Purpose of Hermit Crab

[goldie]

so if a lot of you don't use hermits what do you have for a CUC, just snails? Do you use a mixture of species?

[jorjef]

2 Astrea snails and about 8 Cowries in 77 Gallons... Hardly a clean up crew lol I like them because they are nocturnal..I believe if your tank is stable and you don't overfeed you shouldn't even need one..

[marie]

Originally Posted by goldie

so if a lot of you don't use hermits what do you have for a CUC, just snails? Do you use a mixture of species?

You will find over time that you have more of a clean up crew then you thought. Bristle worms, spaghetti worms, brittle stars, pods......all these guys form the bulk of a good cuc and they come as part of your live rock

[jorjef]

Originally Posted by marie

You will find over time that you have more of a clean up crew then you thought. Bristle worms, spaghetti worms, brittle stars, pods......all these guys form the bulk of a good cuc and they come as part of your live rock

Very good point.

[burgerchow]

Originally Posted by goldie

so if a lot of you don't use hermits what do you have for a CUC, just snails? Do you use a mixture of species?

Umm, about 150 snails, 2 tuxedo urchins, 5 long spine urchins, couple emerald crabs, and a big ass chiton, ( sea hare currently on tour)

[Aquaria]

Originally Posted by burgerchow

Umm, about 150 snails, 2 tuxedo urchins, 5 long spine urchins, couple emerald crabs, and a big ass chiton, ( sea hare currently on tour)

Sounds like complete overkill to me lol

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by goldie

so if a lot of you don't use hermits what do you have for a CUC, just snails? Do you use a mixture of species?

i dont see the need for ornamental clean up crews like snails or crabs, urchins etc in a big tank. like marie said theres more than enough cuc in a healthy tank let alone the stuff we add afterwards.

[troni]

ok so while your tank was maturing what did you use?

[jorjef]

Originally Posted by troni

ok so while your tank was maturing what did you use?

I fell into assumption I "needed" a clean up crew when I started.. Ended up I didn't need anything. I only had a mediocre diatom bloom that I blew off with a turkey baster and netted up with a cheese cloth type of net. After a week or so it went away. Wait for a problem to arrive before you jump into buying anything. To answer your question I had the most evil of all "HERMIT" crabs and Astrea snails. Get good quality cured live rock and your chances of needing anything will be greatly reduced.

[whatcaneyedo]

When I first started up I followed the usual recommendations and added many different snails and crabs. But not because they were needed. Only because thats what I thought I was suppose to do. In general most of them didn't last long. The crabs would kill each other and some of the snails or get eaten themselves by my fish. The snails would get stuck in the rocks or fall upside down and die or just plain starve if I bought the wrong type. More and more I witnessed a hitch hiker cleanup crew emerge so I started to question what was the point in buying all of these things? So I stopped and now the bristle worms, mini brittle stars, mini turbos, pods, mysids, astrea stars and stomatella snails do most of the work. Whats left of my store-bought crews consists of 2 abalone, an astrea snail, 1 tuxedo and 1 rock boring urchin. Thats it and if you look in my Tank Journal you'll see that I do have a relatively large system with a high bioload.