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The Importance of "CleanUp Crews"
For some just entering this hobby the term "CleanUp Crew" may sound like
we're hiring a janitorial service for our tanks. In a very real
sense, we are!
The Clean Up
crews we buy consist of invertebrates such as cucumbers,
shrimps & snails. Bristle worms, copepods & other
organisms that enter our tanks as hitchhikers in & on the
rock & corals we buy also provide necessary cleaning.
Remember, bristle worms act just like earth worms do for a
garden. They are "good guys", just don't touch them
because their bristles will sting.
Now let's talk
about who the reef safe ones are, why they are a "must have"
in our tanks, the important benefits/functions of each & how
many we should have:
 Cucumbers:
Fantastic top sand cleaners,
physically eating sand grains & producing clean sand waste.
They will travel next to the base of your rocks targeting
areas where detritus collect.
Recommended
numbers:
1-2 /3 Ft - 2-3 /4 Ft - 3+
/6 Ft tank.
2 or more in a tank may give you babies!
Pictured here...baby cucumbers born at AquaCorals! :c)
Astrea
snails:
Thorough algae eaters. Target your rock & glass
surfaces. Other "turbo" type snails aren't as thorough
& can topple rocks when larger. Only downside to
Astreas is that they can't right themselves when toppled
upside down. You must right them up when fallen...then
they'll go on their merry way. :0)
Recommended numbers: 1 per gallon of tank
Nassarius snails:
Fantastic scavengers! They eat
detritus, uneaten fish food & waste and burrow in the top 1
inch of your substrate keeping it loose & clean. They will
"pop" out of the sand when you feed!
Recommended numbers: 1 per gallon of tank
Cerith snails:
Bury within the top 1/2 inch of your
sand bed helping to keep it from compacting. These
cool elongated shelled snails clean the algae off the
individual grains of sand and base of rocks. They are
well known for being a great defense against a cyano
bacteria (Red Slime) breakout.
Recommended
numbers: 1 per gallon of tank
Emerald Crabs:
The only CRAB I sell to put in the
main tank! Great hair algae eaters & scavengers.
Recommended numbers:
1-2 /3 Ft - 2-3 /4 Ft
- 3+ /6 Ft tank.
Peppermint & Cleaner shrimp:
Both shrimp are great scavengers that will help take care of
uneaten fish foods & other wastes. "True" Peppermint
Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni)
if unfed will clean a rock free of aptasia & Cleaner Shrimp
also provide parasitic cleaning & manicures for fish!
Recommended numbers: Pairs in any size tanks are
cool! Pairs will spawn. 2 pairs same or
different species in a 4ft+ tank.
Hermit Crabs:
NOT Recommended
for your main tank!
Though many places sell them as part of their clean-up crew,
I do not as they have bad behaviors including making
expensive lunches out of your good snails! Stick with
the clean-up crew listed here & be safe!
In a nutshell,
cleanup crews take care of uneaten foods & fish waste, keep
the sand supple so gasses can escape, keep the rock clear of
nuisance algae, clean parasites off fish & their spawning
provides a feeding treat for all! Buy
them all at once or add to your population until you reach
the recommended numbers then just replace as you see them
pass away. It is important to maintain their
therapeutic numbers in order for them to be really
effective.
See "Inverts
& Clean-Up Crew" for pictures &/or to
purchase your cleaners
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