The clean-up crew is the term that has been used by many aquarists and vendors since the late 1980s to refer to various small animals commonly sold for use in keeping the reef aquarium clear of pest algae, detritus and parasites.
Other commonly used animals include limpets, sea hares, sea urchins, brittle stars, algae-eating combtooth blennies, neon gobies, reef lobsters, cleaner shrimp, mysid shrimp, copepods, ostracods, isopods and amphipods.
These often include various snails, shrimp, small crayfish, Gammarus and Hyalella amphipods, Asellus isopods, Cyclops copepods, ostracods, Planaria flatworms, California blackworms, sludge worms, Loricariid and Corydoras catfish, loaches, log suckers and siamese algae-eaters.
[3][4][5] The term clean-up crew, along with custodian, has also been used for various arthropods, primarily a few established lines of terrestrial woodlice and springtails, used in terrarium clean up since the late 1990s.
clear of decomposing food particles that otherwise can result in mold growth, mite infestations, or oxygen depletion from decomposition.