Sea cucumber in reef tank???

[scylam]

hi all,
i heard that sea cucumbers clear up the left-over food from the sand bed, is it true? i need some efficent & hardy scavengers in my 50 gal (40") reef tank, any suggestion?
thanks
stephen
:fish1: CLICK TO VIEW MY TANK

 

[trippyl]

they can spout toxins when scared or dying. I'd go for mini fauna like micro stars and mysid and gammarus shrimp, as well as turbo snails, cerith snails, nassarus snails and lots of various cleaner shrimps.

 

[scylam]

thanks for the info. but which of them is the most efficent?

 

[geekreef_05]

Most sea cuke's are toxic, and if they die, can wipe out the entire tank.

A common non-toxic sea cuke is the tiger tail. Ive had one of these for almost a year. Its a great creature and does a wonderful job eating the crud on my sandbed.

happy reefin'

 

[The_Nexis_One]

Woowa - you DID pull that Chocolate Chip Star out of your reef right??

Those are supposedly (no personal experiance) Very 'un'reef safe. They eat corals, clams, etc. According to wetwebmedia.com (Bob Fenner, A. Calfo, etc.) they prey on inverts (critters, corals, clams) in time.

JMU (just my understanding)
John.

 

[trippyl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6701767#post6701767 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scylam
thanks for the info. but which of them is the most efficent?

Im saying get all of them. A cleanup crew should be diversified, each will attack one form of waste.

 

[scylam]

hi john,
thanks for reminding, the stars in my tank never live long enough to cause any damage, my harlequin shrimps doing a good job.

 

[bobt2]

i have atlantic donky-dong cukes in 2 reef tanks. there fine. had 1 go thru a p/h and no effects on the tank.