Clean Up Crew suggestions for 55 gallon reef tank

[POIUY678]

So, I'll be getting a 55 gallon reef tank soon and I need help deciding my clean up crew. the stocking list for the fish that I am planning to get will all be compatible with snails/hermits/crabs/shrimp. I just have no idea how much to get of each, the CUC that I'm certain of having is 1 cleaner shrimp and blue-legged hermit crab, but I'm not sure how much is needed for a 55 gallon reef tank.

The corals will be mostly LPS and soft corals and there will be a sand bed.

Will appreciate any clean up crew suggestions/list and how much is needed

thanks

 

[davidcalgary29]

I'd get about four or five banded trochus snails, a tuxedo urchin, a little bear conch (or other sand-sifting conch), and a couple of money cowries right now; if you put them in your display right now, and add nothing else for at least 45 (or 72) days, you can put them through a quarantine process before you add your fish. Bonus: your molluscs will breed without fish to eat their eggs, and you'll end up with a great population of them.

You might have to feed them with nori on a clip as your microflora establishes itself, but that's an easy thing to do.

 

[Tired]

A cleaner shrimp isn't part of your cleanup crew. It gets its name from picking at fish, not at gunk, and will need to be given fish food to keep it happy.

Hermit crabs are best kept as a novelty, not as part of the cleanup crew. Make sure to have extra shells for them.

You probably want some cerith snails to eat detritus. Check out the cleaner crew packages on ReefCleaners to get an idea of how many snails and whantot you'd likely want.

 

[i cant think]

So, I'll be getting a 55 gallon reef tank soon and I need help deciding my clean up crew. the stocking list for the fish that I am planning to get will all be compatible with snails/hermits/crabs/shrimp. I just have no idea how much to get of each, the CUC that I'm certain of having is 1 cleaner shrimp and blue-legged hermit crab, but I'm not sure how much is needed for a 55 gallon reef tank.

The corals will be mostly LPS and soft corals and there will be a sand bed.

Will appreciate any clean up crew suggestions/list and how much is needed

thanks

Despite what people have said, I’ve found all 5/6 of my shrimp love to eat the detritus that falls onto the sandbed as well as left over fish foods. The 6 shrimp I have (split over 2 tanks) include;
Stenopus scuttleatus
Lysmata wurdemanni
Lysmata debellius
Lysmata amboinensis
Alpheus randalli
Alpheus bellulus

So, I would add these in terms of shrimp;
Lysmata amboinensis (will help with fish diseases as well as detritus)
Stenopus pyrsonotus (purely for looks)

I would also add 6-10 Snails (these guys are better and don’t kill eachother off). The snails I’d go for are;
3x Nassarius sp.
4x Trochus sp.
3x Egina sp. (Although these are whelks)
1-2x Conomurex luhuanus

And to top it off, I’d add a Tripneustes gratilla for the fun but also algae eating. By the way, the shrimp are only recommendations as these are mainly in reefs to give personality - although the Cleaners do also have a big role for the fish.

 

[Scooter21]

I watched a video from BRStv where they were talking about everyone recommending 1 snail per gallon of water and 90% of the snails will starve to death and its better to get 1 snail per 5 to 10 gallons of water. I asked of here and sure enough, everyone recommended about 1 snail per gallon of water.


For my 36 gallons, I went with:
2 trochas snails
2 cerith snails
1 emerald crab
2 Scarlett hermits
1 cleaner shrimp
5 bristle worms (LFS looked at me like i was nuts for asking for these)


They've basically eaten all the algae from my tank in a week and they are all tiny in size. I absolutely think they'd starve to death if there were 5x to 10x as many snails


If I were you, I'd add
2 or 3 trochas
3 cerith
2 nassarius
1 emerald crab
3 hermit crab
1 cleaner shrimp
Bristle worms, if you don't already have any

 

[ElementReefer]

I have a 55g. It’s 14 months old. I currently have (estimate):

1 fighting conch

4 Cerith
2 turbo
3 Astrea
4 nerite
3 nassarius

8 dwarf hermits
6 emerald crabs (brought in recently to eat bubble algae.)

Gary (Lawnmower Blenny)

I probably need to stock up on snails. My MVP crew are by far my fighting conch, blenny and astrea snails. My advice is to treat your cleanup crew like any other dynamic part of your tank. You can grow it over time in response to what your needs are.

 

[Cthulukelele]

I'd get about four or five banded trochus snails, a tuxedo urchin, a little bear conch (or other sand-sifting conch), and a couple of money cowries right now; if you put them in your display right now, and add nothing else for at least 45 (or 72) days, you can put them through a quarantine process before you add your fish. Bonus: your molluscs will breed without fish to eat their eggs, and you'll end up with a great population of them.

You might have to feed them with nori on a clip as your microflora establishes itself, but that's an easy thing to do.

Where do you get money cowries, and are they reef safe? A lot of cowries will nibble coral

 

[davidcalgary29]

Where do you get money cowries, and are they reef safe? A lot of cowries will nibble coral

I'm in Canada, and got them from one supplier in Ontario, although that won't help you. I would think that they'd be widely available in the U.S., or from a reefer local to you, as they breed freely in the aquarium. I haven't known them to molest my coral, but I do just have softies.

 

[Lavey29]

You already got good info from other posts. The key is to build your cleaner crew up as needed. Not over stuff cleaner packages in your tank where most will die off. You want it to be diversified. Some like rocks, some glass and some like to clean sand. If you have good balance and available food your cleaner crew will be successful.

 

[Tired]

Where do you get money cowries, and are they reef safe? A lot of cowries will nibble coral

You can get money cowries from ReefCleaners, and occasionally from other online suppliers. They're reef-safe.