Inverts and cleaners

MrMikeB

MrMikeB

New member
Hello all,

Does anybody know if the club/group participates in a group buy on inverts or cleaners? I need a slew of various types of cleaning inverts (snails, crabs, sea cucumbers, stars, pods, shrimp, etc.) and my sellers are all flaking on me with delayed delivery, not having the items I need in stock, typical runaround, etc. Given the qty of the items I am looking for, paying retail is probably not the best way to go less I take out a 2nd out on the house. Ideas?

Thanks!
 
You could try http://reeftopia.com/Crabs_and_Snails218.html and get the stuff below LFS prices. I've never really been totally satisfied with these kinds of buys, as I don't always get what's expected. This is why I don't mind paying more at the LFS, cause WYSIWYG;)

But, if you need 200 bluelegs, than this would be a great option.
 
I lost 90%-95% of the snails from the last GB that I joined. I ended up paying 3-4 times more than from LFS.
 
Ok, will do. I am in communications with a company who is offering a great deal on some inverts, just been playing hell on the actual delivery. If I think it will materialize (and that's a big 'if' at this point), I will let you know. Sometimes things too good to be true, well...
 
Out of curiosity, if I were to do a group buy (small) to be delivered by Thursday night - would you be intersted? Please PM to keep the clutterto a min. Here are the items I am supposed to be receiving this Thursday (in various qtys):

Blue Leg Hermit Crabs
Scarlet Hermit Crabs
Mexican red tip hermit crabs
Tongon tricolor hermit crabs
Hawaiin zebra reef hermit crabs
Halloween hermit crabs
Emerald crabs
Red ruby crabs
porcelian crabs
Salley lightfoot crabs
horsehoe crab
Vibex Snails
Trochus Snails
Cortez Cerith Snails
Nerite snails
Turbo Snails (astera)
Lettuce Nudibranch
Fancy Nudibranch
Peppermint shrimp
Banded coral shrimp
Skunk cleaner shrimp
Brittle Starfish
Serpent Starfish
Harliquin Starfish
Orange Fromia Starfish
Pink Sand sifting cucumbers
Tigertail sand sifting cucumbers

Thanks!
 
Here are the deals I can get now. I wanted to give my seller a test run before advertising to the group, so I can see if its the real deal or not. I am submitting an order tomorrow AM with multiple qtys of whats below. Although this order is wrapping up soon, if there is interest in the group for a group buy say in a month or so, I can help coordinate it (assuming things go kosher with this sale):

Blue Leg Hermit Crabs $0.75
Scarlet Hermit Crabs $2.00
Mexican red tip hermit crabs $1.25
Tongon tricolor hermit crabs $1.50
Hawaiin zebra reef hermit crabs $2.00
Halloween hermit crabs $3.00
Emerald crabs $3.00
Red ruby crabs $3.50
porcelian crabs $3.50
Salley lightfoot crabs $5.00
horsehoe crab $5.00
Vibex Snails $0.75
Trochus Snails $1.50
Cortez Cerith Snails $1.50
Nerite snails $1.25
Turbo Snails (astera) $0.75
Lettuce Nudibranch $2.00
Fancy Nudibranch $2.50
Peppermint shrimp $2.50
Banded coral shrimp $5.00
Skunk cleaner shrimp $15.00
Brittle Starfish $5.00
Serpent Starfish $5.00
Harliquin Starfish $7.00
Orange Fromia Starfish $20.00
Pink Sand sifting cucumbers $20.00
Tigertail sand sifting cucumbers $20.00
 
Yes, I can get those as well and a ton of other creepy crawlers. This order is wrapped up though and was more or less a trial run on my new seller. (I bought most of the items). If things go well and there is interest, I can coordinate a group buy here in the near future.

Horseshoe crabs are reef safe and spend most of their time in the sand. Nifty little guys and great at keeping the bottom clean.
 
I think its when they grow really large you have to be careful. Small they are ok, but obviously a 12" opportunist crab lurking in the substrate is not something I would consider reef safe either - especially if they are digging up the substrate all day. As most scavengers they will eat just about anything they can get in their mouth and does not fight back too much, so the bigger the mouth the more apt they try to see what can fit into it. When I get some of these in I will let you know how they work out.
 
Well I made a huge order with my seller, and things finally came. Bad experience. Many were dead, others did not ship, and even more did not make it past the first day. All in all it would have been cheaper for me to get them retail and without the hassle. I can see why LFS mark these up so much now, not because they are making a killing, but because they deal with wholesalers like this. Another lesson learned the hard way...
 
Bummer. Did you happen to order a tiger tail sand sifting cucumber, and if so, did it survive? I've been trying to find a sandsifting option and have lost a few orange diamond spot gobies, probably to carpet surfing but maybe because I don't have enough copepods in the substrate to support them and they're too shy to compete with the other fish for food. A conch might be another option.
 
I did actually, but it did not arrive (even though it was paid for). This is the type of crap I am talking about with this seller. Anyhow, I did see a huge one at Aqua World today in their 240 gallon tank out front... beautiful!

As for sand sifting, other potential options I would recommend would be a sand sifting star, Nassarius Vibex snails, and hermits. The snails are tops at keeping the substrate turned over and all leftovers never make it long. I swear those little noses on the snails can pinpoint food a mile away and they swarm like crazy. Hermits can usually sift the top layer too while the star is entertaining and will usually burrow a good 2 inches and move all day/night.

Another option I have made good use of is periodically adjusting my return nozzles and powerheads - just slightly. Just the right angle at certain places on the glass will re-shift an entire sand bed over a couple days without making a sandstorm.
 
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