number of snails and crabs for 10g

[ianjoe]

I have a ten gallon tank. The only fish I have is a small clown. I also have a little hermit crab. I read somewhere that your 'spose to have 1 "cleaner" for every gallon. True? What would recommend for stocking in my tank.
On my live rock i have spots of white algae but now its turning purple. this is the good algae, right? My tank is really clean, and doesn't look like its over-run with algae or anything.
10 little critters in a little tank seems like a lot. Won't they starve?

thanks,
ian

[g. mcclean]

I read somewhere that you can go with 2 hermits per gallon, 1/2 turbo snail per gallon, and there is always star fish, and cleaner shrimp. Besides each doing different jobs, we find them interesting additions to the marine system we have set up.

[BrianH]

If you don't have much excess algae growing I would not add too many hermits and snails or they will starve. I would start out with a couple of each and add from there as needed.

Brian

[liquafaction]

1.5 cleaners per gallon is what I have read. I do agree to not overstock cleaners for the sake of starving them. I like the size of the turbo snails, and how much they do in a little time, but they are like bulldozers. Turbos kinda bully their way through everything, I do not think I would put 1 in a 10 gallon. I have been reading a lot about the nassarius snails, and been debating on getting a few.

I have 2 turbos in my tank, and one was riding on the others back the other night, I guess there was some algae growing on his shell.

[ianjoe]

ya, i'd like to go with something smaller. I'd like to get soft corals, polyps and mushrooms someday, so i want something reef-safe too.
any suggestions?

ian

[BrianH]

All of the cleaners you have mentioned are reef safe.

Brian

[mogurnda]

What I don't remember is how much light you have. If your small tank is like mine (>6 watts/gallon), you will get strong algae growth pretty soon. To give an example of one tank, here's what I have in the 20 as a cleaning crew:
11 Astrea snails
6 Ceriths
many strombus maculatus (they keep making more)
1 peppermint shrimp
~15 blue leg hermits
A few hitchhiking hermits
5 scarlet hermits
I guess that comes to 1 grazer and 1 scavenger/gallon. It is too much, probably, but there are historical reasons. Believe it or not, there used to be more. I have already evicted/traded in 10 blue legs, 1 red clinging crab (like an emerald), 7 keyhole limpets and 2 peppermint shrimp. [Insert rant about TBS having too many animals in its "package"]. Nonetheless, the tank has been kept quite clean by this crew for about 1.5 years.


I agree with Brian. Go for a few of each to start with. If it were my tank, I would avoid turbos as grazers because of their size, and go with the smaller species like ceriths or the little Strombus maculatus. Maybe a few astreas or margaritas. For scavenging, nassarius would be good, and/or maybe a few of the little bumblebee snails. If you need pictures, look here (http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=PA&Category_Code=Snails). As far as hermits, I find them indispensible, and I'd suggest adding a few scarlets. You will also have a variety of algae to deal with, so diversity is important.

But that wasn't very clear. Here's a suggestion for a start:
Grazers: 6 ceriths, 2 margarita
Scavengers: 3 scarlet hermits, 3 nassarius.

You might also think about getting a detritivore package from IPSF (http://www.ipsf.com) or Inland Aquatics (http://www.inlandaquatics.com), to get some worms, stars, pods and other goodies.

[kreblak]

I stick with a 3/4 ratio of cleaners to gallons, personally. I have found that ratio works best for me. I have one tank that is very dirty (green hair algae), and one tank that is very clean. The dirty tank's invert population is in heaven right now, as there is a virtual smorgasboard for them. I have to supplement the clean tank's (which is also a 10 gallon) population with some frozen food.