your clean up crew...

[MarvinsReef]

I was just wondering what everyone's favorite clean up crews are... I'm really interested in finding out what's the best snail to keep in a zoas dominated reef... we all know that we get some frags sometimes that get knocked around by bigger snails and crabs..

I like astrea snails.. I just like the way they look and we've always had them.. the only problem with them is they can't up themselves when they get knocked down...

for crabs, I like the red legged hermits...

 

[fishes2889]

10 blue legged hermits
10mexican brown hermits
3 kicking cerith snails
2-4 moon snails
1 zebra snail
8-12 turbos
pepp shrimp
sandsifting star
and an urchin

 

[Zoanuts]

I have had good luck with astrea snails and blue leg crabs. When frags come in with hair algae or anything else green it will be gone in the morning. They are my lawnmowers.

 

[ficklefins]

I don't trust or keep any crabs, period. Snails/blenny are my answer to almost any problem (along with flow, and skimmer). But in terms of snails here is what I have:

Cerith snails: These guys are more active once the lights are off. They will eat stuff off your tank walls and rocks. Great snails but they seem to require a decent amount of algae so shoot low when it comes to the vendors suggestiuons. I just recently saw eggs for these guys.
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/livestock/product_info.php?id=1657

Nerite snails: They mainly stick to the tank walls but I have seen a few on my rocks so these guys are a plus for me. Some have very beautiful shells, and they seem to do better with with my algae levels. These guys laid eggs within 2 weeks of being in the tank so these guys get a A++ in my book. The vendor suggestion for these is right on target.
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/livestock/product_info.php?id=2162

Nassarius snails: The living dead of all snails because they pop out when I feed algae pellets to my blenny. These guys are good I guess, but since they are mainly active at night I think they are doing well. I really have no idea if these guys do a good job on a daily basis, but they do a good job of disturbing the sand surface. I purchased these off a local reefer so I can't really talk recommend vendor levels.
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/livestock/product_info.php?id=2891

Tonga Nassarius Snails:
I got one of these when I picked up some sand from a local reef member. I only see him when I check the tank at night, even if I feed algae to the tank. I have no positives or negs to talk about.
http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/livestock/product_info.php?id=2892

Hope that helps

 

[czieler]

I have two turbo snails... two queen conchs... then I have some scarlett hermit crabs... I also have some cerith snails..but those are for my puffers to eat.....then I had a lot of black snails .. can't remember the name...but ppl bring them to the LFS all the time from the beach so they are cheap.

I should probably get more now that I have a bigger tank... I think a lot of them died in the tank move...as we couldn't find them all to acclimate them...

I'm not too fond of the turbos...they knock everything over... and I don't like blue legged hermits..cuz they kill any snails I get...

 

[surfn]

here's what i have/or have had:

no hermits, dont trust them when they get larger...tend to knock over everything and shell-jack my innocent snails. but may look into getting some small blue legs again and then just toss them out when they get large enough to take an astrea shell.

astrea snails...they are ok, i just seem to lose alot b/c they fall on their backs and can't right themselves...

jumbo tonga snails...LOVE these guys. mine surface out of the sand the instant i feed the tank.

trochus snails...like these guys as well, not too big, not too small.

margarita snails...they are ok. never had much luck in keeping them alive though.

nerite snails...cool colors, rather small. not sure what they actually eat and if they are actually helping. lol

queen conch...my last one died. can't seem to keep the aquacultured ones alive more than a couple months. must have a lack of good algae to eat in my tank. really like them though. would only recomend 1 per tank.

fighting conchs...seem to be lots of different species of these guys. i've had 3 different kinds before. right now i have 2 different kinds, both pretty cool.

turbo snails...good grazers, but dont like them since they knock over lots of stuff.

spiney urchin...cool critters i got as hitchikers on some zoas. negative is that they eat all your coraline if you like that stuff. also tend to knock over alot of stuff which is why once they got bigger they had to move into the mantis tank. one is fine, the other got beat up as it got too close to the burrow. lol

emerald crabs...like them alot when they are small. can't seem to keep any alive longer than a couple months though.

i also have small cerith and stomalla snails breeding in my tank. probably hundreds or a couple thousand ceriths. they probably eat most of my film algae and out compete the other larger snails for food. prob the reason i have a hard time keeping a good clean up crew alive.

 

[jonbar1]

Used to have red legged hermits, but got sick of them knocking stuff over and not making a dent on any algae or diatoms. Currently have a coupe blue-legged hermits, but they seem pretty lazy as well. I also have a money cowry, not sure if it does anything worthwhile though.

The only two clean up crews I have worth anything both came with my corals/rocks for free. Those are the small brittle stars and stomatella snails. I've never seen two harder working species and would not keep a tank without large numbers of both.

 

[JGoslee]

CRABS - I have about 5 red leg hermits,5 blue legs, and 2 halloween hermits. I also have 1 red mithrix crab
SNAILS - I started out with a bunch of turbos but they got to big so they now leave in my sump. The flatworm problem I had turned out to be stomalla snails. So I have hundreds of them breeding in my tank and Im guessing thats why the tank is so clean.
STARFISH - I have one ruby bristle starfish that eats alot of the crap that piles in the corners of my tank(barebottom).
Thats about it for me.

 

[kurbs]

Crabs = 70 or so small blue legs
Snails = 20 Giant Nassarius (Never knocked a thing over)
Fish = 1 Small Algae Blenny

 

[Stixbaraca]

Fickle...I am right there with you...I don't trust or keep any crabs...period!

 

[vetteman]

Fickle...I am right there with you...I don't trust or keep any crabs...period!

I vote no crabs too........ snails are my friends

 

[mbunaman]

I like the following.
Mexican Red Legged Hermits
Brittle Stars
Nassarius Snails
Cerith Snails

I used to have and would not buy again.

Astrea Snails -Reason is they are not very efficent and dont do a 100% jobs of cleaning algae on the glass or rocks for me.

Emerald Crabs-Dont touch Bubble Algae for me and knock down corals.

Blue Legged Hermit- Known to have a taste for coral when no algae or other food is avaliable and are known to kill snails for their shells.

 

[rossco]

In a 75 gallon for algae control I have:
50 mixed blue leg, red leg, scarlet and zebra hermits.
30 cerith snails -awesome and they mix the sand too
15 turbo snails
15 nerite snails
15 margarita snails
1 emerald crab. (I also have a hard time keeping them alive, usually try to keep 2 or 3 onhand as they do eat green bubble algae for me)
and.... the best red algae remover, both the bubble and coarse "turf" type,
1 small purple tang.