Clean up Crew for Sand Bed

banuvatt

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#1
What are clean up crew which you would recommend for the sand bed? I am looking for ones that won't topple any of my rock work or frags. My scape is sittig on the sand bed but, most of it is flat.
 

mchain275

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#2
Nassarius snails are great for the sand bed and are unlikely to topple anything. If you have a big tank, you might also consider a sand sifting starfish or two.
 

Dipan00

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#5
Diamond Goby is solid mixed in with a sand sifting star and a bunch of nassarius snails.
 

lazycouch

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#6
diamond gobies, nassarius, and conches will all move your frags. red leg hermits really improved the look of my sandbed. i added 30-40 to my 30g cube
 
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#7
I like the dwarf zebra hermit crabs. They stay a little on the smaller side and don’t tend to try to take food from corals. They clean the sand bed and rock work but don’t disrupt frags or corals.


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banuvatt

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#8
I like the dwarf zebra hermit crabs. They stay a little on the smaller side and don’t tend to try to take food from corals. They clean the sand bed and rock work but don’t disrupt frags or corals.

Are they safe with snails?
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banuvatt

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#9
diamond gobies, nassarius, and conches will all move your frags. red leg hermits really improved the look of my sandbed. i added 30-40 to my 30g cube
I have a single hermit crab at the moment but, from what I understand they are cannibals if you do not offer like enough shells and food correct?
 
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#10
In my experience they are safe. Most of the ones I have had have been close to full size, so had no need to find a new shell. Others have chosen empty shells.

I never saw them trying to kill my snails for the shells, but I suppose it is always a possibility.

I currently have 6 dwarf zebra hermits in my 45gal, along with nasarius snails, trochus, and ceriths. The zebras have only gone after already empty shells.


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banuvatt

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#11
I am assuming if I got dwarf zebra hermits I would need to get rid of my red legged(I think it's either a red leg or a scarlet)?
 

Jimbo327

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#12
I think a variety of conch, hermits, nassarius, trochus and turbo.
 

drexel

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#13
I'm not a fan of sand sifting stars, yes they clean the sand, but not in the way you think. They're eating all of the little worms and critters (microfauna) that actually help keep the sand clean. I'm sure they pick up some detritus, but they're taking too much of the good stuff.
 

drexel

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#16
Scarlets are probably the best hermits to have, just keep extra shells and they don’t tend to murder tank mates like blue legs.


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