Which cleaner crew critters are good for beginners?

[btacker]

There are too many critters to choose from. What do yall recommend and how many for a 46 gallon tank.

Crabs? Scarlet? Blueleg? Emerald? Horseshoe?

Snails? Turbo? Astrea? Mexican Turbo? Nasssarius?

Shrimp? Cleaner? Camelback? Peppermint? Coral Banded?

Feather Duster?

Starfish? Brittle? Linkia? Serpent?

I'm at a loss here. Several places have package deals, but I don't want to get the wrong stuff.

[alexwolf]

avoid the Mexican turbo, they are big and knock things over.
Scarlet hermits scare me, i have seen them destroy a red tree sponge.
Emeralds are great! i keep 5-7 of them in my 175.
Horseshoe dont do very well in the home aquarium from what i hear.
Astrea is a must, they clean the glass. I have 100.
Nassarius sift the sand, they are great. I have 100 in my 175.
Cerith snails are my favorite though, they eat algae at the bottom of the glass where i cant scrape, and they bury themselves in the sand. Also, mine lay eggs everywhere, and i even saw some hatch a few weeks ago
Avoid the coral banded, they eat bristleworms
Cleaner is a must, and peppermints are good if you have aptaisa. Other than that, they have been known to eat zoos and misc polyps
DO NOT GET A GREEN BRITTLE STAR, everyeone has their own opinion, but i dont like them. I have 2 blacks, and 3 harlequin seprent stars. They are great. not too large, and they eat detritus.
Linkia dont do well at home, hard to keep.
Feather dusters are cool, they filter feed.
Whew.

[Ram_Puppy]

Dwarf Zebra Hermits are great, they don' t pick on anything they shouldn't and are active all day and all night. Mine never stop going. Pacific Trochus and Hawiann turbos are good, as are nassarious, astrea and cerith for snails, remember that different snails do different things, some prefer hard surfaces, some will stir the sand bed up.

Emerald crabs will eat green bubble algae and are little tanks in the crab world... tough crab.

I have heard tiger tail cukes are good for sand bed maintenance as well.

remember that you are not limited to what your local store has, many of the people here order on line, and group orders are a common thing. there are lots of great sites such as liveaquaria.com, and saltwaterfish.com to order from, and your local store will order for you as well. Do your research, know what you want, and stick to your guns.

BTW, I think electric blue crabs are awesome, they are veritable lawn mowers, but I think you need to let your tank age before getting some, I didn't, and my only conclusion to date is that they starved to death.

Good luck.

[matt]

Alex, excellent recommendations IMO! I would add to the list 2 things:

1. LOTS of bristleworms
2. Once your tank is stable, if you have a build up of algae, you can try a diadema urchin. These might be the best overall grazer around. Your tank is a little small for one, though.

[btacker]

Great Information! Thanks!

I was looking at Reeftopia

Total Reef Care Special #2 Price: $129.00
100 Turbo Snail [astrae]
100 Sm Blueleg Hermit with 48 colorful transition shells
48 Cerith Snail
12 Nassarius Snails
4 Emerald Crabs.

I could add some shrimp to it.

Does that sound like a good start for a 46? Is that too many critters?

Thanks again for the help. Maybe I will run into some of yall at Jim's tomorrow.

[alexwolf]

i order from reeftopia all the time, in fact i am on a first name basis with the owners ;). B Tacker, are you in SA? If os drop me a line 231-4214
Matt, thanks for the compliment! I learned quick about cleanups after the crash of my 135 :)

[StephenA]

I'd cut back on the Turbos and up the number of Nassarius Snails

[alexwolf]

youre better off piecing it together fron scratch anyways.

[matt]

Ixnay on the hermits, or severely cut back. Get a lot of smaller snails, fewer large ones. That many hermits in the small tank sounds like a bloodbath to me. If you're going to have a sand bed, bristleworms are your best all around cleaner-uppers.

[lax]

the only good hermit is a scarlet hermit, all the other ones are just rpoblems waiting to happen, all they do is eventually knock stuff over or eat your snails. the blues are supposed to be one of the fiercest, can vouch. as for shrimp, only get a cleaner or peppermint, all other shrimp only cause you problems.

[btacker]

How does this look?

QTY - DESCRIPTION

6 - Crab Emerald - $4.00 $24.00

12 - 10.00 Snail Turbo $10.00 $10.00

12 - 15.00 Snail Cerith $15.00 $15.00

12 - 10.00 Nassarius Snail $10.00 $10.00

1 - 14.00 Star Harlequin $14.00 $14.00

Total: $73.00

[StephenA]

6 - Crab Emerald - $4.00 $24.00

6 - 10.00 Snail Turbo $10.00 $10.00

12 - 15.00 Snail Cerith $15.00 $15.00

20 - 10.00 Nassarius Snail $10.00 $10.00

0 - 14.00 Star Harlequin $14.00 $14.00

[btacker]

Looks great. Thanks for the help. That will save me some money.

