Clean up Crew's

[Trevor Robertson]

So what do you all use, there have been some posts about bad suggestions but no good.

Lay em out for us please list size of tank and number of each critter.

Thanks

[Beverly]

So what do you all use, there have been some posts about bad suggestions but no good.

Lay em out for us please list size of tank and number of each critter.

42 gal:
-about 20 astrea snails
-about 30 nassarius snails
-one decorator crab (not really considered part of the clean up crew, but he doesn't seem to really do anything besides slowly clomp around the reef, so he must be cleaning up something :mrgreen: )

7 gal:
-two astrea snails
-six nassarius snails

2.5 gal:
-one astrea snail
-six nassarius snails

For some reason, we don't currently have any hermits, though we've had them in previously kept reefs.

HTH.

[ranz]

My tank is 42 gallons and I have four yellow tang's, two Sailfins, and just picked up 3 for one deal (Powder Brown Tangs) through mail order....
Just kidding!!!

Truth is 330 gallons One scooter, Yellow Tang, Powder Brown Tang, Sailfin Tang, Blue Tang. And I drink Tang Orange juice...

Ranz

[Quinn]

bev i expect the decorator is in fact eating small worms, buggies, etc. how do you feel about him in general? i have a thing for crabs (you may have noticed), and i've been contemplating a decorator. do you see him touching any of your corals?

[Canadian Man]

90g main tank 75g sump.
1 x scopas tang (about 5").
40(aprox) x astrea snails.
20(aprox) x hermet crabs. Red, blue mix
4 x nassarius snails
1000's x Stomatela(spelling?) snails. only come out a night or underside of rocks.
1 x huge turbo snail
1 x fighting conch
1 x tiger tail cucumber
1 x blue linka star
1000's x minature brittle star's

I think that's about it. :eek: :confused:

[AJ_77]

50g tank with 3-4" sandbed:

12 x astrea snails
6 x scarlet reef hermits
3 x cerith snails
6 x stomatella snails
1 x turbo snail
1 x fighting conch
few handfuls of bristleworms
100 or so miniature brittle stars
100 or so tiny white stars,apparently asterena (anyone got the link to the pics of the larger predatory starfish that eats these?) :eek:

Never Mind - found it: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/gallery.htm

[Beverly]

bev i expect the decorator is in fact eating small worms, buggies, etc. how do you feel about him in general? i have a thing for crabs (you may have noticed), and i've been contemplating a decorator. do you see him touching any of your corals?

Doesn't bother the corals in the least, except he might knock one over because he likes to climb everywhere especially at night. Haven't had that happen yet. Whenever I feed the tank, though, he does come out, but I can't tell if he's eating anything. But he sure knows when feeding time is, that's for sure.

Quite honestly, I adore the big guy. He's definitely got character as he lumbers around the tank.

[Seriak]

90 gallon tank with 25 gallon sump

3 Turbos
10 Astrea
100's of stomatella?
1000''s of little tiny snails. Look like miny Turbos.
1 Yellow Tang
2 Emerald Crabs
5-10 Blue legged Crabs.

[Trevor Robertson]

90g main tank 75g sump.
1 x fighting conch
1 x tiger tail cucumber


Okay a newbie question, I am not familar with a fighting conch, and I have heard that cucumbers are a risk if they get sick is this correct?

PS I am finding this very interesting...

[Bob I]

At this point in time in view in my 50 are.
10 or so Astrea,
six Cerith
about 20 Nassarius
some Margaritas
one two inch vacuum cleaner who is supposed to be a Fighting Conch.
too many to count little Brittle stars
two big Cleaner Shrimp

There may be more, but they just don't like this census. :onfire: :smilecol:

[Quinn]

fighting conchs are potentially the coolest footed (is that a word?) mollusk i have ever seen. they stay in the sand, cleaning as they go. queen conchs get very large, and will roam across rocks and glass.

apparently cucumbers spew their guts out through their mouths when they are stressed or die, which is obviously on the toxic side of things. perhaps someone can confirm. however enough people keep them that i don't actually think it's much of an issue.

[Aquattro]

155g has 5 scarlet hermits, 20 adult cerith, 100+ juvenile cerith, 20 astrea, 1 million tiny little snails that come out at night. Fish cleaners are 2 tangs.

