Clean-Up Crew: Match the Crew to the Job

A clean-up crew is not a product, it is a staffing decision: every species does one job, and the trick is matching the crew to the mess you actually have. Film algae on glass and rock is snail work. Detritus and leftovers are hermit and brittle star work. Sand that needs turning is conch and cerith work. Buying “a cleanup pack” without asking what job needs doing is how tanks end up with fifty hungry snails and nothing to eat.

Our crews skew local for a reason — a large share of our inverts come out of Florida Keys waters through licensed collection, arrive without a cross-country shipping ordeal, and are the exact species that do this work on the reefs outside town.

Care at a glance

Shrimp earn their spot as personality as much as labor — a skunk cleaner will service fish at a station like it runs a shop. Urchins are algae machines that also redecorate by carrying your frags away, so plan accordingly. Crews ship in the same box as corals for the same $15 packing fee; if you are stocking a new tank, set the crew before the corals.

Clean-up crew and inverts in stock now

One thing to know before you order: shipping and packing are charged by the box, not by the coral. A box holds several corals for the same $15 packing fee and the same overnight ride, Florida orders under 6 lb ship overnight for a flat $30, and orders over $399 ship free. If this page puts one coral on your list, it is worth seeing what else belongs in the box — start with corals under $100 or the newest WYSIWYG pieces.

Every stony coral we sell is aquacultured at the shop in Key West under Florida Aquaculture Certificate #AQ0254072, and the photo on a WYSIWYG listing is the exact animal that ships. Corals ship UPS Overnight every Tuesday and Wednesday. If you are ever in Key West, come see the raceways.