Cleanup Crew for 55 Gal

[bla403]

I am just finishing up the cycling of my first 55 gallon tank and I need some assistance on picking out a cleanup crew. Let me know what you think of this list. 75 lbs of live rock in the tank with a 20 gal sump and skimmer.

1 diamond goby
1 lawnmower blennie
3 emerald crabs
2 cleaner shrimp
1 fire shrimp
1 purple lobster
5 nassarius snails
10 astrea snails

The purple lobster is there because he is awesome.
Let me know!! :helm2:

 

[yote]

First off,Welcome to the site.
That list looks good to me.Except I'd up those Nassarius to 15 to 20.It'd also be a good idea to add a serpent star and a brittle star.Just stay away from the big green brittles.

 

[Bifferwine]

I agree with Yote. Every tank needs at least one starfish. For a 55 gallon tank, you could get two, either brittle star, serpent star or one of each.

I would also add a Mexican turbo snail to your list. Other than that, your list looks good.

 

[Bifferwine]

PS -- add 3 or 4 peppermint shrimp. They will make sure you don't have aiptasia problems.

 

[bla403]

Whats the benefit from the serpent star? I was thinking about adding a starfish but everything I read says that they like established tanks so I wanted to wait before I added a star.

Added a few pep shrimp should be much of an issue since they are so small.

I'll go a little higher on the nass snails and maybe add the turbo but I didnt want to go too high so that they dont have the provided food. Was planning on adding a small tang to the tank so I thought that he + the astreas would take care of the glass algae.

Thanks for the input so far.

 

[Bifferwine]

Whether or not a tang will work on the glass depends on the type of tang you get. Kole tangs are great at cleaning the glass, yellow and sailfins, not so much (in my experience). Your lawnmower blenny should be the best of all of them at the glass though.

Serpent and brittle stars need stable water conditions, but not necessarily established tanks. Maybe you're thinking of sand sifting stars? Those require mature, established tanks and I wouldn't really recommend them for too many situations.

 

[bla403]

Thanks.

Im just saying that about the stars since that seems to be the info that I get from most sites. I'll check my lfs for a good star tomorrow when I pick up the rest of my crew.

The sand I have in the bottom ~1-1.5 inchs is pretty fine... would any of those guys have issues with that?

 

[Bifferwine]

Nope, fine sand is better than crushed coral. Your animals should be fine.

 

[d2mini]

www.reefcleaners.org will recommend a cleanup crew for you and they are pretty cheap. Good service, too.

 

[yote]

What makes the serpent and brittle stars good to have,is they will eat anything thats dead,uneaten fish foods,and other waste.They generally help clean it up before it has time to break down and mess up your water quality.

 

[bla403]

Well I went to the LFS and got my crew. They have been in the tank since 9pm last night after acclimation and such.
I wake up this morning to find that 1 of my emerald crabs has a giant sack of eggs its trying to push into the current in the tank.
5 minutes later I watched a cleaner shrimp molt...:w00t:
Gotta love it.

 

[yote]

I bet you didnt get any pics?:D
Those crab eggs will keep a lot of the filter feeders in your happy for an hour or so.Congratulations.

 

[Bifferwine]

Ahhh the circle of life. Exciting, isn't it?