[Son Of Skyline]

I have practically nothing in my 120gal. Maybe a dozen astrea snails, 3 turbos, maybe 4-6 nassarius, and possibly 2-3 emerald crabs. For some strange reason every time I put snails in the tank they die within days. The only ones left are the ones that have been in there since the tank's been setup.

I guess my best cleanup guy in there right now is my foxface. It looks like he's single handedly doing all the work on my algae!

[StirCrazy]

for what it is worth I don't think I would waist my money on nassarius again nore would I recomend them to anyone else. Not that they are bad but I feel you get way more bang for your buck with cerith and Astrea.

in my 94 I have 15 blue legged hermits, 15 scarlet hermits, 30 Astrea, 30 cerith, 200 baby cerith, 10 nassarius, about 50 large stomatella, thousands of small stomatella relitives, 1 fighting conch, hendreds of bristle worms, probably millions of bugsw, and i used to have 15 margareta snails. the number of large snails has gone down a bit from the hermits though.

fish cleaners are a yellow tang a flame angel, and a lawnmower blennie.

Steve

[Troy F]

for what it is worth I don't think I would waist my money on nassarius again nore would I recomend them to anyone else. Not that they are bad but I feel you get way more bang for your buck with cerith and Astrea.

Steve, they don't do the same thing, comparing apples to roast beef comes to mind. Nassarius sp. snails are sand bed scavengers of dead "meat". Cerith sp. and Astrea sp. are herbivores. Nassarius help to eat left over food and detritus, as well they help with sand bed turnover.

[Samw]

38G:

Snails:
6 Astrea
6 Margarita
10 Cerith
6 Bumble bee
6 Nassarius
3 Money cowries
3 Ringed cowries
1 Nerite
1 Strombus
~20-30 baby astrea,margarita,cerith snails

Crabs:
8 Scarlet hermits
8 Blue legged hermits
4 South American red legged
4 Zebra left handed
1 Electric blue hermit
2 Porcelains
1 Emerald

Parasite cleaners:
2 cleaner shrimp
2 fireshrimp
2 sharknose gobies
1 neon goby

Misc:
1 Tiger tail cucumber
1 Fighting conch

Hitchhikers:
hundreds of bristleworms
stomatellas

Not going to include fish like Tangs, etc in my list. :)

[Bob I]

for what it is worth I don't think I would waist my money on nassarius again nore would I recomend them to anyone else. Not that they are bad but I feel you get way more bang for your buck with cerith and Astrea.

Steve, they don't do the same thing, comparing apples to roast beef comes to mind. Nassarius sp. snails are sand bed scavengers of dead "meat". Cerith sp. and Astrea sp. are herbivores. Nassarius help to eat left over food and detritus, as well they help with sand bed turnover.
http://www.crazypics.de/smilies_froehlich/froehlich027.gif


http://www.crazypics.de/smilies_froehlich/froehlich032.gif

The smilies echo my sentiments exactly. I love to agree.

[Samw]

For some strange reason every time I put snails in the tank they die within days. The only ones left are the ones that have been in there since the tank's been setup.




Do you drip-acclimate? I noticed a big difference in mortality rate when I drip-acclimated vs not. When I drip-acclimate, most survive. When I don't, they (Margaritas) almost all die within weeks.

[StirCrazy]

for what it is worth I don't think I would waist my money on nassarius again nore would I recomend them to anyone else. Not that they are bad but I feel you get way more bang for your buck with cerith and Astrea.

Steve, they don't do the same thing, comparing apples to roast beef comes to mind. Nassarius sp. snails are sand bed scavengers of dead "meat". Cerith sp. and Astrea sp. are herbivores. Nassarius help to eat left over food and detritus, as well they help with sand bed turnover.

yup i know this, but that is also what the bugs and worms do... enuf said.

Steve

[sumpfinfishe]

My cleanup crew for my 27gl reef consist of:

6x astrea snails

6x cerith snails

12x blue leg hermits

2x fighting conch

2x cleaner shrimp

2x yellow watchmen gobies

2x small cowries

1x peppermint shrimp

I have kept these numbers for a few years now and I'm very happpy with the cleaning that takes place.

cheers, Rich

[Troy F]

yup i know this, but that is also what the bugs and worms do

Not in the same manner, it will have to do with food sizes and overall size of the animal. The snail is a very effective sand bed stirrer, you could say they're "stir"crazy. Worms and bugs are good but nassarius are also good.

