TOP 3 Cleanup Crew Critters & when's the last time you got a new crew?

When is the last time you purchased cleanup crew critters?

  • Past few days

    Votes: 81 12.5%
  • Past few weeks

    Votes: 168 25.9%
  • Past few months

    Votes: 204 31.5%
  • Over a half a year

    Votes: 92 14.2%
  • Over a year ago

    Votes: 98 15.1%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 5 0.8%

  • Total voters
    648

smolson

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 15, 2021
Messages
8
Reaction score
4
Location
LaCrosse
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Trochus Snails, Scarlet Hermit Crabs, and Cerith Snails. My urchin deserves a little credit too though!
 

Ferrell

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Messages
2,403
Reaction score
2,401
Location
Kentucky
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
75 gal: turbo snail, nassarius snails and trocus snails
30 gal: short spined urchin, nassarius snail and my fighting conch…. A close fourth cerith snails

6 months from @reefcleaners
 

WheatToast

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 18, 2021
Messages
3,885
Reaction score
4,658
Location
Bay Area
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
On August 31st of this year, I purchased my first, and so far only CUC, a pack of 4 Dove snails (Columbellidae sp.). They have helped to keep my algal films in check.
3621337D-4BB9-47B1-9819-0CB7445DD7F7.jpeg
 

dkfrosty1

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
May 12, 2021
Messages
72
Reaction score
58
Location
medway, ma
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
my favorite for the sand bed are my two conchs who never stop moving and eating. For rock algae my chitin is like the best scrub brush you ever had. He leaves not a spec behind! For the glass I have one big trochus and one Mexican turbo along with some nassarius. I have tried smaller trochus but they get eaten fast. The hermits are cute but don’t really seem to make much impact. I like reef cleaners. The couple times something didn’t make it, he refunded immediately, no questions asked, no hassle. I like to order his funkier stuff too For variety. some are successful, some not so much.
 

fish farmer

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 13, 2017
Messages
3,696
Reaction score
5,400
Location
Brandon, VT
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Out of curiosity, is there an LFS you use in VT? My fiancee is from the Mad River Valley and her recently retired father fell in love with our tank and wants to start one up. But he's not at all computer savvy (won't be ordering online) and I'm not sure what the options are for someone in that area.

Love Brandon, by the way. We go out of the way for Red Clover pretty regularly.
I've been know to shop down at the old Tropic Isle Aquarium in Framingham :p . My folks live in Natick now, we used to live in Newton and I shopped at the old Debbie's Petland back in the 1900's.

For actual fish stores in VT it is pretty sparse, we have a couple of Petco's, one pet store in Burlington called the Pet Advantage which is meh for corals, but has fish and rock. There's another reef only store in Waterbury, Green Mountain Corals, but the hours are spotty and he's usually out doing tank maintenance. Reefbum is in VT, but looks like he is only online https://reefbum.com/.

I buy most of my corals online now, maybe snails at Petco if they have them.
 

YeetReef

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 29, 2019
Messages
93
Reaction score
81
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hermit crab wise Scarlett Hermits are the best. A little pricy but so much more worth compared to others.
 

jfoahs04

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 2, 2021
Messages
804
Reaction score
1,436
Location
Boston
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I've been know to shop down at the old Tropic Isle Aquarium in Framingham :p . My folks live in Natick now, we used to live in Newton and I shopped at the old Debbie's Petland back in the 1900's.

For actual fish stores in VT it is pretty sparse, we have a couple of Petco's, one pet store in Burlington called the Pet Advantage which is meh for corals, but has fish and rock. There's another reef only store in Waterbury, Green Mountain Corals, but the hours are spotty and he's usually out doing tank maintenance. Reefbum is in VT, but looks like he is only online https://reefbum.com/.

I buy most of my corals online now, maybe snails at Petco if they have them.
Thanks! My tailspot and my clown are from Tropic Isle (new location). Actually, so is my CUC. But the corals are all from local reefers.

Waterbury would be great if it’s open enough for him to get there from time to time. Looks like Reefbum is in the Waitsfield, Warren, Fayston area which is even better if he’d allow for local pickup.
 

czoolander

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 5, 2021
Messages
606
Reaction score
564
Location
Vancouver
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I must be the only reefer out there whose Trochus snails don't self flip LOL . I have to check a few times a day to do what I call "snail rescue 911" I probably flip on average 1-4 snails a day every day LOL
 

bnord

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 15, 2020
Messages
3,407
Reaction score
15,319
Location
Athens
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I've never had much luck with conches. They tend to wander around for a while doing their thing, and then bury themselves in the sand for days (sometimes weeks). Then they'll surface, you'll see them moving around again for a while, and then it's back into the sand.

For the 5% of the time they're actually doing anything in the tank, they're great. For the rest of the time, it's just "oh, he's still there, somewhere"...

I prefer snails and hermits, though I did get one set of hermit-crabs (I went for the "assorted") from reef cleaners that had some crabs grow to ~2-3" and basically start eating the rest of the CUC. They exited stage-left (well down to the sump) pretty quickly once I realized what had happened. I'm careful to only get specific hermits I know won't grow that large these days... That's not to say RC did anything wrong - I've used them since and continue to do so, but it wasn't a great experience.
I have 3 tiger conches in am amazed that the social aspects they follow. They cluster during the day and when watching at night they often follow in an almost conga line - and they wink if you stare at them long enough
 

James_O

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 13, 2021
Messages
7,146
Reaction score
17,578
Location
Lawrenceburg, KY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Blue legged hermit crabs, scarlet legged hermit crabs, turbo snail (GREAT for lots of algae on rocks), trochus, Nassarius, 1 bumblebee, and what ever this thing is:
AA85D30B-AE79-41B4-AE65-2A5EEF87849B.jpeg
(forgot the name of it, but GREAT for cleaning glass)
 

Explorer12

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 28, 2020
Messages
51
Reaction score
30
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I really like the Bumble Bee snails. They are small enough to get into the little crevices. My Mexican Turbo snails are the biggest workhorses for me though. I'd really like to get an Abalone someday.
 

Tuan Black

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 31, 2016
Messages
82
Reaction score
23
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Love to have a clean up crew again but my huma huma eats them all like candy. Just my yellow tang at work and my copperband eating my aiptasia. the rest my job. But that’s what the hobby all about we taking care them and cleaning lol.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 73 37.6%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 66 34.0%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 12.9%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.4%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.0%
Back
Top