I have looked at these sites... are there any others to check with?

www.saltwaterfish.com
www.reeftopia.com
www.liveaquaria.com
www.petsolutions.com

[StephenA]

www.marinedepotlive.com - I've used this one a lot Good service and livestock.
www.floridapets.com - Good Plants and snails

[GaryP]

I also like Nerite snails. If you are going to do hermits I suggest Mexican dwarf hermits. Good cleaners, but small enough that they don't become a pest. They are pretty much scavengers and herbivores.

Gary

[alexwolf]

you probably want the harlequin serpent star, they are great.

[Ram_Puppy]

lax, I know I am short on experience here, but I would respectfully disagree on the only good hermit being a scarlet.

If you do some reading on the net, the dwarf zebra hermits recieve nothing but rave reviews. They don't attack snails, and are highly active throughout the day and night, and eat almost everything when it comes to algae. about their only draw back is their price. (they are a little more expensive than your average hermit.) I would argue that every hermit is opportunistic, some more than others, and ceratinly I would agree that scarlets are better than most, but there are quite a few good choices out there.

not trying to be argumentative, I think this hobby changes fast, these days, there is something new all the time and sometimes it's hard to keep up with. I guess what it comes down to is Boring job, lots of spare time at work = me spending way to much time surfing reefcentral and maast. :)

[Sherri]

I have only 3 blue legged hermits and caught all them of them having turbo snail dinner the other day...

[brewercm]

I will not own another hermit of any kind, only emerald crabs are allowed in my tanks from now on. Just my own feelings, but there's many other critters out there that can do the same job if not better than any hermit can.

[Tim Marvin]

I like the small black mexican turbos they clean very well and all my tanks have a small urchin.

[dan]

I have only 3 blue legged hermits and caught all them of them having turbo snail dinner the other day...

maybe the turbo had allready died and they were cleaning it up?

[StephenA]

My scarlets have snail dinners all the time! I have read good things about Mexican dwarf hermits.

[Sherri]

Could have Dan....don't know...but I think they're about to be banned to the "Q" tank anyway....I've got other things in the tank that are effective...lol...I find myself keeping an eye on them. The Harlequin Serpent Stars are cool....now have 2. I'll go the emerald crab route as soon as I get these 2 "hijacker" crabs out...still trying to catch them.

[Ram_Puppy]

more food for Instar's mantis sherri?

[racerx454]

Everyone seems to be focusing on invertebrates, but you might consider a Dusky Blenny. For the price, I cannot think of a better deal. They will scrub every rock and shell in your tank. Mine even likes to clean my arm when I am doing maintenance. They also have a lot of personality....for a fish.

I have one in my 30g reef tank and he keeps the rocks spotless and even cleans some of the glass.

[btacker]

Thanks for the suggestion. I didn't really think of getting fish to clean up stuff.

[Sherri]

LOL Ram...."Maybe!" if I can catch the darn things!

[btacker]

Ok... I ordered these guys. They should be here tomorrow.

I have a little algea build up, but nothing I would call massive. Do I need to worry about feeding these guys? I'm concerned they will eat everything and then starve!

Here is what I got:

6 Crab Emerald
12 Snail Turbo
12 Snail Cerith
48 Nassarius Snail (The small ones... I was going to get 36 but 48 was the same price so...anyone need some :grin: )
1 Harlequin Starfish
2 Peppermint Shrimp

[StephenA]

That's a good start. I'll take some of the Nassarius Snails. They are great for stirring the sand.

[elm0]

Where did you order from....how much did it cost you all together?

[btacker]

I ordered from www.reeftopia.com

Here is the complete order:

Qnty Item Description Price Extended
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6 A6-5.00 Crab Emerald - 6 or more are $4.00 $24.00
1 A19-10.00 Snail Turbo (Astrae 12) $10.00 $10.00
1 A15-15.00 Snail Cerith - Per 12 - $15.00 $15.00
1 A81-30.00 Nassarius Snail - 48 $30.00 $30.00
1 A93-15.00 Yellow Gorgonian - $15.00 $15.00
1 A29-9.00 Ricordia - $8.00 $8.00
1 A21-8.00 Feather Duster $8.00 $8.00
1 A40-14.00 Star Harlequin $14.00 $14.00
Sub Total: $124.00
Taxes: $0.00
Shipping: $0.00
Total: $124.00
Plus I got 4 free peppermint shrimp. My 2 daughters loved watching them run around the tank.