what next and when? and what are these things on my glass?

[jess128]

I got my first fish yesterday, 2 perc. clownfish and they're doing really well. What should I add next? Like a cleaner shrimp or some kind of cleaner crew? And when should I add them?

I've also seen these little critters all over the glass of the tank. What are they? They're really small, like a millimeter each but there are hundreds of them crawling all over the glass. They're white in colour. Any ideas? Thanks!

[Tarolisol]

The little creatures are most likly pods of some sort they are a good thing, also you will probly start to notice little spiraly white things on the glass as well, not sure what they are called though. You could probly add a clean up crew now also, but how long has your tank been set up and size and stuff. We all love details

[jess128]

It's a 65 gallon tank, no sump, 60lbs LR. I've been setting it up since Aprail 2004. The LR has been in since October 31 and I just got 2 clownfish yesterday. I thought the little things are the class were some kind of pod. What are the spraly white things that will show up? Do youl know where they come from? So whould you recommend a cleaner crew? Of so, what kind of stuff should I add? I thought about getting a cleaner shrimp soon.

[Tarolisol]

Most people put in cleaning crews consisting of various snails and blue legged hermits. You could add those at any time now. Some people dont like hermits because they tend to know over frags somtimes. Not sure hwat the spiraly things are called but they just seem to shop up like the pods. Sound like you got everything under control

[Sushiman]

A good clean-up crew is a mixed lot & are vital part of your little glass ecosystem. Cleaner shrimp are nice but I would focus on a good mix of hermits, 2-3 species, a cucumber, an urchin, then larger scavengers like cleaners, arrow crabs are great & help keep your fireworms in check. Think of it this way; what is producing waste in my system & what is consuming /removing it? If there is an imbalance you're hooped. A diverse clean up crew is one of the coolest parts of a reef tank in my opinion. I'm always looking for new additions to add to my army of creepy-crawlies. If your population is healthy enough you could have a fish die in the night & not see the carcass in the morning as your critters gobbled it up before it had a chance to rot & mess up your system. Don't underestimate this vital part of your aquarium! Good luck

[jess128]

Thanks for the advice. Right now I only have 2 clownfish, so I don't want to get so many cleaner crew crittters that there's nothing for them to eat and they die. So what do you recommend for right now? And I can add more as I get more fish and corals, etc.

[Sushiman]

A clean up crew needs something to clean up that is true, however a healthy clean-up crew will happlily scavenge leftovers from feeding the clowns. Hermits are a nice place to start as the little buggers are nearly universally indistructable. I had a hermit that got trapped in my overflow & lived in there for two months till I finally managed to catch him with a pair of chopsticks. Their only drawback is that all crabs are thugs and act as such. Get a variety of species as they will graze on different things. Snails can be a little more fragile, especially with temp. swings, crabs don't care if you pour gas in the tank. If you are plagued with algae, try an urchin. they are relativly hardy and in my experience one of they few "maintenance" creatures that really do their job. It was a key player in my year long battle against Bryopsis. Your clean-up gang can be just as gorgeous as anything else in the tank too, one of my favorite critters in my whole tank is a spectacular orange striped hermit that easily takes center stage. Many of the critters need to be "topped-up" as they have shorter lifespans, others such as nudi's are totally specialized feeders and simply croak when the food source dries up (or they get sucked into a powerhead & chopped to bits). In my opinion, the creepy crawlies are what make a reef tank a REEF tank. I am a certified Scuba-freak & have been fortunate enough to have dove in many different parts of the world, temperate or tropical, all reefs are loaded with an emmense biodiversity of scavengers & always they make my dives memorable. The same is in my tank, the closer you look, the more creatures you discover that you never noticed before. The fact they ravenously feed on the waste that will kill my tank is just a bonus to me. I've stared in rapture for the last two days at my new Arrow crab as he hunts down bristleworms twice his size! Remember though, that they are but a line of defense however. If your system is not heavily filtered & faithfully maintained it will eventually crash no matter what is crawling on the rocks.

[jess128]

Thanks Sushiman, I'll pick up a few hermits this weekend and maybe a shrimp as well. I think I'll go to Aquarium Illusions and they can help me get a crew together, they're pretty good there, they don't try to rip you off

Jess