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goldenmean · 04-26-2006, 08:50 PM

I like my clean up crew.

The crabs have killed a couple of the nassarius snails but have not touched the astreas. When they kill a snail they move into the shell.

They way I look at it in a reef aquarium I am trying to create an entire ecosystem. Ecosystems have a food chain. My tank is realy starting to develope a lot of pods crawling on the LR and sand. They too are part of the food chain.

Dont get me wrong, i did give the hermits empty shells so they could move into new and larger homes and leave the snails alone. But i did loose some snails. That is the nature of life and that is just one of the things that our aquariums can teach us.

I even saw two of the blue leg hermits fight each other for a shell and the loser ran into the rocks with out a shell. I put some empty shells near the spot in the rocks he retreated to.

I really like watching my 2 skarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. They too are part of the clean up crew.
Just 2 days ago I saw one of the shrimp going to town on the exoskelton of of one of the blue leg hermits. Had I not seen that I might not have even realized that one of the crabs had molted.

I discover something new in my tank every day and my clean up crew is a part of the journey of discovery.

04-26-2006, 08:50 PM	#9 (permalink)
goldenmean Beautiful Katamari Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Chicago Posts: 4,062 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Clean up crew really necesary? I like my clean up crew. The crabs have killed a couple of the nassarius snails but have not touched the astreas. When they kill a snail they move into the shell. They way I look at it in a reef aquarium I am trying to create an entire ecosystem. Ecosystems have a food chain. My tank is realy starting to develope a lot of pods crawling on the LR and sand. They too are part of the food chain. Dont get me wrong, i did give the hermits empty shells so they could move into new and larger homes and leave the snails alone. But i did loose some snails. That is the nature of life and that is just one of the things that our aquariums can teach us. I even saw two of the blue leg hermits fight each other for a shell and the loser ran into the rocks with out a shell. I put some empty shells near the spot in the rocks he retreated to. I really like watching my 2 skarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. They too are part of the clean up crew. Just 2 days ago I saw one of the shrimp going to town on the exoskelton of of one of the blue leg hermits. Had I not seen that I might not have even realized that one of the crabs had molted. I discover something new in my tank every day and my clean up crew is a part of the journey of discovery. __________________ A 55g link in the GoldenChain My Second Quarantine Tank 2 (+) Year Retrospective of a 12g Nano Jeff What You Think Upon Grows... Have a Smooth Day!