cleanup crew and inverts

iplaydafoozball

iplaydafoozball

Large Fish
#1
Sep 12, 2006
186
0
0
37
Algonquin, IL
#1
so i've been cycling my tank, which after all, i found out no cycle occured, cuz the rock i got was actually fully cured lol. anyway, it's been in the tank for 5 days and i just tested the water and it came back with 0's across the board. anyway, i was wondering, what inverts should i get for a 46 gallon bowfront reef with 55 pounds of live rock? like how many hermits and snails? what types of snails? i also want a starfish and at least 1 cool crab (emerald, decorator, etc.) and 1 cool shrimp (cleaner, peppermint, etc.) anyone got any good suggestions? i also plan on waiting about one more week just to be safe before i buy these dudes.
 

saltwater4life

saltwater4life

Large Fish
#2
Sep 26, 2006
785
1
0
32
New Jersey
#2
umm i guess i'll give it a shot,
Snails, around 35
Crabs, around 20 Hermit Crabs and a few Emerald crabs if you want
Starfish, you dont have much to choose from since alot arn't reef safe but if you have room in the sand you could get a Sand Sifter

Hopefully that helps you probbly wont need that many but i like to have a big clean up crew
Good luck
Nick
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#5
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#5
I had read that chocolate chips are NOT reef safe.....

Any sand sifting star is doomed to starve in that size tank and even then it would need a well established deep sand bed loaded with fauna that they eat and then it would in all likelyhood decimate any life from the sand bed before it starved to death probably under a rock somewhere where it would be impossible to find.......enough said.

There are some really good cleanup crew packages out there that you can buy, again it depends on whether you have a deep sand bed or not whether you get sand stirrers such as nassarius snails etc. Hermits are okay but if I had my druthers I wouldn't put them in.....but if I did I would limit the number drastically and then only get the true scarlet reef hermits with the bright red legs. NOT the red legged Baja ones that are truely mean and shell jack anything. I would get a handful of nerites, nassarius, and a couple of turbo's and a couple of skunk cleaner shrimp.
 

iplaydafoozball

iplaydafoozball

Large Fish
#9
Sep 12, 2006
186
0
0
37
Algonquin, IL
#9
i don't have a deep sand bed. i had 50 lbs put into my tank, 10 into my refugium. so basically 1 lb/gallon in the tank. so say i wanted to get like 2 emerald crabs, 1 or 2 cleaner shrimp, snails and hermits. is that good? how about one more cool invert? urchin or some other star? how about slugs or nudibranches? my sis saw the chocolate chip star at one of the shops and liked it, but i didn't necessary want one, and now i know not to get one.
 

Joe Fish

Joe Fish

Superstar Fish
#10
Apr 21, 2006
2,126
1
0
Penn State
josy.isa-geek.com
#10
I think the snails and hermits to a pretty job by themselves. I used to have a emerald, but he has passed. Which he was still there because i'm getting bubble algae now. I added a tiger tail cucumber to my tank as well. 2 shrimps should do a pretty good job. I have a skunk and a blood shrimp. The blood shrimp is the best color, but does less work.
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#11
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#11
No slugs or nudibranch. No urchin as they eat coraline algae and can bulldoze stuff over.....no stars of any kind except brittle stars as most starve or are not reef safe. No cucumbers until your sand bed activates and there is food there for them to eat.stick with a few hermits, snails and a couple of shrimp. True peppermints will eat aiptasia a nuisance anemone. Skunk cleaners are great as are bloodshrimp. Coral banded shrimp are not considered reef safe and some crabs are not either and can become fish eaters.....as can some serpent stars....
 

TRe

TRe

Elite Fish
#12
Feb 20, 2005
3,645
1
0
ft. lauderdale
#12
wow everything i wanted to say has pretty much been said lol choclatechip stars are NOT reef safe, you dont want any type of urchin (as they eat coraline) i would start with about 20-30 snails, same amount of crabs, and emerald crab, a few peppermint shrimp, brittle star and a cleaner shrimp or 2 ;)
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#14
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#14
Actually Tre you are right they are model citizens if kept only to themselves in mated pairs.....here is an excerpt I read on WetWebmedia

"Boxer shrimp ARE... territorial! And able and willing to pull the arms, legs et al. body parts off of other shrimps, small crabs, hermits that "get in their face". If you have stenopids in mind, make room for other crustaceans to be... and to get away while molting."

I had read somewhere else about them being quite aggressive also. They sound interesting and I may try to find a mated pair myself for my 75? Any suggestions or advice on mating them up?
 

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