Tank Cleaners

[sarah86]

ive been looking on tropical fish for you website and found their tank cleaners starter pack. They look interesting, but i dont know whether i'll need it or if it'll benefit the tank. I will have set up soon approx 100L tank, and i am looking to increase my fish to 10 harlequin rasboras, 4 peppered corys and 4 bronze corys, 3 guppys and 2 blue rams. would the pack which includes:

2x Turbo Snails

5x Nassarius Snails

4x Trochus Snails

8x Blue Leg Hermit Crab

be too much for my tank?

do the hermit crabs bother the corys?

I am also changing over to sand so the idea of having something other than my corys turning it over appeals to me but since i havent kept snails (not intentionally anyway!) or crabs before i dont know much about them.
any advice welcome!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Hi,

The "tank cleaners" or Clean up crew as they are also know are for Salt Water (marine) tanks and not for freshwater tropical tanks (like you have).

If you wanted some inverts (shrimp and snails) then you could get some Red Cherry Shrimp, Bumble Shrimp and apple snails (to name just a few). Just make sure they are "tropical freshwater" and not "tropical marine" or "Tropical Saltwater"

Edit:
For keeping the sand turned over Malaysian trumpet snails will dig into the sand and help keep it airated.

 

[sarah86]

Hi,

The "tank cleaners" or Clean up crew as they are also know are for Salt Water (marine) tanks and not for freshwater tropical tanks (like you have).

If you wanted some iverts (shrimp and snails) then you could get some Red Cherry Shrimp, Bumble Shrimp and apple snails (to name just a few). Just make sure they are "tropical freshwater" and not "tropical marine" or "Tropical Saltwater"

ahh i didnt notice that! lol feel silly now, thanx for the tips i'll read up on the ones youve mentioned and have a think

 

[Andypalf]

A few months ago I bought some Amano shrimp for my 125L tank. I started with 2 and then got 3 more. They were great for cleaning the place up and were great fun to watch.

Mysteriously they all disappeared not too long ago. But in there place some snails that must have arrived with some plants have started to thrive. In the last month their population has exploded which got me worried at first. But the tank has never been cleaner! I've got a fully stocked tank and you just don't find any waste debris in the tank any more. When I sort my camera out I'll stick up a photo of the little guys as I haven't got a clue what type of snail they are.

My LFS gets in some interesting inverts from time to time and I'd recommend Amano shrimp as well as Long-Arm Shrimp and Amoured Shrimp. But, the last two are quite pricey.