Finishing my Clean up Crew

SourAngelfish · Jun 6, 2018

This is going in my 14g biocube. I think my clean up crew is decent, but I would like a bit more.

This is what I have...

5 astreas snails
3 trochus snails
A bunch of baby trochus (they breed a lot!!!)
1 Hermit
Peppermint Shrimp
A small sandsifting star
a Purple Linckia
Tuxedo Urchin
Fighting Conch

This is what I would like to add...

5 more hermits
A skunk cleaner shrimp
a small cucumber (maybe)

Suggestions are welcome. I just want to make sure this works.

my current problems are algae on the side glass and a small patch of cyano and hair algae.

cristata.reef · Jun 6, 2018

I would suggest getting rid of that purple linckia. I know it'll seem tough cause they're so dang gorgeous but they eat bacteria film off rocks and glass. People can't even keep them alive in large 200+ gallon tanks so it would be physically impossible to keep yours alive in a biocube. Save yourself the heartbreak and return it. Also I would recommend a couple of ceriths/dwarf ceritths. They're the best CUC IMO because they burrow through the sand, eat all types of algae including diatoms and in my case dinoflagellates and cyano, and they're small enough to get into tight crevices. Hope that helps. Lemme know if you have any other questions

SourAngelfish · Jun 7, 2018

Sonofives said:
I would suggest getting rid of that purple linckia. I know it'll seem tough cause they're so dang gorgeous but they eat bacteria film off rocks and glass. People can't even keep them alive in large 200+ gallon tanks so it would be physically impossible to keep yours alive in a biocube. Save yourself the heartbreak and return it. Also I would recommend a couple of ceriths/dwarf ceritths. They're the best CUC IMO because they burrow through the sand, eat all types of algae including diatoms and in my case dinoflagellates and cyano, and they're small enough to get into tight crevices. Hope that helps. Lemme know if you have any other questions

The purple Linckia has actually been in this biocube for a year now. I've made sure too only keep one so it doesn't have any competition and it also consumes finely chopped shrimp and silversides along with its standard diet of bacteria film.

cristata.reef · Jun 7, 2018

TheReefer27 said:
The purple Linckia has actually been in this biocube for a year now. I've made sure too only keep one so it doesn't have any competition and it also consumes finely chopped shrimp and silversides along with its standard diet of bacteria film.

Oh that's fantastic actually. It definitely help if you can feed them meaty foods but not all linkias (and similar species like Leiaster and Echinaster) accept the food for some reason. Since you got yours to eat it'll probably be fine I think. Do you have any pics? I'd love to see him/her (not sexually dimorphic) and the tank

SourAngelfish · Jun 7, 2018

I agree that I made a mistake when I did purchase the star and I definitely wouldn’t do it again, but yes he does eat. He’s in the rocks right now so I’ll have to snap a pic later.