Adding your clean up crew snails!

The Cleanup Crew

After cycling and after appearance of algae, it's time to add the Cleanup Crew. This is a crew of invertebrates to help keep your tank clean. Some will eat algae; some will eat detritus; some will actually clean your fish of parasites. They all perform a purpose. Again, this is just a guideline. Choice of characters and researching them I'll leave to you. The inverts have to be acclimated the same as livestock. Again, here is a good acclimation guide:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general...eral_pagesid=19.
Try and balance out your crew so you have a broad spectrum of cleanup function.

Snails
General recommendations are 1 snail/1-2 gallons. As you add them, remember not to add too many of one kind...you don't want to add 10 snails that eat algae and then no one who eats detritus. Here is an example of a cleanup crew somone used in their 20 gallon:

5 Nassarius Snails

3 Astraea Snails

5 Cerith Snails

1 Turbo Snails

1 Fighting Conch

1 Scarlett Reef Hermit

Astrea--these have sharp, conical shells with circular ridges. They remain small
Advantages:
they stay small
great herbivores
very hardy.
easy to find at the LFS
can eat cyanobacteria
Disadvantages:
if they fall, they can't right themselves and may die
can be pray for certain fishes (hawkfish)



Nassarius--These are small snails that burrow in the sand and eat detritus. They
are more scavengers than algae eaters. They are becoming more popular and
receive a lot of good comments from others. By burrowing, they can help to aerate the substrate and help prevent it from concreting.




Turbo--They have black shells and grow to 3".
Advantages:
Excellent herbivores
Hardy
Easy to find at the LFS
Disadvantages:
They can knock things over in the tank; rearrange your landscaping
it is not uncommon for them to die from poor acclimation.





Cerith--small, less than 1" snails with pointed shells, usually covered with coralline algae.
Advantages:
Good herbivores.
Hardy and long lived
reasonable glass cleaners
Disadvantages:
Not effective against hair algae



Nerite--small, less than 1" with a rounded shell covered with coralline algae. Sometimes has a stripe or spots
Advantages:
Good herbivores
hardy, long lived
Disadvantages:
may wander out of the tank
less common at the LFS



Caution

Use caution in selecting the following snails:
Chestnut Cowries: may pray on soft corals when larger
Bumble Bee snails: although I have no experience with this snail, I have heard some negative comments about them. Choice is up to you
Other snails for you to look up: Trocus Grazers and Margarita snails. I've found that Margarita snails, although EXCELLENT snails, prefer cooler temps and do not last long in warmer tropical temps.