Cleanup Critters

K

K-Dubbs

AC Members
Oct 4, 2004
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Well my tank cycling is coming along nicely, and was just wondering what sort of clean up critters everyone here at the forum has experience with or likes. Certain inverts, gobies, blennies, anything... just looking for some suggestions on easy to medium difficulty cleanup crew for my tank. I have also been keeping my eye on an very nice looking orange-spotted goby who has been sifting through the sand a lot at work, he seems healthy and active but of course with a little patience I can get pretty much any sort of fish, and watch it for a while to make sure its healthy... so give me your suggestions and personal experiences! :bowing:

thx
K-Dubbs
 
If I had it to do over again I would just use a large variety of snails- astreas, nasarrius, cerites, turbos etc. My hermit crabs have done nothing but murder each other and fight, and the shrimps steal food from the corals. I have a Flame Hawk on my want list to eliminate them.

The sand sifters are cool- but they move sand around all the time so make sure your rock work is resting securely on the glass and not supported by sand.
 
i agree, blue legged hermits are a waste of money. they dont do anything in my tank. scarlets seem to be ok, and seem to leave everything else alone.
 
I recommend getting a large variety of cleaners. I have 5 or 6 kinds of hermits, 5 or 6 kinds of snails, 2 peppermint shrimp, an emerald crab, a sally lightfoot crab, a sand sifting star, and a sea cucumber. Next up is a lettuce nudibranch and a serpeant star. And sometime down the road I'll get a blood red fire shrimp, just can't see spending all the money right now.
 
I personally prefer a variety of snails. I like the mix of Astrea, Trochus, cerith, nerite, and nassarius* (for tanks with substrate). I'm not a fan of crabs, but I did put 3 Scarlets in my tank post cycle just to pick the rock a little bit - be sure you leave extra empty shells for them. I've noticed 2 of my hermits have already changed shells.
 
How about "turbo" snails? are they a type of one of the snails listed above?
Any non-inverts that you guys find to be good cleanup crew?

K-Dubbs
 
How about the little zebra reef crabs? they're hermits with black and white striped legs. I'm thinking of getting a few for my new nano I'm working on.

any opinions?
 
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