Importance of a good and diverse Clean Up Crew (CUC)

So, what is this clean up crew (CUC) everyone speaks of?
These inverts are the janitors and maids of the reefing world. They work hard, and their only reward is to be eaten by another CUC member, or to starve to death. Quite the life cycle these guys live. We all need these guys' help in our tanks, as we often overfeed, or get lazy with our maintenance. These guys work hard to clean up the mess we leave behind.

Clean up crew members are fascinating to watch as well. I get a kick out of watching them try to flip themselves over, fight with one another, or defend itself from a predator. I once had a large Emerald Crab, and every time a fish came near it, he would raise his huge claws in the air over his head, and ward away the fish like he was trying to flag down a ship as if he were stranded on a deserted island.

As many new hobbyists are starting their tanks, or have been in the hobby awhile and would like to try something different and have begun searching for more info, I thought I would write an article with some 'clean up crew' info, or 'CUC' as otherwise known, for anyone that may be searching for info and would like to find it in a condensed location. These are also known as inverts, or Invertebrates.

I should preface all of this by saying that when adding your CUC, it is my opinion to start small, and work your way up in terms of numbers of them. A lot of websites sell 'package deals' that have, in my opinion, too many inverts. Some will have 50 hermits, and 50 of something else, and I feel that as soon as your algae supply has diminished and the food supply is gone, they will die off, or start to kill each other. Buy a smaller amount at first, and add them 'as needed.'

Here is an example of an online sites suggestion of a cleanup crew, via LiveAquaria.com.



As you can see, they suggest 70 inverts for a 30-gallon tank. To me, that seems like overkill, but there are varying opinions on this topic.

There are many types of CUC available, from snails to crabs to shrimp, and others. I will primarily focus in this article on the snails, crabs, and shrimp, as they are the most commonly used. I will also throw in a few advanced CUC members for someone wanting more diversity.

I will be using some info from LiveAquaria.com since they always have good descriptors of their livestock. The factual and scientific info is from there, I will also add in some of my thoughts and experiences, with no facts and no science.

Lets start with snails, a bedrock foundation of any CUC.