New Clean Up Crew Critique

[Koop]

Hi Everyone,

I have my 120 gallon tank finally set up with a 50 gallon sump. Live rock and sand in both the display and refugium.

I am about to order the first inhabitants and would love some feedback before I pull the trigger on the order.

16 tiny Dwarf Blue Legged Hermits
10 pack Astraea Turbo Snails
10 pack Nassarius Snails
2 x 5 pack Cerith Snails
2 x 5 pack Banded Trochus Snail
1 Brittle Sea Star
1 Banded Coral Shrimp
2 Peppermint Shrimp

I will add a Candy Cane Pistol shrimp with an Orange Stripe Prawn Goby when I start adding fish.

A Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

Other fish I would like include a pair of Yellow Stripe Maroon clowns
Lawnmower Blenny
Perhaps some wrasses and basslets

Thanks for your input.

 

[Reef Frog]

If you are devoid of any "rock fuzz" to eat, some of those snails & hermits many not get enough to eat and some animals may end up eating each other. You may want to be prepared to feed these animals. The shrimp will need to be fed meaty food like mysis shrimp or krill. I know it's conventional wisdom to add a bunch of janitors right after the cycle is complete, but this seemed premature to me when I started my tank years ago because there was little to nothing to clean up (eat). My hermits ate most of the snails & then died off.

If I was starting from scratch with little to nothing on the rocks to eat, I'd personally wait until the tank matured a bit before adding the snails at least, as it's easy to target feed hermits & shrimp. Adding a properly QT'd mellow fish to the fully cycled tank first isn't a bad idea IMO; the feeding & pooping will support the beginning of the food web.

Banded coral shrimp are cool animals but some folks report predation issues. I'd research that & make sure it fits into your long term stocking plan.

Maroon clowns can be awfully mean fish. I'd tend to add them last, if at all.

Lawnmower blennys do best in a mature tank with enough plant matter to eat. Not a good first fish in most cases IMO. Don't know how receptive they are to pellet & frozen algae foods. I'd check on that too.

Cerith snails are among the best algae eaters that actually graze mostly on the rock. A mature tank of your size could utilize vastly more than 10 individuals. Maybe another good reason to wait for available food to grow as it will allow you to maximize the shipping fees you'll pay. Just a thought.

Good luck & have fun!

 

[thegrun]

For a new tank I would cut the amount of hermit crabs and turbo snails at least in half and as posted above you are likely going to need to feed them at first.

 

[JohnnyHildo]

in my 120 most of the cuc is comprised of close to 40 star astrea snails which destroyed all my hair algae. i also have 2 emerald crabs which seemingly do very little, a few turbo snails that seem more content on the glass and 3 fighting conches that continuously turn my substrate.
just a tip, some say that crabs are great crew members but you have to be careful because if you don't supply a lot of housing options for them they will create their own by killing off your snails for their shells.

 

[Psychomantix]

Agree with what everyone else said. I would cut back your CUC to about a third of what is listed and add a fish instead. From your list, I would probably choose the basslet or wrasse first.

I find that astrea and nassarius snails breed easily in my tank. I would start with 3 or 4 and they should be able to reproduce themselves. Peppermint shrimp are mainly used to eat aiptasia, if you don't have any I would recommend skipping them since they hide in the rocks most of the time anyways. Coral Banded, like others have said, may kill other inverts and maybe even small fish. It's your call if you want to take the risk. Hermits may kill each other and snails, but they are dirt cheap and do a decent job of cleaning detritus. Plus I find them really interesting to watch.

You may also already have some bristleworms and pods in your tank (since you used live rocks) which also makes up an important part of your CUC.

 

[WaReefer458]

That big of a tank I'd say a safe bet would be 5-10 hermits, 5 small turbos, 2-3 nassarius, 5 margaritas, 1 sand sifting starfish, and a conch. At some point add a blenny and a diamond goby. I have a conch in my 40 that is a flat out vacuum in my tank. Just make sure even with the cleanup crew to feed them.

 

[BlueMoonFox]

My 30gal started with five hermits, two turbos, and have recently added two astrea when the back glass got too fuzzy. I've only added CUC when I've seen growth that doesn't fix itself.