Please help me choose my cuc

J

JMorris271

New member
it's finally time to put my cuc in a 120 gal tank. Yeah. Would you please review my list and let me have your feedback. The tank has 1-2 inch. sand bed, 100 lbs of LR and a good bit of algae now. I know about crabs eating snails.
Thanks


Sexy Shrimp 2
Peppermint shrimp 2
Skunk Cleaner shrimp 2
Asteria snails 20
Ceriths 20
Nassariun 10
Turbos 3
Porcelain Crabs 10
Emerald Crab 1
Blue Tuxido Urchin 2
 
How long has the tank be cycling for? You may want to have an established system before adding the urchins
 
IMO, about 7-10 Trochus snails and maybe 3-5 scarlet hermits. These, along with "good" husbandry should be enough. When it really comes down to a CUC, less is more... Think about it... GL.

If your looking for pets though, the more the merrier.... ;)
 
Looks good.

Possible Issues:
Sexy shrimp are tiny and will get lost in a 120g. They'll also be on the menu for lots of fish you may want: Hawkfish, Betta, wrasses & others. Same may apply to the porcelain crabs as well but not sure there. I would think a larger emerald that goes bad could be a possible future threat.

The skunk cleaners & nass. snails are carnivores and will probably have to be target fed from time to time with meaty food, until there is enough fish food being fed to fish where they can get a stray piece.

Not An urchin expert. But don't they feed heavily on coralline algae?
 
Ditto what some of the others have said.
The sexy shrimp are too small to be worthwhile in such a big setup and given how much they cost aren't a good bang for the buck as a cleaner anyways.

given the price for porcelain crabs(19$ each on LA) they aren't a good buy as a cleaner either. Interesting to have though.

Start small and add as needed. Personally after adding a small initial cuc I would wait at least a month to see how things settle in before adding more. At your tanks age it hasn't really finished balancing out and you may find if you get enough cleaners to deal with your current algae situation that they end up starving a month or two later as the tank enters a different phase and less algae is present.
 
All crabs are opportunistic feeders. It has nothing to do with providing enough food. If it gets the desire to eat a snail or some coral or even a sleeping fish, it will. nothing to stop it.

As for eating BA and HA, I never once had a emerald crab help eradicate any of those for me.
 
Reef Frog said:
Looks good.

Possible Issues:
Sexy shrimp are tiny and will get lost in a 120g. They'll also be on the menu for lots of fish you may want: Hawkfish, Betta, wrasses & others. Same may apply to the porcelain crabs as well but not sure there. I would think a larger emerald that goes bad could be a possible future threat.

The skunk cleaners & nass. snails are carnivores and will probably have to be target fed from time to time with meaty food, until there is enough fish food being fed to fish where they can get a stray piece.

Not An urchin expert. But don't they feed heavily on coralline algae?
Click to expand...

I can deal with the target feeding but will rethink the sexies.
Bad EC goes into the refugium.
 
I had some BA so bought an Emerald crab. He cleaned up all the BA but died soon after (possibly starved to death?). I had him for about 5 months total. That was 3 months ago, and since some BA has come back.

As for other CUC:
1. I don't think you need 20 Astrea snail. They should reproduce on their own (at least they do in my tank) and should fill in their numbers on their own.
2. I like skunk cleaners. They're fairly active and colorful, as well as eat parasites.
3. Nessarius are also good since they will clean your sand, as oppose to Astrea who mostly stick to the LR or walls of the tank.
4. I wouldn't get peppermints yet, not until you get aiptasia. They usually hide most of the time anyway. As a matter of fact, other than skunks, most CUC are not active during the day. Except maybe nessarius at feeding time.
 
Nori or other seaweeds are usually suggested as a supplement when the presence of algae is too low to support the diets by some dealers. Why should anything starve?
 
Might also think about some of the Nerite snails. When the diatoms showed up in my 65g, I picked up a half dozen at the local Petco - they'll go over a localized bit of rock and leave stark whiteness behind them! (They do here, with diatoms at least - green is just beginning to show on the liverock to challenge them!) Plain shape, little round snails, but pretty patterns on their shells.

~Bruce
 
Maritimer said:
Might also think about some of the Nerite snails. When the diatoms showed up in my 65g, I picked up a half dozen at the local Petco - they'll go over a localized bit of rock and leave stark whiteness behind them! (They do here, with diatoms at least - green is just beginning to show on the liverock to challenge them!) Plain shape, little round snails, but pretty patterns on their shells.

~Bruce
Click to expand...

I have checked the Nerite out and found that the Cerith or an Asteria do the same thing and more so I don't think I will use them. You are right about how the are good at what they do. Thanks for the response.
 
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