Cleaning Crews

[maurice]

I recently read somewhere that the optimum cleaning crew is 1 snail per gallon and 1 hermit per 2 gallons...

what species do you recomend, and how much is not too much but efficient for a 14 gallon tank? I need a decent cleaning crew asap.... I have two snails but they seem to be doing more harm then good their poop is everywhere!! lol

[leveldrummer]

some people recommend a huge cleaning crew that is really unnecessary, one snail per gallon is just way too much, they will clean up real fast, but then slowly starve to death, i would get 4 or 5 glass cleaners (astreae, trochus, nerite) and maybe 4 sand diggers (cerith, nassarius) and maybe 5 -8 dwarf hermits if you like crabs, if you dont, get a few more of the glass cleaners.

[schmidt01]

Originally Posted by maurice

I recently read somewhere that the optimum cleaning crew is 1 snail per gallon and 1 hermit per 2 gallons...

what species do you recomend, and how much is not too much but efficient for a 14 gallon tank? I need a decent cleaning crew asap.... I have two snails but they seem to be doing more harm then good their poop is everywhere!! lol

That Fish Place has this information posted on their website (see link below)
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/6/product.web

The smallest tank they have listed is 30 gallons, so you can just cut the clean up crew in half since your tank is only 14 gallons.

[maurice]

well half of that is wayyyyyy more than the guy before you says... and hes a mod... lol... on a lighter and more noobish note what classification would a turbo snail fall into? I dont know his specific genus and epithet... I imagine they are glass cleaners b/c thats all mine do and the sand bed is getting shabby.


I think that i may have some Diatom growing in the sand bed... but im not sure... any specific ones to take care of that job?

[toniell]

now now everyone play nice

[ChrisPrusha]

I'm with Andy on this one. Some of the cleaning crew recommendations on these web sites are just ridiculous, imho.

[DevilBoy]

i must agree with andy and chris also. on this, these online vendors completely overkill these cleanup crews.


If you sand is looking shabby get a couple ceriths, nassarius snails, or even a fighting conch.

[Geoff]

the more sand you have in the tank the more likely you will need a boatload of cleanup crew.

i prefer snails over crabs. crabs can not be trusted they like to kill your snails for the shells.

if your sand bed is getting shabby you might want to look into sea cucumbers and nassarious snails. Nassarious snails do not clean your sand by eating it, they just keep the sand bed stirred up a bit. Nassarious snails are meat eaters so you have to make sure they are getting food when you feed the tank. Ceriths are also good at stiring the sand right next to the glass.

i also like Trochus, and Astreas.

G~

[saltysupply]

stay away from hermits, they will kill snails and cause trouble.

[seasalt dreams]

stay away from blue leg hermits, not all hermits, and I would say 5 ish snails, and 5 ish hermits to start off with for your 14 gallon would be plenty.