[Lowej82]

So what would be an ideal clean up crew for my 29 gal tank?

as of now I have about 5 blue leg crabs, 3 turbo snails, 1 emerald crab, a cleaner shrimp, & a skooter blenny.

What would be good for sifting sand? I wanted a sand sifting cucumber, when I asked a guy at the lfs why they never 0had them he said that they tend to ooze alot of bad toxins, when they eat, stress, or happen to die. If they lay eggs and fish eat them he said it would kill the fish.

[lynnvangsnes]

Concerning sea cucumbers, they can eviscerate themselves but only if they are attacked or are severely stressed. They do help in keeping your DSB clean, but they will diminish your bacteria and pods in your DSB, and evenutally starve to death. If you have a lot of LR stacked up on top of your DSB, the sea cukes will burrow under it and cause an avalanche. You must use a type of sand that they can handle, should you decide to get one. The sugar sized aragonite is probably overall the most appropriate size sand to have for them. If you are using crushed coral, it is hard on their digestive tract. I haven't heard about their eggs and whether or not they are harmful to fish. I would take an educated guess and say that propagation in an aquarium is probably rare, at best...just a guess.

[rlcline76]

It is hard to pick a good CUC before you know what you will be up against. So far, it sounds like you are OK...that scooter blenny might have problems later. They can easily starve in a new system. I've read many posts where people advise so many snails per gallon...so many hermit crabs. Really, you need to have enough for all of them to eat. I have a 20 gallon with about 3-4 turbos each...and I still need to supplement here and there.

[dhboyd1]

I got a sand sifting cucumber about 4 weeks ago and he was around 3-4 inches long. Now he is about 8-10 inches long and in my 55 gal that is pretty big. I am not sure what I am going to do with him but he does do a really good job keeping the sand clean. Everything in my tank seems OK health wise so I am not sure about the toxins but will let you know if I have any problems.

[Lowej82]

5-6" in 4 weeks I think I better stay away from those

[Jeremy0322]

I dont know how good of a job they will do but Horseshoe Crabs look wicked awesome so there is always a though. Plus for 9 dollars can it really be that bad of an idea. They are interesting creatures to watch so i hear. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...pcatid=614&N=0

[jipo123]

I have a sand sifting cucumber in my tank. he keeps to himself has not grown really fast and looks kind of cool. as far as i know he is not killing my fish. if he is then someone will be getting a free cucumber... but he works well with my dormia sand sifting crab, nasarious snails and sand sifting star. they all work awesome with my sand needs.

for more cleaners... go for another emerald they do so good for the rocks, a few (5-15) Astraea snails. i have 20 (or so) in my 55.
do yourself a favor and stay away from the blue legs. they are pretty but they like to kill eachother off. A LOT and they are not that good of cleaners. the scarlets are pretty and they keep to themselves. also red legs are good. (they dont have red legs thought but still nice looking)

also if you have a lot of nice alge go for the sea urchin, i have one and its fun to watch as he runs over hermit crabs that get stuck to him for a week and try to get away.

a nice site I often use is saltwaterfish.com they often have sales and have very nice reef packages. and all shipments come in PERFECT condition. i have never lost anything them from besides a couple snails. (big deal) and great prices.

[Lowej82]

cool thanks