Crab only cleanup crew?
 

Has anybody ever tried a crab only cleanup crew? I seem to be having problems keeping snails alive. For every 10 snails I introduce to the tank only 2-4 survive. I'm familiar with acclimation methods and all that, and water quality is spot on. My fish, corals, urchin, crabs..etc don't have this problem.

So I'm wondering if anyone's ever used crabs and no snails. I'm getting tired of wasting money on snail shells. Success stories? Horror stories? Thanks in advance.

I don't have much luck with snails either. :frown: I buy 5 and within 2 months there is usually only 1-2 left. I think they are turbo, anyway they are the ones commonly seen in the LFS. I have only 1 hermit crab in my tank, he's not really big, but I often wonder if the's the culprit making the snails disappear. Anyway, in my 20 gal. he seems to do a pretty good job of keeping it clean, other than the glass, which I scrape with a blade. :smile:

Try cowries. I bought 4 money cowries and 4 ringed cowries and none have died. I lost a few Astreas and Margaritas but no cowries. They seem to be hardier in my tank.

Where would I get them? I've never actually heard of cowries. Thanks Sam.

I got mine from Seacare. No one else seems to carry them for some reason. They are more expensive than regular snails though but they are neat and seem to survive better. I think Dr. Ron said that they are algae eaters. They spend most of their time on liverock and once in a while they go on the glass.

Oh, and none of my hermits (I have about 30 hermits) have attacked any yet so maybe their shells aren't suitable for hermits which would be a benefit.

http://www.hyperdream.com/~samw/reef...30_img_std.jpg

Hmm...from what I read here, you might want to be careful if you have soft corals:

The Egg Cowrie, also known as the Eggshell Cowrie, has a white shell with an orange-brown interior. Like the true cowries (of the family Cypraeidae), the egg cowrie encloses the shell with retractable flaps of the mantle. Unlike the true cowries, it does not have teeth on the inner edge of the shell's opening.

The Egg Cowrie does best in a rock or reef aquarium with moderate light. Tank mates should be chosen carefully because large snails and starfish may prey on the Egg Cowrie.

The Egg Cowrie feeds exclusively on soft corals, with no satisfactory substitution.

got that from http://www.peteducation.com/article....articleid=2283


Michael

um.. try looking up money cowries thats what thease are. they do have teeth around the opening of the shell as one of mine didn't make it so I had the chance to check it out.

Steve

Sorry, my mistake :redface: . I didn't realize there were that many different varities of cowries. For those that are interested this site shows pictures of about 10 different cowries.
http://www.bctropicalshells.com/web/1043.htm

Money and Ring cowries are the 2 recommended ones:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...2A+and+cowr%2A

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...2A+and+cowr%2A

Where is Seacare? I just tried looking it up at mytelus.com but couldn't come up with anything. Is it an lfs?