Reef custodians

[Son Of Skyline]

Originally Posted by jason604

Hi how many reef custodians do I typically need for a 75g tank? I went JL and they said to get Package #5

60 - Blue Legged Hermits
10 - Red Scarlet Hermit
20 - Astrea Snails
20 - Margarita Snails
20 - Cerith Snails

Seems way too overkill and just want to milk money from new hobbyist like me lol.

That package is waaay too much for a 75 gal. I'd go with something more like 5-10 hermits and 10-15 snails total.

In my 70 gal I have one hermit crab and one big strawberry top hat snail. All other leftover food is eaten by my natural cleanup crew (small brittle stars, pods, bristle worms...etc). Tank has been running for 4 years and all is well.

Over the years nice noticed that a huge cleanup crew increases your bio load too much. I'd rather keep 2 extra fish than 40 hermits which will dwindle down 10 within months anyway.

[subman]

I wish my clean up crew was ....no hermits or snails. They are both a huge pain in the butt. Always knocking stuff over, stealing food from corals and getting into areas they shouldn't get to (ie pumps)

Bristle worms, brittle stars and conchs are perfect. I also like shrimp mainly because they are nice additions to the tank not as much for cleaning.