[Bob I]

My cleanup crew for my 27gl reef consist of:

6x astrea snails

6x cerith snails

12x blue leg hermits

2x fighting conch

2x cleaner shrimp

2x yellow watchmen gobies

1x peppermint shrimp

I have kept these numbers for a few years now and I'm very happpy with the cleaning that takes place.

cheers, Rich

I would be interested to know how big your Fighting Conches are. I have had mine for only a few months. In that time it has quadrupled in size. I just measured it, and it is 21/2 inches long. I am getting concerned it will never stop growing. :frown:

[StirCrazy]

I would be interested to know how big your Fighting Conches are. I have had mine for only a few months. In that time it has quadrupled in size. I just measured it, and it is 21/2 inches long. I am getting concerned it will never stop growing. :frown:

Bob, do you have a pic of your conch? one of the feeding apendage and one of the shell?

Steve

[Dresden]

do the conches do well in a trigger or wrasse tank?

[Bob I]

I would be interested to know how big your Fighting Conches are. I have had mine for only a few months. In that time it has quadrupled in size. I just measured it, and it is 21/2 inches long. I am getting concerned it will never stop growing. :frown:

Bob, do you have a pic of your conch? one of the feeding apendage and one of the shell?

Steve

Ok here goes. He must love all that calcium in our water to grow so fast. :rolleyes:
http://members.shaw.ca/rcipema/conch_3.jpg
http://members.shaw.ca/rcipema/conch_2.jpg

[StirCrazy]

Ok here goes. He must love all that calcium in our water to grow so fast. :rolleyes:


Um, or he just has to ton of diatoms to eat :lol: is he making a din't in that? looks like he just un burried him self in that pic.

Steve

[Bob I]

Ok here goes. He must love all that calcium in our water to grow so fast. :rolleyes:


Um, or he just has to ton of diatoms to eat :lol: is he making a din't in that? looks like he just un burried him self in that pic.

Steve

That is not the point. He has enough to eat. The point is the question, "is it a fighting Conch, and how much bigger is he going to get?" He is controlling that brown stuff nicely.

[StirCrazy]

Yes it is a fighting conch, and if you say he is 2.5 then maby another 1.5"

Steve

[Bob I]

Yes it is a fighting conch, and if you say he is 2.5 then maby another 1.5"

Steve

OK, thanks. I will make some small changes to decrease the growth of that brown stull, and decrease the growth rate of the conch as well (I hope). Maybe I could rent him out to people with algae problems. :silly: :rofl:

[StirCrazy]

OK, thanks. I will make some small changes to decrease the growth of that brown stull, and decrease the growth rate of the conch as well (I hope). Maybe I could rent him out to people with algae problems. :silly: :rofl:

:eek: you getting a skimmer? or a RO unit??? :wink: :lol:

Steve

[Bob I]

:eek: you getting a skimmer? or a RO unit??? :wink: :lol:

Not now, not ever. I said small changes. :razz:

[DJ88]

Yes it is a fighting conch, and if you say he is 2.5 then maby another 1.5"


I don't even know that a Dr in marine biology would give THAT much of a difinative answer to that question. Based upon two small photos that really don't show a heck of a lot.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[StirCrazy]

sorry , let me vrefrase the, the eyes and trunk and shell,
(colour and shape) look identical to my fighting conch..

so i am reasonable certian that it is a fighting Cconch, unless Dr. Ron lied to me when i asked him about mine, and was told it was from simular pics..

Darren, nice to see you back again to nitpick on posts.. your thread on RC must have slowed down enuf for you to grace us with your pressence.

Steve

[Bob I]

Darren, nice to see you back again to nitpick on posts.. your thread on RC must have slowed down enuf for you to grace us with your pressence.

Steve

DEFINITELY true, and a case of the pot calling the kettle black. :eek: We now have TWO guys nitpicking our posts. :razz:

[BC_Grl]

Jon, do you really have 1000 brittle stars? We found that ours didn't really clean up-just hid in his favourite rock.

[Bob I]

Jon, do you really have 1000 brittle stars? We found that ours didn't really clean up-just hid in his favourite rock.

Not answering for Jon, but they come out after dark, and eat things.

[Troy F]

Is there any chance of keeping things civil around here? In defense of Darren, I think he's pointing out that correct identification of members of the gastropoda class is difficult considering the sheer numbers of species. I'm interested in how big the fighting conche gets? Four inches seems huge and I was under the impression that they didn't get much bigger than 2.5". What are the differences between the queen and the fighting conches? Are there any easy to see physical differences other than size?

