OK, so 2/3 of the crew is here and working. The other 1/3 is on the way.
While I had decided on what snails I wanted, I never considered availability. SO, when the online vendors I had considered ordering from all had the same thing as my LFSs did, I bought locally.
Here's what I bought:
12 margarita snails. Shells completely covered in coralline algae, and some even have barnacles on them that are alive and kicking. I thought the barnacles were pretty cool.
3 bumblebee snails (bringing my total to 4) I really like the look of these, they're fun. The bury themselves sometimes, and other times they cruise around. While I would NEVER take issue with something Skip said, I do want to point out that many places on the net have them listed as detrivores, while others list them as carnivores, and some others have them listed as herbivores. Personally, I think they could be omnivores, because I can see their trails on the rock, they are definitely eating algae. That's just an FWIW.
12 Astrea Snails. Pretty shell, relatively stupid. They spent their first several hours stuck to each other.
3 Nassarius Snails. I wasn't going to buy these until I saw them in a seahorse tank at my LFS during feeding time. It was like watching a rerun of "Day of the dead." The way they dig into the sand and then appear on cue is magnificent! Additionally, they are the fastest damn snails I have ever seen
2 Emerald Crabs. What can I say, I like crabs. They like to stick themselves in holes and just reach out for stuff. More active at night than during the day, but that makes it fun to look for them.
8-10 Red Legged Hermits. These were the first inhabitants of my tank and continue to thrive. I seem to keep getting small ones hitchhiking on pieces of LR. I still need some shells.
1 small Abalone. This was a complete outside the box choice. I just liked how this dude looked, thought he could be a conversation piece later on. He's pretty slow, but sure is a good algae cleaner. This is one of those "had no intention of buying but saw it and liked it" purchases. I named him Fred.
So, that's what is in there now as far as a CUC goes, and everything seems to be faring well. Yesterday I ordered the remainder of stuff, which only has two species additions: 4 Sexy Shrimp and 1 small Blue Banded Coral Shrimp. Other than that the order is more polyps, and I decided to add two small fish. Then, I'm taking a break for 30-45 days, no more additions until at least September. Hopefully all goes well.
