CUC question - curious....

[Lofr]

New to saltwater - 93 gallon cube - 8 weeks. Have not seen information on this. Got a CUC about a month ago after all test results came back fine. For the most part, all is good. A couple of times have noticed what I believe to be the remains of crabs out of their shells floating (am sure not alive). Will the CUC (consisting of blue, white, and red leg hermits, nerite, nassarius, cerith, and turbo snails) continue to maintain/multiply or is it occasionally necessary to have to purchase additional CUC again?
Thanks!

 

[Ryan115]

It is very possible those are molts from your hermit crabs and not dead crabs themselves. Just like other arthropods they need to molt their outer carapace to grow.
As far as reproduction in the tank, there is a good article in the invert forum about CUC basics. It touches on which snails will and will not reproduce in the tank https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/choosing-cleanup-crew-critters.258695/

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

Well it's bound for your clean up crew to start dying off due to multiple factors, I'd say the lifespan of a CUC is about 1-2 years due to people neglecting them, odds are what you are seeing with your hermits are just molts, just a heads up