Time to restock: How often do you refresh your clean-up crew?

[reefer4speed]

my turbo snails started breading so i dont need to restock some have been alive for over 3 years

 

[Mppp]

I had all but eradicated my vermitid snails, bought a clean up crew and now I'm hunting vermitid snails like crazy again...so annoying.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

I have to renew my Nassarius snails. But the Hermits seemed to leave forever and are becoming huge.
Snails live rather long too, but I bought very few of them at a time, so sometimes I buy more just to have something new in the tank.
Peppermint shrimp lives a rather short lives, 2 or 3 years it seems.

 

[Timfish]

Rarely. From what I've seen over the decades with the exception of most snails (which seem to starve or some may just be short lived) urchins, hermits and brittle/serpent stars should live a decade or more.

 

[00W]

I have 2 tanks together. Same sump.
8 years ago or so, I bought 12 snails. 4 each of 3 different kinds.
I still have 8 left.
I also have about 100 small babies in my small tank that my trigger can't get at.
That tank has never had a snail in it.
Not bad for 10 bucks.

 

[Treefer32]

My 340 gallon has been running for over 6 years now and I've only bought a few nassarius snails, a few bumblebees, and 2-3 Turbo Snails. All those are still alive, I keep finding nassarius snails when I rake the sand bed. They've been self perpetuating. I have one - two surviving turbos that seem to get bigger by the day.

I have a 1- 1.5 year old abelone snail that is the cutest snail I've ever seen. He only comes out at night, but close to 6 inches in length. Extremely fast moving and really cool looking snail shell.

I've maybe bought a dozen snails and have significantly more than that now. So, I let them be self perpetuating. What survives is really healthy and what doesn't isn't suited for my tank. According to online calculators I should have a few hundred snails. or more. No, I just have a dozen or two highly effective snails.

 

[Homey D. Clownfish]

I replace about every 6 months, but it varies. I use ReefCleaners, and I’ve always been happy with their diversity when ordering package deals.

 

[MarsReefer]

My clean up crew is about 18 months old. I think my hermits all died (not enough bigger shells for them maybe). I see a bunch of snails still though not as many as when I first got them. My two conches are still alive and well and my 7 urchins have tripled in size and are all still doing great.

Haven’t replenished anything yet but might get more hermits some day, I loved watching them even if they didn’t seem to do a whole lot.

 

[Paul B]

I like to use Manatees. They live as long as us and bring their own algae if my tank doesn't have enough. They are fairly cheap but the plastic bags they come in are very expensive..and heavy.

 

[KorD]

It all depends when I need to add more CUC.. My tanks been rolling for 5 years or more now. I had a fish that used to try and eat them, so I needed to add more when needed.. The fish is gone so I just add when their numbers drop

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I was going to add some emerald Crab and more snails next week and looking at the budget, I will have to get my wife involved. Then I was looking at my 75 gallon display and ask myself I know something is missing. I have plenty of coral, really too many, I will have to move some to a frag tank as my animals grow in. Then it hit me schooling fish! Yes that is what I'm missing. Don't want to add green chromas, what other options do I have? Besides every opinion is 10.00 or more plus clean up crew I'm looking at a couple hundred dollars. Wait! Mollie's, yes a couple bucks a piece, colorful, schooling kinda, stay small and wait for it, great clean up crew! They will have babies=free food! Win win win. So that is my plan.

 

[Labridaedicted]

Generally I do one big CUC order per year. The smaller snails like astreas and ceriths just kinda dwindle with time so I top them off and add a few more oddball cleaners as well. Love my huge chitons.