Good starter clean up crew?

[coralalien117]

Hi all!
I was wondering what would be the best start up clean up crew for a 25g tank?
will be a mixed reef with corals and fish, what should be best?
I've done some reasearch but am still nervous since this is my first tank.
Thanks!

 

[Kapachuka3]

Get a conch, these dudes are awesome. I have 3 in my 32.5 gallon and they do a great job of moving the sand around and they are very hardy and fun to watch. I would also advise snails instead of crabs because crabs can be very mean and eat other animals in the tank if they want to.

My conchs:
Top left: Bruce
Bottom left: Kevin
Right: Howard

 

[zoomonster]

My main advice is to stay away from the mini snails. Made that mistake before and they will destroy powerheads & pumps. I just refreshed my cleaners in 200g and I'll share my favorites. One of my very favorites is Trochus which last a long time and are a bit pricey these days. Also, I have a few large Mexican Turbo's I didn't need and they can be bad about knocking stuff over like my black urchin that will also eat corralline. Unless you have a sand bed you don't really need the Nassarius or Conch's. And yes, hermits serve a purpose, but they may eat snails for the shell. Scarlets are nice and peaceful but expensive.

12 Astraea Snails
12 Blue Leg Hermit Crab
12 Limpets
6 Marginella Snail
12 Mexican Red Leg
36 Nassarius Vibex
12 Nerite Snail
6 Ninja Star Snail
12 Stocky Cerith
6 Tongan Nassarius
6 Virgin Nerites
3 Trochus Snail
2 Tiger Conch

 

[nothing_fancy]

You could do a mixed group of snails, trochus, nessarius etc. I wouldn't do any shrimp or anything like that at first. Get a bunch of red leg hermits. Keep it really simple. After the tank is cycled you can get a couple shrimp or something or an urchin if thats something you're interested in when you get some algae