Cleanup

[liquid wind]

What is generally a good clean up crew for a 55 gallon fowlr?

[CarmieJo]

It kind of depends on what kind of fish and then on personal preference. Some fish will eat some inverts. I like hermits because they are fun to watch but some people don't. I have a mix of them, cereith, colonista, stomatella, and DIBS turbo snails in my tank.

[Pescaiolo]

Hermits are great if they are small. If they have any size to them they will kill snails like its a sport!

Cerith snails, Astrea snails, Nerite snails, Trochus snails, Nassarius snails, red legged hermits, blue legged hermits, cleaner shrimp of some kind(peppermint, skunk cleaner, fire), brittle stars, sand sifting stars, cucumbers(not recommended, can foul a tank up if they die), emerald crabs, sally lightfoot crabs, urchins, Fighting Conch snails.

All of the above are reef safe and contribute to cleaning the tank in some way. The crabs can get big and aggressive but when they are smaller should not be a problem.

In a 55g it will be hard but if you plan on upgrading to something bigger(120 or bigger) in the next year or less you can start off with some small tangs(2" or less in length). They graze for algae and will also help keep the tank clean. I have a Yellow Tang, Regal Tang and Powder Blue Tang in my 55g and they are just fine but I will need to upgrade to a bigger tank in the next 6 to 8 months because these fish can get aggressive and they grow fast! If you aren't planning an upgrade then you can sell them back to your LFS when they get too big and get credit for different fish.

What fish are you planning on keeping?

[liquid wind]

Not quite sure yet probably a clown looking at possible anemone, but I don't quite know the requirements yet. Mostly peaceful community fish maybe a gramma.

[Pescaiolo]

You can keep any of these inverts with those fish. If you planned on getting any predatory species like triggerfishes or lionfishes then there would be a problem.

I'd go with 10 to 12 of each species of snails and small hermits I listed to start off with. A cleaner shrimp or 2 of some kind will also be helpful. You can add more inverts depending on what you need to clean up more of in the tank as it matures. Always do research on what you want to keep and what it eats to make sure none of your inverts are in danger! Hope this helps!

[CarmieJo]

Avoid the big turbos that are often sold as Mexican Turbos and the smaller Margarita snails too. Both of these are sold as reef safe and they won't eat anything so technically they are. But, they are cold water snails and only live a short time at the temps we keep our tanks at.