Hi everyone! So my tank is finally cycled and I went to my LFS to pick up a clean up crew and they recommended Astrea snails and blue hermit crabs. I researched beforehand Iand I read that Narc. And Trochus snails were the best. What are your thoughts?
Clean up crew help
- Thread starter OceanBlue808
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I have a newer tank as well. I have astrea snails and turbo snails. I wanted the blue hermits cause they’re pretty. They only had the red legged hermits at the lfs. I’d love to hear what others have to say about different species too!
Trochus and Nassarius snails are my go to. Trochus snails are similiar to Astrea snails except they can flip themselves over whereas Astrea cannot (They also look better imo). Hermit crabs are great cleanup crew members, but they are known to kill snails, so a snail that tips over often (Astrea) may not be the best choice. If you have a nano tank and don't mind flipping snails over every morning you could save a couple bucks and Astrea. A key to a good cleanup crew is variety. Getting a diverse CUC will help with managing all kinds of algae.
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Having a very diverse CUC is the best, don’t add to many at first just slowly add to desired quantity’s.. these are some of the ones I have in my tanks, Cerith snails and dwarf ceriths, nassarius, nerites, turbo’s, astraeas, trochus and margaritas*.. also a few tiny hermit crabs such as blue leg and red legs and if you have bubble algae a couple emerald crabs.
*margarites are algae eating beasts but don’t last long in temperatures above 75 degrees
*margarites are algae eating beasts but don’t last long in temperatures above 75 degrees
