Choosing Cleanup Crew Critters.

[Lionfish Lair]

Oh oh.... I lost some when I split it up into three posts, because they were there in the original version. There were too many pictures, so I had to make it into three. Thanks for pointing those out, I must find them!

I haven't witnessed anything that will do much with bryopsis. That stuff is brutal.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Oh that's right, now I remember. I need a better picture of their "foot side" and was waiting for them to show up at liveaquaria. I also needed to do a little more reading into people's experiences. I've had them twice before, but they weren't very long lived for me. How long have you had yours?

 

[Maritimer]

Two or three months? Ish?? Long enough to have seen noticeable growth on the rims of their shells.

They chug along, grazing as they go . . . They seem to have one of those shells that just attract algae growth, and can look like a tuft of fuzzy that just randomly showed up in a new location.

~Bruce

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I had mine for a year, maybe less. I'm just not sure why they would die prematurely on two separate occasions.

 

[azbigjohn]

Awesome write up, Renee!

I don't think the Ninja star snails can self-right themselves... I never seem to have them long, and I find them upside down. If you know different, I of course defer to you.

I do agree with some of those packages! Some of them recommend a snail / crab per gallon starting up!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

You are correct. The ninjas are an Astraea, so they don't have the righting mechanism.

The packages drive me crazy. They have to know better.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Treat of a write-up, Renee!

I've got a snail in my tank (well, four or six or so...) that didn't get a mention; the "ninja-star" Astraea. Were they a good choice, or merely so-so?

Also have the common Astraea, the nerites (who stay almost exclusively on the glass), Trochus and turbans (which I love!) Got some hermits and emerald crabs as well as a brace of tuxedo urchins, and my filamentious algae levels _seem_ to be dropping . . .

Are there other cleaners you can recommend for filamentious (including Bryopsis) algae? I tried a sea-hare, but the cleaner shrimp must've thought he was a tasty dessert, and harassed him to death in a few days.

~Bruce

For bryopsis the lettuce nudibranch. Actually a Sea Slug I believe
Here's this.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/bcap/feature/

And Yes. I did let the bryopsis grow in my SPS tank so I could finally get one.

 

[ahiggins]

What about red legged hermits?
Definitely a must see post! So much info.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Whoops! I missed this.

I don't have any experience with red legs that I can recall. I may have had some years ago, but not within the last 15 years. Please be sure to share your experiences!

 

[Valkyrie]

So the hitchhiker snails, Collonista and Stomatella, if people love them so much then why aren't they sold? Are they protected?

I'd really like a few of those Banded Trochus snails. They're pretty neat lookin'.

Love this write up! Another one for my One Note so that I have it with me when I go to my LFS.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

A few hobbyist have sold them here and there, and I think there's a few reasons for this, perhaps the greatest reason being profit. It's easy to go out and scoop up a bunch of snails at the beach and throw them in an empty tank until they are sold. Maintaining a tank so these guys can successfully bred enough to turn a profit would be a lot more labour intensive and would take up resources you wouldn't need to allocate to their particular needs. They are a common free hitchhiker and I don't believe many would pay enough to justify stores keeping a supply of them going. We always shared them around. If you see someone has a lot of them, offer to pay for shipping for some.

 

[zoomonster]

Never had a great deal of luck with fighting conchs lasting very long and then LFS had reasonably priced tiger conchs. I've had some in my tank for a while and they might be the best yet. Extremely hardy and they certainly work the sand bed. Highly recommended if you run across some. I buy some stuff locally but I have bought from LA a couple times where its a la carte (vs. ridiculous packages) and you only need to buy $75 for free overnight shipping.
As for the florida varieties most available are tidal pool dwellers and they will constantly be climbing out of the tank and die. Ceriths and Nerites (when not climbing out) are ok, hardy and constantly lay eggs and reproduce in my tank. If you have a Gyre avoid the mini ceriths (or other tiny varieties other than nassarious) like the plague because they will destroy it. Other than that all I bother with is astreas and trochus. They are great but never seen them reproduce and they over time disappear and need to be restocked. Mexican turbo's never last long but they are great at knocking things over. I know I still have a variety of nassarious but they are seldom seen. As far as hermits go only ever stocked once and most have perished (or been eaten) over the past 2 years. Out of a variety of types the zebra has been the most hardly and mostly what I have other than a few misc stragglers. Lastly one of the best was free as a hitchhiker along the way... Stomatellas. What I really like about the mix I have now is they mostly only come out at night to clean. Daytime maybe some astrea's but at night the tank walls and rocks are alive. Other than that a suspected fish eating serpent star and shrimp as scavengers. Oh and the other hitchhiker that hurts but is highly beneficial the bristle worm. One of my all time favorite work horse snails was the keyhole limpet but I have not gotten any this time around as hitchhikers.

 

[Jami]

Very helpful! As a newbie to the hobby, it is frightening to me how many creatures the LFS insist are the best, that I later experience or read are definitely not! I will keep this article handy for replacements Thank you!

 

[Philt56]

Just to repeat what zoomonster said. Live Aquaria has build your own packages, with free shipping on $75 or more. So you can decide on the more desirable types. Granted not everything they carry is part of the build your own, but it's a pretty good selection and the prices seem to even out with other fixed packages that don't include shipping.

 

[Budman93]

Awesome write up! Thanks so much for writing this. Was watching videos for about a week getting pieces of the info you provided and this encapsulates the ins and outs of CUCs perfectly! Will definitely use this as a reference when I setup my aquarium.

 

[Atrain]

Great write up thanks alot... Buying hermit crabs was the worst buy I've made. Yes they are somewhat interesting to watch. But when you cannot keep snails because the 5 hermits you have kill every snail big or small gets ridiculous they just kill them not for the shell just to do it... Gets really old fast... Makes me want to just fling them outside

 

[DeniseAndy]

For bryopsis the lettuce nudibranch. Actually a Sea Slug I believe
Here's this.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/bcap/feature/

And Yes. I did let the bryopsis grow in my SPS tank so I could finally get one.

I had one of those guys and it would not touch my briopsis. I am not sure it liked where it was found. I gave it away to avoid its death since the only real algae I have is briopsis. Lucky me. Although, mine may have been a slightly different species. Maybe I will try that guy. I have plenty in tank and in my algae scrubber for it.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Great article, Renee! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!

 

[klp]

Enjoyed the article. like others I am amazed at the great numbers of cleanup crew that are offered per gallon by many vendors. These are people that want to get rid of inventory and not concerned about the die off you will get when they slowly starve to death and end up eating each other. Brings to mind the gladiator mentality.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Gladiator mentality! LOL! I might have to steal that.