animals that will maintain the tank for you

[Zayetsfoot]

Blue leg hermits, Turbo snails, Serpent stars, Brittle stars, Tiger tail cucumbers, Peppermint shrimp and Pistol shrimp.......

A lot of people I talk to, a lot of internet groups and of course the LFS suggest getting these to use as a "clean up crew"

What does everyone think about these? I have heard that the Hermits can be harmful to some the his neighbors. Anybody have this happen?

How many of these would everyone suggest for a 135 gallon tank? I will have at least 150 lbs of live rock to start out with along with an Eco system filter.

Suggestions?

Thanks!
jason

[Pineapple House]

A clean up crew is a very good idea, esspecielly when it comes to 'cleaning up' :wink:

Astreas, Trochus, and a couple Cerith/Baha (from Sea of Cortez), 1 Fighting Conch, Nassarius Snails, and *cerith *snails are all good part of a clean up crew. Some tiger tail cucumbers are also good.

I would try to avoide the brittle star and serpent star. These have a record of eating small fish during the night. While they are quite hardy, and will eat left over foods in the tank, they can eat smaller sized fish. Just be cautious when adding them.

I would try to dump the hermits, they can be a real pain, esspecielly when you see them pulling out snails from their shells trying to find a larger 'home.'

PH =)

[Zack]

If you are looking for a 'clean up crew' may online stores have great package ideas like saltwaterfish.com good luck!!

[matrixnyc]

You can check out FFExpress.com for some great deals on Reef Clean Up Crews, I have ordered from them in the past and was happy with the quality and delivery.

http://www.ffexpress.com/prod.asp?cat=C&item=66

[phistio]

i know some people don't like hermits...but as long as you provide quite a few extra shells, the should be fine...

[volitan]

I dislike hermits even more now.. just got three big Feather Dusters from Saltwaterfish.com and one of my Huge hermits thought one of em would be a tasty snack :( down to 2 feather dusters.. and the big hermits are now all in a 20 gallon.. only hermits in my 55 now are pea sized blue legs.. they are too small yet to mess up anything.. "I think"

[phistio]

ouch...and big feather dusters aren't cheap!!!

[Zayetsfoot]

phistio,

i am assuming that I can get empty shells from the LFS? Is that the only reason they kill snail is for the shells? I guess I never heard that before.

Thanks everyone
Jason

[Pineapple House]

i am assuming that I can get empty shells from the LFS?
You likely could. I would try and get a large variety of shells, around the size of the hermits, and bigger. This way, the hermits could easily move into a shell that's right for them.

I would wash them out thoughrouly before adding them to the tank :)

PH =)

[phistio]

yeah i always ask the LFS to throw in quite a few extra shells. blue legs shouldn't get all that big, so you don't have to worry about getting big shells (such as turbo shells).

[Blodlizrd]

One of my friends has 3 giant blue leg hermits all living in Turbo shells. He had to get rid of them though because they were picking on the smaller crabs. They lived to pull the smaller crabs out of their shells. It was like some crazy blue leg gang! J/K