Do you see any problems with this CuC?

[Zionas]

Tank is 6-foot, 183 gallons. 6x2.3x1.8.


For now:

x12 Nassarius Snails

x12 Astraea / Trochus Snails

x12 Cerith Snails

x9 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs

x9 Red Leg Hermit Crabs

x12 Porcelain Crabs

x12 Emerald Crabs

x9 Peppermint Shrimp

x9 Common Cleaner Shrimp

x4 Banded Coral Shrimp



Maybe an urchin or a couple? Thinking of the Hairy Pincushion, Short Spine, Long Spine, or Green Urchin but not sure how many / which species to add.

Eventually I’ll be having 12 of each kind of hermit crab and 18 of each kind of snails. 12 for Peppermint and Common Cleaner Shrimp and maybe 8 Banded Coral Shrimp.

I’ll also be adding a Pistol Shrimp for my YWG and maybe a BTA for my Ocellaris pair if my tank does well.

Which inverts should go in when I first start my tank, and how many?

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Why so many emerald and porcelain crabs?

 

[Zionas]

I am new to CuC so I have no idea if this is too many or not enough!

 

[Zionas]

I read they’re good detritus eaters, so I thought maybe they could work with my snails and Hermits as an extra layer of detritus / waste management.

What can I change / cut back on?

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

I just dont know if 12 emerald crabs are good idea, saying ive read they can go after coral and possibly fish if they get hungry, and i imagine even in a tank as large as yours 12 will not get enough from the rocks. Ive never kept them however, but thats because i dont trust mithrax crabs

Porcelain crabs i believe are peaceful and harmless so i suppose 12 of them would be fine.

 

[Zionas]

I see. Maybe I’ll not get any urchins considering they can move corals around. Also ditched the Coral Banded Shrimp due to aggression issues.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

I have a tuxedo urchin, he never moves anything around, i imagine one would be fine in your tank, just make sure frags are stuck down. You could probably get away with 3 or 4 in that size

 

[Zionas]

I think I’ll go with the Short Spine as they’re small, maybe 2 of them?

I’ve also narrowed down my list to something like this (this is the total # of CuC):

x9 Astraea / Trochus Snails

x9 Nassarius Snails

x9 Cerith Snails

x4 Blue Leg Hermits

x4 Red Leg Hermits

x2 Common Cleaner Shrimp

x2 Peppermint Shrimp

x2 Short Spine Urchins


For a total of 41 CuC.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

I think you may want more hermit crabs with time, but that seems good.

I wouldnt scratch the porcelain crabs off the list, they are interesting crabs, and pretty harmless.

 

[Zionas]

That’s great to know. I’ll add more Hermit Crabs as time goes on. And I’ll add back a couple of Porcelain Crabs.

 

[...]

Okay, I get your trend, people recommend one CUC per gallon and even melevsreef said that but NO! Nassarius eats a lot of detritus and lots will also deplete (Not fully) your sandbed microfauna, astreas are good but you will have to flip over a lot of them and a lot, if you don't want to flip get some trochus, ceriths are good, I wouldn't mix hermits, blue legged seem to kill snails a lot so I'd recommend instead of red and blue legs get some dwarf blues as they are to small to kill snails and can get in small nooks and crannies, maybe get some more peppermints like one or two? Cleaners are fine, and short spines I know nothing about but look cool and i will look into them, maybe get an two emeralds because they get lots of algae like bubble and some other 'Not very common' algae. Porcelain Crabs, keep em! They are awesome little harmless creatures but they are not CUC, they filter feed so make sure to have SOME phytoplanketon and they also eat anemone mucus, you should get an anemone for them, mini maxis are great for colourations, do not get two big, do not move or split often but as a carpet anemone, they have a strong sting and are sticky and unlike their bigger brothers, they will have a lesser risk of eating fish, maybe rare but still possible.

