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I hate to repeat questions but I can't seem to find a post about clean up crews.

I am wanting some suggestions about clean up crews for my 29 gallon. I would like some skunk cleaner(s) and then I'm open to anything else. I have been looking at certain websites selling "reef clean up crews" and they seem to suggest a lot of little creatures. For instance:

Scarlet Hermit Crab: 20
Turbo/Astrea Snail: 20
Blueleg Hermit Crab: 20
Emerald Crab: 3

-or-

Scarlet Hermit Crab: 10
Blueleg Hermit Crab: 10
Nasssarius Snail: 10
Brittle Star: 2
Coral Banded Shrimp: 1
Emerald Crab: 3
Turbo/Astrea Snail: 20

Sounds like a lot to me and expensive!!

Maybe one of these days I'll have to start a log of my adventure of starting this 29 gallon with my 10 gallon sump

-Josh



-Josh

It helps to know what each thing does. Some snails stir the sand, others clean the glass. Hermits clean the sand and rocks. Peppermint shrimp eat aptasia, emerald crabs eat bubble algea, a lettace nudi will eat hair algea. Brittle stars eat detris. I suggest perhaps 10 micro hermits, 10 astria snails, and one brittle star to start you off. Then add what you need as you need it.

Dan


Dan

I agree with Dan, in that it's important to realize why you're getting certain animals.

I love skunk cleaners, in fact I have two myself. In your tank though, you might only need one.

Throw in an emerald crab at the first sign of bubble algae.

Get maybe 6-12 nassarius sand sifting snails. These guys are awesome.

You could also get like 6-8 astrea snails. They do good with normal algae.

And, 6-8 reef hermits. Make sure to have extra shells around, because the hermits will beat up the snails for their shells sometimes. It's not fun.

[link=http://www.floridapets.com]http://www.floridapets.com" style="COLOR: #3c4e82[/link] usually has nice packages.

HTH...


-Ferret [img src='/images/forums/halo.gif' border=0]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Throw in an emerald crab at the first sign of bubble algae.

This is important as emerald crabs will not eat large bubbles, only the very small ones.

Dan


Dan

Are the Bristle Stars important?

-Josh

I assume you ment Brittle Star, yes, they clean up detris. There are several to choose from. I personally like the green seperent stars. They move alot, have long arms, look cool in the rock work, and leave most things alone.

Dan


Dan

you can also use some cleaner shrimp instead of the stars

ph


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pnh