150 Cleanup Crew

[AlexS!]

Here is what i already have:
100 ceriths
100 naasuris snails
50 scarlet hermits
a few bluelegs and turbos (like 5?) from pervious tanks and imported lr
here is what i'm planning on ordereing this week from marinedepotlive.com

Turbo Snails-48
Cleaner Shrimp-2
Blue Linkia Star-2
Burgandy Linkia Star-2
Cucumber-2
Emerald Crab-2
Horseshoe Crab-2
Lettuce Nudibranch-2
Pencil Urchin-2
Flame Scallop-2
If anything on this list you would not recomend be in a reef tank, let me know. If there is something you think should be on this list, let me know. Or if you know of better deals/livestock than marinedepotlive, let me know, thanxs,
alex

 

[ZeroMaintenance]

I'm sure you will get lots of debate about the hermits,emeralds,horseshoe,urchin, and scallop. Hermits can attack/kill snails. Emeralds pick at corals, destroy macro algae, and get big. Horseshoes eat everything in the sand, starve if nothing there already or they eat it all, and get very large. Urchins will tumble corals and rocks, eat coraline algae, and are poisonous when they die. The scallops will topple rocks and corals with their powerful muscles, and more than likely die of starvation in a few months. Now having said all the bad things that can, may, or will happen, I have blue legs and scarlets and emeralds in my 180 with lots of snails (astrea, turbo, cerith, and conch) and have not seen one die at the hands of a hermit. Nor have my emeralds picked at the corals but they did remove all macros and have grown somewhat large. The rest is what I have read and heard about not personal experience. Just be aware of what can happen and have fun watching nature in action.

 

[popepain]

forget the horshoe they dont live good and the only time you see them is when you dump them in your tank.And the nudibranches die or get into your over flow to easy and get cloged in pumps.scalops dont live that long maybe a few months. I would try more urchiens ,you could get diffrent colors. and try more cumbers the small yellow are cool and so are the tiger tails .ive tryed all theses things you have and im telling you from trial and error. good luck

 

[ZeroMaintenance]

Be carefull of the cukes/cucumbers too they can kill everything in your tank if they get sucked into a powerhead/pump/overflow, and sometimes when they die or puke their guts from being threatened (cuke-nuke). I have read that the atlantic/sand sifter type are not as poisonous though. They are usually mostly dark colored black/brown/grey and shaped like a turd. Once you put them in take a good look at them as you may not see them for months unless you look at nigh. I have 4 atlantics in my 180. Some nudibranch are very poisonous too. I don't know about the lettuce type though.

 

[esmithiii]

ditch the following:

Emerald Crab -I have seen them munch on polyps
Horseshoe Crab - disturb sand fauna
Lettuce Nudibranch -too easily killed and don't typically live very long
Pencil Urchin -not reef safe from what I have been told
Flame Scallop -notoriously short life span.

I would suggest sally lightfoot crabs instead of the mithrax crabs.

E

 

[AlexS!]

well, talked to many people so here is revised list:
Turbo Snails-48
Cleaner Shrimp-2
Blue Linkia Star-2
Cucumber-2
Flame Scallop-2
I like flames, and have had good succes with them. Some people may say my tank isnt ready for a star, but I think it is. Is there any thing else you think i should add? any good mo stores?

 

[Nostrathomas]

I would get some Nerites and some trochus just add some more variety to your snail collection.

[ October 01, 2001: Message edited by: Nostrathomas ]

 

[Ben1]

www.reeftopia.com has the best prices on clean up crew. I also wouldnt suggest the flame scallop they need to be fed so unless you are willing it will die.