zmazza]

I'm going to be putting in an order on our group buy... but I'm a little unsure on a few things..

What's the concensus on the emerald crab or sally light foot?

I know I want the 24 blue leg hermits for sure, and 50 golden astreas, but I'm trying to figure out what else to get.

This 30 reef is going to be mainly goby dominated... so I'm not sure if the crabs will be safe. Is there a better option? More snails? More hermits?

Need your help!

Thanks in advance,

Zac

 

[ct_vol]

I like snails over hermits... Well, besides micros... Not a big fan of sally light foots... Been known to grab a fish when they get bigger... And they get like 4 or 5 inches, something like that... I don't mind emerald crabs... I have quite a few... But some people say they pic at zoas... You've seen my tanks, I don't have that problem...

 

[AquaVolGP]

I agree with randy about the sally light foot crabs....almost.....they do get huge, but there is a difference with aggression from male and female sally's. I have a female sally and i selected a female because unlike most things in our tanks....the females stay smaller than the males....they are also far less aggressive.....you can tell a female because on the bottom side of them....they have a curved arch instead of a str8 one....just my 2 sense....i have heard emeralds can mess with zoos and i have also seen blue legs mess with zoos and polyps.....it is kind of a gamble with alot of things....everyone has different experiences....some of it is selection and other times it is just plain luck.....

 

[zmazza]

Hmm... so money would be better spend on snails it seems....

I think I'll split my order between astreas, nassarius, and a small order of ceriths. I already have 5 hermits in my 30 gallon and like 3 or 4 in my 29. The conch seems to do more cleanup than they do.

So 50 astreas, 10 nassarius, and 12 ceriths... Sounds like a good cleanup crew, right?

Is that too much? Should I split the astreas between my 29 gallon as well?

 

[Runner]

Crabs eat too much you don't want them to eat. That said, though, one of my favorite critters in my tank is the only scarlett hermit out of a dozen who survived the "Wormzilla Incident". I have tossed all my blue-legs in the sump because I kept seeing them going after living snails -- and once saw two gang up on a single snail. In retrospect, I probably blamed them for the depredations of Wormzilla.

@Zac: Naw, that isn't too much. The astraes will do good work on the glass and the ceriths will do good work eating the astrae poop. That leaves the nassarius to play in your substrate.

 

[zmazza]

Sounds great. I'll go with them vs the hermits and leave the 4-5 I've got in there now. Sounds good. Thanks for the quick response!

 

[acrodave]

all crabs need to be watched even hermits

 

[imsqueak]

The astraes will do good work on the glass and the ceriths will do good work eating the astrae poop. That leaves the nassarius to play in your substrate

That's the end-all advice about snails. Take your chances with all crabs.