Need help with my cleaning crew :-(

[jellifishi]

I don't know what to do . I have a small 15G tank that has 3 little clowns in it.....because it is a fairly new tank I am still trying to deal with algae. I added a 3-4 hermit crabs and several snails to help get raid of it, but the hermit crabs kept killing the snails (even though they already had a bunch of empty shells)......I went to my LFS for suggestions, and they sold me 2-3 large turbo snails and said they would be safe because they were bigger than the crabs.......... the crabs got to 1 of them but the others made..... on another trip, they suggested I add a sea urchin to my crew...... I did, but now the urchin killed the snails by wearing them as hats and/or the snails are not "cleaning", if they spend their time in a tour of the tank on top of the urchin . any suggestions on what I can add to my crew???

This seems like a lot of little creatures for 15g. The clowns will get bigger, so I would first suggest an upgrade! BUT are you only giving the turbos and hermits the algae in your tank? I will sometimes give hermits algae chips/wafers and I've never had a problem with them hurting the snails. You could also look into copepods. Ever since I added them to the tank (plus some fish eat these) I have never had an issue with algae with them in the tank.

 

[Lavey29]

ok, any suggestions of live plant I could put in the DT???? is it even a good idea to put live plants there???

Some people have dedicated macroalgae systems but that's not really your intent I'm guessing. If your system has been up for some months just add easy corals and bring color and life to it. The uglies will pass if you do your part. Zoas, leather corals GSP on a rocks or back wall, duncans, add an RFA or 2. Once things seem stable try some euphyllia. Next time I'm at my LFS I'll take a pic of the 15g there. It's beautiful with color.