Cleanup Crew

4 posts

Discuss all topics related to saltwater / reef tanks.


blenny
 
Posts: 74
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2016 7:08 pm

Cleanup Crew

by blenny

What inhabitants would you recommend for a cleanup crew for a reef tank?


tetrafan
 
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2016 7:03 pm

Re: Cleanup Crew

by tetrafan

What about brittle starfish? They can scavenge leftovers from all sorts of little crevices in your corals and won't do any damage.

Cerith snails are another good one. They love algae and they will even burrow under the sand and eat the algae on the sides of the glass, where other cleanup critters might not be able to reach it.


kate_kuhli
 
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2016 2:04 am
Location: Florida

Re: Cleanup Crew

by kate_kuhli

Peppermint shrimp eat aiptasia (pest anemone) as well as debris in the tank and can get into tight spaces to eat debris that other critters can't fit into. They can pick on corals and eat food meant for corals though. But overall they're about as reef safe as you can get.

Pretty much every tank could benefit from small hermit crabs too, IMO. They might also pick on corals though, it's kinda a hit or miss with them. Some people never have any issues with their hermit crabs and corals and some do.


ian06
 
Posts: 37
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 5:55 pm

Re: Cleanup Crew

by ian06

Tiger tail cucumbers eat algae and detritus that's on your sand and then they poop out clean sand. So they're extremely useful since they keep your sand looking nice and they're also pretty cool looking. Or at least I think so anyway!

They do get pretty big though - about a foot long I think, sometimes a little bit bigger, so make sure you get the appropriate number for your tank. There's guidelines on how many cucumbers per gallons or per square foot if you do a search online.

Cleanup Crew

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