What should I bundle into my cleanup crew?

[ASIN28]

Hello all,
So I am ready to put together a cleanup crew for my 120G. I read an article regarding that snails should be the main focus in the clean up crew rather than hermits.
1. What is everybody’s opinion on snails or hermits?
2. How many snails/hermits should I start with as a cleanup crew in my 120G?
3. I am a firm believer in quarantining everything in my tank, however I read that snails, hermits, etc are very sensitive to medications. How does one go about outing them in the tank? I know I have to drip acclimate but can I just do a freshwater dip on them or?
Thanks in advance!

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Depends on your goals on the tank. My biggest advice to you would be even though they dont do well with medications, inspect every shell of your snails coming in. I have found both vermitid and pyramidellid snails on a my CUC orders. Definitely worth a little effort than a lot down the road in a tank that size.

 

[ASIN28]

Depends on your goals on the tank. My biggest advice to you would be even though they dont do well with medications, inspect every shell of your snails coming in. I have found both vermitid and pyramidellid snails on a my CUC orders. Definitely worth a little effort than a lot down the road in a tank that size.

Gotcha, now they will be fairly noticeable on the snail shells? Have you done any QT procedures with your clean up crew?

 

[dwest]

Trochus and astrea snail fan here. I would start with a dozen of each.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/coral-invert-quarantine-time-frames.334584/

 

[LegendaryCG]

Crabs can be difficult -- they can attack your snails to take their shells or just because they are hungry. ******URCHINS******* are the ultimate clean-up crew that are overlooked by so many.

 

[PicassoClown04]

I adore my stomatella snails. 3 tanks with a combined 100 gallons of DT and the only snail I use is stomatella. Got so sad that my snails kept flipping over and dying then I found these guys!!! They can get really deep into the rocks and I often find them on my glass as well. They are very successful at reproducing in my tank through spawning. I personally prefer a couple large shrimps to hermits just because they’re cooler to look at and do the same job :) Id do maybe 3 or 4 fire shrimp for a 120 DT.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

@ASIN28 vermetid's will be in a coil on the shell and the pyramidellid will be little white cones at the base of the snails shell. They are a parasite and if you plan on having clams will be a parasite for them as well. For the vermetid I just pry them out with a small screwdriver I dont use anymore. The others can just be plucked off.

@footgal I used to have so many of those, then my cleaner shrimp found them and the remains of all of their shells were under his den....

 

[smacbride]

I got a few of the emerald mithrax crabs and they have been doing a great job on the various algae growths.