clean up crew for a 20 gallon?

[HeavyWeaponsGuy]

just now hearing about these, anybody know where i can find a good deal on 'em?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

For a 20gal tank? You would only need about 3-4 snails like nerrites or trochus for the glass and maybe 2-3 nassarious for the sand. I'd say half a dozen hermit crabs would do just fine as well. You can get these at most any decent SW LFS.

[Sasquatch]

Amano shrimp make great cleanup crews for the substrate and decor. You could easity put a dozen in a 20g tank.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

They don't fare well in SW though ;)

[cocoa_pleco]

yep, amanos wont last at all in SW

i would get 5 turbo snails, 3 nassarious snails, and 5-10 hermit crabs. depending on how many fish are in there you might get away with a shrimp too

[zackish]

Don't hermit crabs pick at corals or is that something else I am thinking of?
Also, do hermit crabs eat bubble algae? If not, what does?

[unleashed]

some hermits may pick at corals. depends on the species. However, i would say that 95% of them are reef-safe.

Common aquarium hermits (blue/red-legged etc) do not. There are very few species on the planet that actually do. Some say that emerald mythrax crabs do a some tangs may, again, it is a hit or miss situation.

[Sasquatch]

They don't fare well in SW though ;)

Oops, didn't know he was doing salt water, and he didn't mention it in his post.

Sorry.

[cocoa_pleco]

emerald crabs eat bubble algea, and almost all hermit crabs are reef safe, i have 50-75 blue leg hermits in my 55g without any coral damage

[zackish]

But do emeralds pick at corals?

[Halelorf]

My emerald hasn't touched any of my corals. It is always content with sitting in tiny holes in the liverock and getting clawfulls of stuff off the rocks.

[NickFish]

Trochus snails are great, I love mine.

And emeralds are my favourite crabs. I really don't like hermits because now and then you get a crazy one (or I did anyway) that eats you corals and snails. Emeralds do a great job of eating bubble algae, and they don't touch my corals.