What is too little or too much for a cleaning crew

[irish02bk]

I have a 55g, with 40lbs of LR another 40 about to go in the tank (waiting to cycle) 4 fish some snails and hermits. maybe 15 combined...

I'm just wondering inf a 55g tank how many snails (break our different kinds if you can) and how many Hermits (again break out by different kinds) should you have in a 55 gallon tank. I will be putting softies in it. Any other cleaners i should have in the tank?

[Jenwen]

I have had advice recently that you should have 5 snails and 5 hermits per gallon in your tank. I purchased a bunch of each from Dirk a couple of weeks ago and he had really reasonable prices. Way better than store retail around here.

[MNGold15]

I have had advice recently that you should have 5 snails and 5 hermits per gallon in your tank. I purchased a bunch of each from Dirk a couple of weeks ago and he had really reasonable prices. Way better than store retail around here.

I would say that is overkill, but if you have big problems with algae, then i guess that is fine. I would say 2 of each per gallon should be plenty.

[irish02bk]

what assortment of snails? also one hermit better then another, i use to have a lot of blue legs but i don't think any of the little guys are stick kicking,

[mtfatwork]

I dont do hermits because they kill each other off, along with snails. I just load up on the snails instead. Nassarius and cerith for the sand, astrea and trochus for the rest.

[MNGold15]

I dont do hermits because they kill each other off, along with snails. I just load up on the snails instead. Nassarius and cerith for the sand, astrea and trochus for the rest.

I agree with Mary. Crabs are just nice for large build ups of waste, which in a high flow system you should not really have to worry about. I also would add margarita snails to the list, I like those also.

[Zibba]

I like astrea's and nassarius. But I seem to replace my astrea's all the time since the die when they get turned upside-down and I'm not around to flip them over. I would stay away from hermits as well...

As far as #'s go. I think that 5/gallon is a bit much - try 1/gallon and if that's not enough add more. I started out with about .5/gallon and I'm bumping my #'s up to around 1.5/gallon. I like 2:1 ratio of astrea:nassarius...but I don't know how or where I came up with that number. It seems to be working just fine. (gotta love the anecdotal response)

[patent]

astrea and trochus for the rest.

Does anyone know of any sites that have trochus snails for a reasonable price? I'd love to get a pile of them if I could find them around .50 or less, but they all seem to be over 1.50 each, at best.

patent

[patent]

As far as #'s go. I think that 5/gallon is a bit much - try 1/gallon and if that's not enough add more. I started out with about .5/gallon and I'm bumping my #'s up to around 1.5/gallon. I like 2:1 ratio of astrea:nassarius...but I don't know how or where I came up with that number. It seems to be working just fine. (gotta love the anecdotal response)

I take the same approach, start out lower and see how it goes. Its a bit of a hassle to keep joining orders to get to where you want, but probably better long term for the system. I just don't think its a great idea to flood a tank with too many snails at one time. I'm probably too cautious, but I'd hate to go from zero to 5 snails per gallon all at once, I like to add about .5-.75 snails per gallon at one time.

I tend to think 2 per gallon will be a good number when I get there, it has been in the past.


patent