 

[Zionas]

Alright, I’ve made another alteration. Porcelain Crabs I just found out might compete for an anemone with Clownfish and they’re also fragile, so, I’ll have to reconsider.

x9 Astraea / Trochus Snails

x9 Nassarius Snails

x9 Cerith Snails

x6 Blue Leg Hermits

x6 Red Reef Hermits

x2 Common Cleaner Shrimp

x2 Peppermint Shrimp

x2 Short Spine Urchins

For a total of 45 CuC for the first year or so.



I will begin with:

x3 Cerith Snails

x3 Astraea / Trochus Snails

x3 Nassarius Snails

x2 Common Cleaner Shrimp

x2 Peppermint Shrimp

x2 Short Spine Urchins

x2 Blue Leg Hermits

x2 Red Reef Hermits


How does this sound?



Ok wait, I’ll have to read over your message @.......

 

[...]

Porcelain crabs will lose a fight with clownfish over an anemone but it isn't dying or stressed, he will just move on but like I said, get some mini maxis

 

[Zionas]

Thanks.

Would this be better?

x9 Cerith Snails

x9 Trochus Snails

x2 Emerald Crabs

x3 Peppermint Shrimp

x3 Common Cleaner Shrimp

x12 Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crabs

x2 Short Spine Urchins



x1 Mini-Maxi Anemone + x1 Porcelain Crab


x1 Alpheus spp. Pistol Shrimp + x1 YWG


x1 BTA + x2 Ocellaris Clownfish (the BTA- maybe)

 

[...]

That's good! Get some LR or DR rubble though or the pistol shrimp may use the herit crabs as building tools.

 

[Zionas]

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Marsh980]

I have a 7x2x2 190 gallon reef thats 4.5 months old and this is what i have. I have approx 375lbs of live rock and 220lbs of live sand. This may look a lot but it really isn't when you have the amount of sand and live rock that i have.

Nassarius - 25
Spiny Star Astrea - 40
Turbo - 25
Mexican Turbo (larger algae munching machines) - 3
Trochus (sand sifting Conch) - 5
Skunk Cleaner Shrimp - 3
Peppermint Shrimp - 5 - JUST MAKE SURE YOU GET THE RIGHT SPECIES. GET IT WRONG AND OH DEAR!!!!
Tiger Pistol Shrimp - 1
Red Legged Hermit Crab - 1
Dwarf Bali Hermit Crab - 3
Sand Sifting Starfish - 1
Lawnmower Blenny

The tiger pistol shrimp has paired up with my YWG and Striped WG (not sure the species). However, please know the pistol makes a right mess of your sand bed and i can't keep any sand bed corals near his building site.

I'm not a fan of crabs as they're bullies and kill snails and i've not seen any detriment to my tank for not having loads. I refuse to buy snails for them to hassle, kill and steal their shells. Yes you can add empty shells for them but i didn't want an empty shell graveyard on my sand bed plus I've still seen them go after living snails even if empty shells are available.

I've been warned off all porcelain and emerald crabs as again they can be bullies especially when they get large but ask me again if i every get bubble algae. I was looking at Pebble crabs too but after research on forums found out these aren't reef safe too. I can't gamble with CUC that could become a menace as trying to get them out would be a mission.

In regards to urchins, i'm on the fence. I really wanted a short spined one like a pin cushion or tuxedo but i keep reading on how they're bulldozers and can dislodge frags and corals and carry snails around. I don't know if i can be bothered with that but again ask me when coraline starts to become rampant haha.

 

[Uncle99]

I never put any crabs in my system.
IMO they clean up very little once they figure out that at least once a day someone drops in dinner and somewhere down the road, will stalk, kill and eat, anything they can catch.

Snails I do use, and, I still have them all as there are no crabs.

peps are problematic IMO. Some are worse than others. Do your research and if not sure, I’d pass.
When they are small, I have had no problems, but they grow fast and they May start taking out Acans, Scollys and BTAs.

 

[...]

Porcelain Carbs are fine and so are Most Mithrax Crabs.
Hermits are fine to.