Clean up Crew

[Shipley18]

What do i need for my clean up crew? right now i jsut have one hermit crab and a roaming slug thing... my tank sand is constiantly brown and I'd like it to remain white ...so what do i need boys?

 

[aresgod]

a few more dwarf hermits, some astrea snails and maybe 10 nassiurius(sp?) snails i think a turbo might be too big an eater but you might be able to get away with 1

 

[Shipley18]

ok next question..what are those..please dont be mad! how much would they cost roughly as prom drained my account

 

[aresgod]

they are various crabs and snails, 40$ or less for everything, depends on where you live

 

[Shipley18]

dang it thats alot! lol i live in wisconsin and I've never heard of any of that stuff.....the closet place that woudl have stuff like that is about an hour away...any ideas on transport?oh and a another question do feathers dusters grow..because some oen told me they dont but mine is deffinatly growing

 

[lordroad]

I've found a mix of snails is good for cleaning up various algae, though none of mine really touch the nasty thick stuff. I've had great luck with astreas, ceriths, margaritas (though I lost my margarita due to not acclimating at all... acclimate them like fish, I've had much better luck with keeping them alive past 2 days).

I'm going to have to drop a plug for a brittle star here too. They get large, but they're so damn cool. I see new behavior from mine every day. Be sure to supplement its scavenger diet with small shrimp or pieces of shrimp if you go for one though, or any star for that matter, as a 20 is still considered a nano.

 

[aresgod]

yes they grow, and they will come in bags from where you buy them from then do a drip to acclimate them and they should be fine

 

[Shipley18]

drip acclimation sounds hard...lol

 

[dbacksrat]

drip acclimation--get a length of airline tubing and tie two loose knots in it--tighten either knot to slow flow...someone else should be able to explain it better
there is also the method of using air flow regulator and airline tubing...but i won't explain that (i'm terrible at explaining things)

did the mods make you change the last part of your sig? hmm...

 

[1979camaro]

not really...run a little air line tubing into the bag and crimp it off a bit.

 

[yamahaguy06]

this is the best way to aclimate huh??

 

[Shipley18]

yes they didn't make me change my sig....they went in and changed it against my wishes......and so i just let my water slowly go into whatever i buy's water?

 

[1979camaro]

yes, basically...make sure you discard the water though. you don't want it back in your tank

 

[Shipley18]

ok so which of those afore mentioned will actually keep my san dwhiter?

 

[1979camaro]

nassarius and the hermits mostly but it depends on what kind of algae is growing on the gravel. you will need a wider variety than that, however, to take care of all kinds of algae

 

[yamahaguy06]

nassarius?? are these guys commen Camaro? I dont think they sell them around here

 

[1979camaro]

yah, pretty common. they are small little guys

 

[yamahaguy06]

I will look around

 

[phOOey]

i think cleaner shrimp a pretty useful aswell as they can keep your fish clean from parasites aswell as eat a little algae.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

Nassarius = so good janitors. If only they were bigger.

My cleaner shrimps only helps their symbiotic friend, the yellow tang, in my tank. They don't a good job to clean algae...but they're eating leftovers when you feed your fishes.