cleaner crew

[stevensmd]

yesterday I bought a few items to start the crew...blue leg hermit crabs and a "small" brittle (like) star..don't quite remember the name...I was wanting to get a shrimp also...are the peppermint shrimp not reef safe? will they eat anenomes? from what I hear the coral banded would be preferable...do you have any suggestions for other crew members that will help keep the tank clean?
dave

[griffey83]

As far as I know pepermints are reef safe. Some are known to eat aptasia. Which in my opinion is a good thing. I have a few pepermints in my tank and they do a great job cleaning but they are hard to find at times and not there to show off to friends.
I also have two Cleaner Shrimp/Skunk Shrump. They are very good cleaners and they are out in the open and they are fun to watch. They eat all kinds of stuff and if you are lucky they will start to clean your fish too.

[SmartWrasse]

The cleaner shrimp are relatively reef safe, but they reportedly eat some beneficial sand bed organisms. I have 2 skunks that clean my tang and have eaten a lot of cap snails (these snails don't have much shell for protection). I feed the shrimp daily because they are voracious.

Had a green brittle star for a few days but it ate Xenia. The small brittle stars in detrivore kits are great.

People generally say the "Scarlet' hermits are more safe than blue legs. Apparently there are some red leg hermits that are not scarlets.

[stevensmd]

what do you feed your shrimp?

[SmartWrasse]

Dave, They like meaty things like frozen food, formula1, shrimp (cannibals) and I guess they will eat a lot of different things. The skunks are active and can be fun to watch. I think the peps really do eat aptaisia and could control a smaller outbreak.

[Sir Knight]

Dave,
The other problem that you may encounter with hermit crabs is as the hermits grow, they will need bigger shells. So, if you have any snails in the tank the hermits will kill the snails and take the shells. Also keep in mind that if you don't have snails you will need to provide larger shells for your crabs as they grow.

As far as shrimp unless you have a supply of starfish stay away from Harlequin Shrimp as they only eat starfish. The Camel Shrimp - Rhynchocinetes uritai ( I think that is the correct name) is not reef safe they are known to eat soft corals, colonial anemones, etc

Peppermint shrimp, Fire shrimp, Banded Coral Shrimp (yellow)are Reef safe. The Banded Coral Shrimp will fight with the gold Coral Shrimp

Hope this helps

Joe W.