Bi-Weekly Discussion of the Week: Clean-Up Crews - Page 3

yardboy · 10-07-2003, 10:19 PM

I always have a few extra shells in my tank for the hermits. It doesn't always stop them from fighting though! Still, I've never lost a snail to hermit predation, nor ever witnessed a hermit pull another out of his shell. I have seen hermits choose shells too bg for themselves, and that's a funny sight to.

tdwyatt · 10-07-2003, 10:27 PM

A bad commentry on the hobby, but if you're putting in snails and crabs at the same time, there are always some casualties from shipping. Better to add the crabs later after the snails have recovered from the shipping and are back to normal. If you order 300 Astreas and you loose 15, then the crabs will have some shells to choose from... Just don't order a ton of crabs when you first put the snails in your tank, as the causalty list always seems to grow larger with them in place at the addition of a newly shipped order...

ruhspolostar · 10-07-2003, 11:04 PM

Well lets judt put it this way i bought 15 snails and 5 hermits and now 10 hermits have snail shells, how big do red and blue foot hermits get any way?

-I like putting conch shells in their for my hermits, not big ones of course!!

Geoff · 10-08-2003, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ruhspolostar
Well lets judt put it this way i bought 15 snails and 5 hermits and now 10 hermits have snail shells, how big do red and blue foot hermits get any way?

-I like putting conch shells in their for my hermits, not big ones of course!!

when i first got into this hobby and hermits were just being used, the blue legs, i could never figure out why all of my snails were dieing. all i kept thinking was, at least my hermits have some homes if they need them.

back in my "still thinking like a FW person" days.

G~

Geoff · 10-08-2003, 10:00 PM

what about bristleworms? do you consider these a part of your clean-up crew? what other kinds of polychaete make the reef tank work?

G~

Awestralian · 10-09-2003, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tdwyatt
I have a very LARGE green brittle star in the Tank in Wellford, and since its 2nd anniversary in the tank, I have not been able to keep fish smaller than 4 or 5 cm in length, as they just mysterioyusly dissappear overnight... ...eating well one day, active, no diseases, the next day, gone! No carcass, not carpet surfing, no nitrate surge in the system, NOTHING! I don't keep a lot of fish (they all MUST have a role in the ecosystem), but I still wanted to keep the little firefishes, they just seem to disappear one by one when I have purchased them. I have seen this seastar exhibit the "caging" behavior under the rock many times, but cannot say that I have actually seen it capture a fish in this manner, but the amount of circumstantial evidence points to the sea star. I have to say, leftover foods have never been an issue in this system, and I do feed on the light side...

We had a few hitchiker crabs that were taking our fish....

Have a good look for them. The ones we had were very, very hard to see even with the rock out of the water right in front of our faces...

Geoff · 10-09-2003, 09:35 PM

Welcome to TRT!!!!!

G~

tdwyatt · 10-09-2003, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Awestralian
We had a few hitchiker crabs that were taking our fish....

Heh! No doubt!

I am still finding an ocasional errant crustacean or other creature in this system after 6 years. It is coming down soon for the move to its new home, I know that there are some HUGE bristle worms in the system. I will photo any other UNUSUAL critters I find and post them. Still finding an occasional (BIG) blue leg hermits every now and then after all this time.

btw, Welcome to TRT, and just what IS a Vegemite sandwich???

Awestralian · 10-11-2003, 02:06 AM

Thanks Geoff and Tom...
Ive been reading posts for a bit on and off but only just signed up...
I have no idea whats in vegemite, i hate the stuff...
Everyone says im not an aussie, but i love my meat pies!!

We tore down our salt water setup and gave/sold all of it after a few problems, coupled with the fact that we have to move several times in the next couple years, and also wanting to have a much bigger tank.
But... When it comes time to start again, i can say i will not allow a single crab in the tank if i can help it. Not even hermits! I will only be burnt once!!!
For a clean up crew i would rely on assorted snails, some fish that are good sand stirers and maybe a cuke...

I keep nagging the misses to let me start a little nano tank to aid my salt water withdrawl but she isnt budging...

Casey · 10-11-2003, 03:52 AM

Awestralian Welcome to TRT

Awestralian · 10-11-2003, 07:32 PM

Thanks Casey!

Oh and great news, the other half has caved and im getting a NANO TANK!!
WAHOO!!

Anyways sorry for going OT...

Spanky · 10-12-2003, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Awestralian
Thanks Casey!

Oh and great news, the other half has caved and im getting a NANO TANK!!
WAHOO!!

Anyways sorry for going OT...

I've found that whining and sulking works for me.

WELCOME TO TRT

Spanky · 10-12-2003, 07:49 AM

Here I sit with coffee in hand!

Guys, Greg and I did a little experiment with all these clean up critters - since we have literally tons of them. LOL What we did was let hair algae (the #1 problem) grow in all the vats, then placed only certain critters in each vat to see what ate what.
Here's the run down.

The holding vats are about 2ft X 1 1/2ft X 1ft high. Each vat had one live rock about football size and no sand. Hair algae on the sides, bottom, and rocks. They were fed nothing.

Scarlets - Did a great job on the rocks, but very slow. Didn't touch the bottom or sides.

Emeralds - Cleaned the rocks completely. Didn't touch bottom or sides.

Sallys - Cleaned the rocks completely. Cleaned the bottom, but not the sides.

Blue legs - Cleaned the rocks completely (did the best and fastest). Cleaned the bottom and as far up the sides as they could reach.

Ceriths - Did nothing for the hair algae but ate all the detritus. The detritus that came out of the rocks was snow white.

Astrea - Totally cleaned all the hair algae on the bottom and sides of the tank. Didn't do a great job on the rocks, but did do some when they ran out of other places to feed.

Cukes and stars - Nothing at all. Some of the cukes even grew hair algae on their backs.

Urchins - Knocked it around, didn't eat any.

Casey · 10-12-2003, 07:53 AM

Jerel thanks for that last post good to know.I need another sally lightfoot always good to have

CAT · 10-12-2003, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Casey
Jerel thanks for that last post good to know.I need another sally lightfoot always good to have

Casey, I used to watch my sally try to catch fish that were swimming by. Might want to keep an eye out.

Spanky, great list