Clean up crew special report.

Hermits are comical and they do their job but they tend to kill everything that wanders onto there zone. Peanut worms, spaghetti worms, harmless limpets and chitons.

I once had an Abalone that was the best algae eater I have ever had especially green hair algae, talk about a bulldozer though. Nocturnal and hides in the rockwork during the day but at night an algae vacuum cleaners.

The long spine urchin was only problematic in that they can wedge themselves into rock works and you'll not get them out unless you find them out and about during the day, and my propensity to sick my self with spines doing tank maintenance.

Your systems has multiple systems within which affords you the opportunity to experiment with different inverts which is very cool. Those of us limited to a single smaller to medium size tank must choose our options carefully.

 

An interesting discussion. Thanks Corailline for bringing it back on track. I am in the process of setting up a new 60 gal tank and am beginning to make decisions on the clean up crew. I was also unhappy with my hermits and will most likely stay away from them this time. That being said, i had no issues with my snails other than an incident of clogging my overflow. It is obviously something that needs to be at least as well thought out as a fish stocking list because the long term implications for the tank are perhaps even greater. I am interested in hearing from people about what they have done with their tanks that are similar in size as mine and what has worked log term for them.

 

Yes i understand which is the reason i never had these before in my 65 G .The tuxedo was enough, but the big black Hatpin urchins are way to big for those size tanks .These voracious animals need room and food thats why they constantly move everything . mine hasn't done that. the occasional brush with my mermaid fan which he seems determine to kick out of the way , he can't eat that its too hard. He preffer the foam sometime lol. thats why i have a clip and leave a pellet at night for them . When i designed the tank i knew what i wanted and what CUC i was going to use. The least amount of snails, and the more unique and interesting urchins. 3 seems to be enough for a 150G collaborating with the 3 conch for the algaes seems to work. Of course this is with my aquascape design thats a big variable...... i have a 6 foot long X 17" high backwall of rockface with grazing potential plus the rockwoks in the tank for them, plus the sand surface, thats a lot for 7 animal. They of course get the fish help , a Yellow Tang and the Foxface. Once the count is good and the tank is clean its much easier to keep track of who's alive than snails.

 

weird thread.

when I took my tank down, I still had planaxis and nassarius vibex populations - meaning they survived for over five years or were reproducing as I never purchased them outside the initial crew.

My nerites last about 3-4 years before having to get a few more. I'd buy them small and they'd die large.

hermits are the devil and I quit using them about halfway through. once i got rid of them, my ceriths started surviving.

IME, urchins are bulldozers - hunger is not a factor, I don't believe they can think that far ahead.

I've snorkeled a few reefs here and there, I'm no expert, but I have yet to see a reef that wasn't covered in snails and I've yet to see a wild urchin (outside a non reef tide pool). Never seen a wild cucumber either, but I probably just didn't notice them

I haven't kept any thing that has potential of releasing toxins. It isn't fear. It's in having a priority of safety of my monetary investment. These creatures seem like an unnecessary risk IMO but that is subjective.

I'm one of those folks that prefers a large snail CuC. IME, it's a myth that you have some big die-off automatically. Sure, there are tanks where this happens - examples of everything exist. I'd keep around 200 snails in my 55. Mostly dwarf ceriths but variety is key.

I'd like OP to talk about how long this current combination has been going. That would be more interesting and useful than some of the other comments made.

P

 

I don't know why you bring this condescending animosity here i just made a thread about my choices and my observation. So make a thread about your observations.

 

I dont see it as being condescending at all, he is pointing out his observations from his experiences and asking you how long your current CUC has been working. Its not to be rude but there are many variables as to why something might work for one person and not another.

I myself lvoe hermit crabs but they are CUC killers!!!! They even kill each other Once they finished off the snails until youre left with almost nothing lol.

I have been thinking about adding a tuxedo urchin to my 65gal in addition to snails. To nervous to go the toxic cuke route and would not want to add sandsifting stars as they would probably starve in my tank longter,.

 

Nice update,

Agree with most, anyways, I've had an urchin and conch for about 2 yrs, but I also have various snails and hermits too.

Glad to see you system coming along.

Hows the floor holding up? ;-)

 

LOL hahaha so you were there at the beginning, yes its holding up good lol. I told the lady downstairs that i flooded 6 years ago that , that was a shower, now her comes the spa, LOL..... She laughed, she bought my old tank too. As the Borg would say i assimilated her lol. She's into the hobby now.

Yes the cuc crew i have now is taking over the first one i put in to start the tank a few trochus and turbos, and cerith , the hermiths are all but in the Angler pen , where all i should say , of the 12 i had 5 are left now i think lol the biggest ones lol. The Dwarf Fuzzy lion fish doesn't seem to be interested in them lol.

 

I moved this thread to inverts.

@vinny - agreed about tuxedo urchins in that they munch coralline algae and mow down frags that are not glued down. Just last week I noticed mine had pulled up frags I had in crevices that were not glued. That impressed me. That said, I am a HUGE fan of my tuxedo urchin. My tank would be a green mess without it.

@Peredhil - interesting observations. Esp for me with the nerites. My are about that old now and I have noticed a reduction in my population. I love them. My favorite snail - great grazers. I'll get more.

@Mudbeaver - great 1st post. Thanks for the effort there. Please report offensive posts for handling. thanks

 

Thanks Matt but its not my first post lol i've got a good build thread if you want to take a peek and let me know what you think;


http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/two-new-100-g-starfire-glassand-tank-one-80g-tank-incomming-146587-7.html#.Uw_iZON5N8E