[Bob I]

Is there any chance of keeping things civil around here?

I thought we were quite civil. A little dig here and there is not uncivil is it? :eek:

And yes I think four inches for a snail is huge too. For other things it is not considered huge :mrgreen: That beast of mine grew to 2.5 inches in just a very few months. I think I have to cut down on his food supply real quick, because four inches in a 50 gallon tank is a bit much.

[sumpfinfishe]

To answer your question Bob: my fighting conches are about 3/4 and 1 inch in lengths. I have had a few over the past and find that they don't grow too fast in my reef. Mine are 3 and 12 months old, with the older one being the larger one of course. However when something outgrows my reef, my roomate's 60gl always comes in handy for a new larger home wether it be a fish,coral,or crustacean.

And since were on the topic about conches and ID's. I once bought a strawberry conch and didn't know that this variety would grow so large. If I remember correctly, it looked alot like the smaller fighting conches that I have now.

Also, Dresden-I keep a six-line wrasse with my two fighting conches with no problems what so ever, with a larger wrasse species or a trigger I would use caution though.

cheers, Rich :mrgreen:

[Canadian Man]

Jon, do you really have 1000 brittle stars? We found that ours didn't really clean up-just hid in his favourite rock.

Yes Jenna I do. Seriously :eek: If I dump some food in the reef is covered with these little arms poking out of evey spot on the rock. Especially the porus tufa. They seem to love to hang out in the tufa rock.

At first I only had a few and then the multiplied like crazy in the past few months. All this from about 6 brittle stars I got from Delphinius on a piece of halamedia.

[Michael]

Jon, do you really have 1000 brittle stars? We found that ours didn't really clean up-just hid in his favourite rock.

Same with mine. He is pretty big, and stays in a rock crevice. I am at a loss as to why he doesn't come out, even at night. (I've done the flashlight inspection, and he is still in his rock.)


Michael

[Canadian Man]

I should clarify. The brittle stars I am talking about are the extremely small kind. Many in calgary have them because of all the trading. Most of us got them from Delphinus orrigionally. They are about the size of a loonie from arm tip to arm tip.

[Lofus]

I just noticed my conch crawling op onto my LR and feeding. I thought that they stayed on the sand. Is this normal behavior?

[Bob I]

I just noticed my conch crawling op onto my LR and feeding. I thought that they stayed on the sand. Is this normal behavior?

Fighting Conches are supposed to stay on the sand, whereas Queens are supposed to crawl all over from what I have read. Mine always stays on, or in the sand, because he uses a huge foot that he extends to move. If he tried that on the LR, he would fall off.:eek:

[Lofus]

Other than mobility, is there any difference? Are Queen conchs reef safe? (I thought this was a fighting conch)

[Bob I]

Other than mobility, is there any difference? Are Queen conchs reef safe? (I thought this was a fighting conch)

As far as I know they are reef safe. They just grow a lot bigger. If they grow as fast as my Fighting Conch, I would be scared. Of course they don't grow as fast for everybody. I must be an anomaly. :eek:

[Lofus]

I hope it doesn't get too big, its about an inch long now. I have visions of the Bud commercial!!

[Bob I]

I hope it doesn't get too big, its about an inch long now. I have visions of the Bud commercial!!

Well as I said, I don't think a Fighting Conch is physically able to leave the sandbed. If yours is crawling around on rocks, I think it is a Queen, and they grow about 10 inches long. :eek:

[Quinn]

i've just noticed how expensive clean-up crews are. :sad: i'm looking at probably $200 just for some snails. planning to go without crabs at this point in time.

[christyf5]

Teevee,

I know just what you mean. My damn hermits eat my snails as fast as I put them in the tank so my new tank will be hermit free. As its going I'm up to probably almost $100 in snails and other cleaners. :confused: Oh well, as long as they help battle the algae I guess they are worth their weight in gold. :razz:

Christy :)

[smokinreefer]

i feel your pain.
i will be heading out to buy a bunch of snails today too.
:razz:

[christyf5]

Well all I can say is thank goodness we have J&L. Snails are like $3.95 each over here. :eek:

Gives me a good excuse to come over to the big city :wink: :biggrin:

Christy :)