Bigjohnwoody Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 Ok guys and gals I figure I would ask from all of you input on my planning my cleanup crew! I have a 120 with about a 30 gallon sump and about 125 pounds of live rock. Actually only 25 pounds of it right now is truely live rock the other 100 is base rock I bought from marcorocks! I am planning on running a mixed reef! I just started my cycle about 2 weeks ago and am not planning on adding anything yet I just want to start to do some research and figure out what I want! I here half the people say no crabs and the other half say crabs. I am so confused, I don't want them eating my corals but half the people say they wont touch them. I have heard horror stories about everything except snails so why not just run a tank with mixed snails and not get any crabs or shrimp? I figured I would atleast be safe with peppermint shrimp and then I read that they will eat zoas if they run out of other things to eat. So please please give me your input and help me make the best decisision I can on my cuc! Any more questions shoot away and I will be happy to do my best at answering any and all of them if I can! Thanks Oh here is my build thread link if you want to tag along! It is a little behind from where I currently am but I am working on getting it caught up since I just found out about this site about 4 days ago! (rock2) http://www.pnwmas.org/forums/showthread.php?t=23679 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchell Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 Some hermits are safer than others. A lot of people here have Hawaiian Zebra Hermits in their reefs with no problem. I have 10 Scarlet Hermits in my 55 gallon and they don't bug anything. I would say peppermint shrimp are not a sure bet. I know they are a threat to clams and other things if they are hungry. I regret putting turbo snails in my tank. They blast through anything in their path, including coral frags and clams. Almost every morning I am picking up a frag off the sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 Some hermits are safer than others. A lot of people here have Hawaiian Zebra Hermits in their reefs with no problem. I have 10 Scarlet Hermits in my 55 gallon and they don't bug anything. I would say peppermint shrimp are not a sure bet. I know they are a threat to clams and other things if they are hungry. I regret putting turbo snails in my tank. They blast through anything in their path' date=' including coral frags and clams. Almost every morning I am picking up a frag off the sand.[/quote'] +1 on no turbos. They knock stuff over way too much and if there isn't enough food source for them they die off fast. I have a few left in the tank but I won't be buying them again anytime soon. I have some nassarius and astrias in my tanks. They both seem to do a great job of cleaning up. I also have some emerald crabs (they get bigger than you think...lol) and also lots of hermits. Of the hermits I have bought I really like the white hermits I got from Rosecity and also the zebra hermits from Aloha Corals or Nano Reef. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notpennysboat Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 you will want to get sand sifter snails as well.. like the narssisis (sp) glad you didnt get any of mine when i gave you some sand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowpunk Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 I try to have a good mix of inverts that will all do something better then others... For hermits I would go with zebra, scarlet, red leg, or blue leg hermits. A mix is good too. I always like to have a few emerald crabs also. Maybe 4 to start in a tank that size and get more when it gets more established. Stay away from sally light foot crabs also. They can start small but once big, they will cause problems. The big turbos are a bad choice unless you just have a fish only or softy tank. they bulldoze everything that doesn't give a little. Nassarius, astraea, and margarita snails are all good choices... I used to have some baby abolone snails in my tank from the rock i bought but I think the wrasse got to them. They are nice but cost a lot more for some reason. Maybe a few shrimp also. Skunk cleaners or blood red shrimp for the fish, and peppermint shrimp for aptaisa watch. Maybe an urchine or two if you have a glass tank(they can scratch acrylic when eating). I would personally say away from the pincushions though as they tend to be kleptos with corals. When your tank is a little more established you can look into sand sifting stars, linka stars, and sea cucumbers too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 I rely on trochus snails. They do a good job keeping the tank clean, are pretty hardy and breed in captivity. I haven't bought snails in years. Nassarius are good sand-sifters, but dwindle over time (particularly if you keep hermits, who'll scoop out the inconvenient soft bits to try on the stylish shell). I think hermits are *way* over-rated as cleanup crew, often (usually?) doing more harm than good. I also suggest *not* going bonkers and adding 1 snail per gallon to a new tank, or whatever the online vendors suggest. There's no way a new tank can support that much CUC... you'll buy them, and 75% of them will be dead in a month. The remaining 25% will be really well fed though, cannibalistic little horrors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenReefin Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 Fire shrimp are so cool, definitely add that to your cuc. I hear both good and bad about crabs in general, but they look so cool they are worth it. Are urchins part of a cuc? that would be pimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 I feel my brittle star is a major part of the cuc. He will seek out and devour most anything missed by the crabs. He single handedly consumed a dead fish that I couldn't get to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 I rely on trochus snails. They do a good job keeping the tank clean, are pretty hardy and breed in captivity. I haven't bought snails in years. Nassarius are good sand-sifters, but dwindle over time (particularly if you keep hermits, who'll scoop out the inconvenient soft bits to try on the stylish shell). I think hermits are *way* over-rated as cleanup crew, often (usually?) doing more harm than good. I also suggest *not* going bonkers and adding 1 snail per gallon to a new tank, or whatever the online vendors suggest. There's no way a new tank can support that much CUC... you'll buy them, and 75% of them will be dead in a month. The remaining 25% will be really well fed though, cannibalistic little horrors I agree with Andy and not simply because I'm sucking up to him because he allegedly has sps corals still available cheaply (this is how rumors get started)Love the trochus snails because they are more hermit crab resistant as they can right themselves back up. Hermit crabs are okay but when they get too big they can be a pain. They are sure fun to watch though. I have had better luck with the little dwarf hermits and agree go slow with a CUC or they will starve. Fire shrimp are so cool, definitely add that to your cuc. I hear both good and bad about crabs in general, but they look so cool they are worth it. Are urchins part of a cuc? that would be pimp. Urchins can be a pain in the reef tank as they knock stuff over and get really big. I also had to kick out a few emerald crabs that got too big and kept moving expensive corals and pulling them under the rock. Isaac at TCM aquatics has some cool strawberry crabs I have never seen before. I also love the conches (fighting, tiger) simply because they are fun to watch. Very neat little creatures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenReefin Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 I also love the conches (fighting, tiger) simply because they are fun to watch. Very neat little creatures. I was chatting with someone about getting a conch, but they said they needed like 10sq feet of sand in order to live healthy full lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 Owen, you can keep tonga fighting conchs, singly, in a 15 cube... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwenReefin Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 Nice, I was hoping I could get one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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