# Confusion on Cleanup Crews



## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

Ive read places that say that you want to get fish or inverts that feed on the fuana since it regulates the population of the micro-organisms. But ive also read places that you dont want fish/inverets that consume fuana since they are the "life" of the sand.....anyone care to straighten things out for me?


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## im_a_clownfish (Sep 19, 2005)

I have, and recommend, getting some cleaner shrimp to keep ich in control (and to look cool), some snails and some hermet crabs. They really keep control of the algae in the tank. 

Not sure what you mean by the life of the sand. Are you referring to copopods and anthopods? The little invertebrates that live in the sand? I have a scooter blenny that regulates those, but yes, you do need a fair sized tank and lots of sand/liverock to make sure there are enough of those "bugs" for him to eat.

I hope that helps.


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

really depends on what you want, and the size of your tank, if you get a mandarin, (which only eats pods) it can deplete the whole system in a short time, unless you have a large tank. not having pods could be a problem, but more than likely, if you take the fish out, they will come back, it would be vary hard to get rid of all of them. on the other hand, they wont over populate your tank, they might hit huge numbers at first, as long as your not feeding to much, their food sources will deplete and their numbers will balance out. so either way is just fine.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

I think you are refering to the sand sifting starfish, which, is a great preditor in sand beds and pick up detritus as well as sift the sand... however, these starfish can really do a number on the life in your sandbed, and should be avoided unless you have a really large tank... (they will eat all the living things out of the sand bed and then starve in small tanks under 100 gallons)


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