opinions on clean crew and certain corals

[AIR-FX]

ok so what are your thoughts on a cleaning crew? are snails best? or are hermit crabs best? how about sea slugs,cucumbers,nudibranchs?

as far as a coral,i had found one on line that is very different and very cool looking.....it is an "ink-spot" sea squirt?(very cool coloring and the price is right) can they do any harm to your tank? are they tough to keep?

also why are sea sponge so hard to keep in a reef tank. i have tried to find info on sea squirts and sponges,but it is not easy to find. i found sally lightfoot crabs on line too,but i never see them at the lfs,so i am going to assume there is a reason for this. every store has emerald crabs 'but i never see anemone or sally light foots,oh, and those pom-pom crabs too.

 

[Willistein]

I know from reading that Sally Light-foot crabs are not a good idea with fish. They are fine while small but they get to be around 4" and reach sexual maturity and they will go after fish. I have one, but it is my sump janitor.

As far as snails and hermits, I like them both. I would suggest astreas for snails and blue leg hermits.

 

[amazo]

From what i've seen variety is the name of the game the more diverse your clean-up crew the more diverse their eating habits(snails eating algae on glass,-crabs clean rock and sand,stars get in your cracks and crevices,ect)
As for sponge I've had some that lasted a few months that came on live rock( i still have a few)i'm not sure why mine died but they can't be exposed to air and I don't know if this was a factor but live rock isn't always kept submerged so probably.

 

[nevermind]

Astreas and red leg hermits. Astreas won't knock stuff over and they are very hardy, if they are not dead in the first month, they can last for years. I had turbos, margaritas, narcissus, and other types of snails but only the astreas survive year after year. I like blue leg hermits, they're active during the day and pretty hardy but they always end up eating each other. Scarlets are even hardier than blue legs, they are also NOT cannibals...but they only come out at night. I also got a brittle star that is 7 or 8 years old, comes out of his holes and chases after any food that drops on the sand.

 

[rjmayes34]

I have a combo, of blue leg and red leg hermits, 3 emeralds, a serpent star, two sallylights foots(they do sell them a LFS) 4 peppermint shrimp, and a skunk shrimp. The emeralds stay on the rocks, blue and red legs crabs go all over rocks and sand base, the sallylight foot gets all the nice tight spots. The seperant gets all the poo and food thats left over(plus shrimp i feed it)
I think its good to have a diverse set of cleaners, they all do a little something different. I plan on getting another cuc also,lost my last one whet i switched tanks! He was the best at cleaning the sand!!!

 

[rjmayes34]

O and i forgot about my snails,the ones in the sand , my two conchs and my two big turbos. Im going to get a few more of the sand dwellers!! I have to replace my stock of crabs and snails in shells every so often when i notice them getting low because my goby feeds them to my pistol!!!! For how cheap they are i dont mind, it nature at it best right in my living room!

 

[jdoenumber2]

I will never trust crabs again. Thats just my opinion.

 

[Jacwil]

I will never trust crabs again. Thats just my opinion.

Lol...you better elaborate! Can't just say that and not explain