Looking for suggestions on CUC

[miltonkl]

I have a 40g AIO tank, approximately 30g display section. I have a half dozen hermits, a single nassarius snail, a few astrea snails, and an emerald crab (which I'm considering removing) and expect this is insufficient considering I was browsing a CUC package online and it had something like 40 different snails and crabs in it. I expect they ship that many with the expectation that some will die though. Realistically, what else should I be adding to my tank?

I've got 6 fish, a cleaner shrimp, and a pistol shrimp if that matters.

Thanks!

 

[Mikedawg]

I have a 40g AIO tank, approximately 30g display section. I have a half dozen hermits, a single nassarius snail, a few astrea snails, and an emerald crab (which I'm considering removing) and expect this is insufficient considering I was browsing a CUC package online and it had something like 40 different snails and crabs in it. I expect they ship that many with the expectation that some will die though. Realistically, what else should I be adding to my tank?

I've got 6 fish, a cleaner shrimp, and a pistol shrimp if that matters.

Thanks!

What are you trying to "clean up?" I wouldn't buy anything according to a non-specific formula.

 

[sfin52]

I have a 40g AIO tank, approximately 30g display section. I have a half dozen hermits, a single nassarius snail, a few astrea snails, and an emerald crab (which I'm considering removing) and expect this is insufficient considering I was browsing a CUC package online and it had something like 40 different snails and crabs in it. I expect they ship that many with the expectation that some will die though. Realistically, what else should I be adding to my tank?

I've got 6 fish, a cleaner shrimp, and a pistol shrimp if that matters.

Thanks!

How old is your tank and are you having algea issues. For algea eating cuc crew I recommend getting more as need arises. Other wise they will starve
I do like brittle stars great at nooks and crannies.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Picture of the tank? You can add inverts without really effect.much bioload but they still require food source as said.
I did an ebay order of like 200 ceriths and 20 nerites for my 100g.
D

 

[ying yang]

Me personally I slowly added cuc members when my tank looked like it needed more,like 6 trouchus snails here then few weeks later 6 nassarious snails there then few weeks later 2 conchs,then few weeks later went back to another 6 trouchus snails then urchins was best in my tank but my point is research all tje different types of cuc and see if compatible with your fishes and that and research what each cuc may eat then when your tank showing signs of that particular diatoms or algae or cyano then buy a few of that cuc whether it's snails or crabs ,ive had to put a couple hermits in sump jail lol as they just murdering snails or trying to.and even had a cleaner shrimp attack and nearly kill a conch then nassarious snails joined in and shared the loot ha ha .
If buy alot of cuc at once and your tank cannot feed them then we as the tank janitors have to feed the cuc otherwise they eat each other so my opinion is just buy a few at a time And my personal opinion is go to an lfs and buy as only 10 minutes - 30 minutes drive home rather than 1- 3 days or longer if package delayed through an online order and if any doa livestock most vendors replace them but you oay shipping again so I just keep it simple and go to lfs.
But some snails right themselves if fall on there backs and sone do not I prefer nassarious snails and trouchus for this.one for sandbed and 1 for rocks and glass.
Urchins go everywhere I got tuxedo urchins and conchs are great for sandbeds also.
Then you have smaller ceriths for sandbeds and smaller areas.
Cleaner shrimps look cool but just steal food from coral mouths or wherever they can so I gone right off them.
Pistol shrimps not really cuc members but keep turning sand over and building/ extending their tunnels so good for the sand and cool critters .I got a tiger pistol with a ywg
Good luck and enjoy

 

[shakacuz]

reefcleaners.org have cleaner packages based on tank size. give it a look.

 

[miltonkl]

How old is your tank and are you having algea issues. For algea eating cuc crew I recommend getting more as need arises. Other wise they will starve
I do like brittle stars great at nooks and crannies.

It's about 3 months old now. I get some brown film algae on the glass (i just scrape it every few days) and some brown/green algae on the rocks--just started getting coraline so hopefully that overtakes it--and a little on the sand. No huge issues with algae so far though, surprising considering my phosphate/nitrate levels are well above where I'd like them, but I'm working on that. I don't really know how to gauge how much of this algae is normal or not to know if it's an "issue" but it seems like an ok amount.

Picture of the tank? You can add inverts without really effect.much bioload but they still require food source as said.
I did an ebay order of like 200 ceriths and 20 nerites for my 100g.
D

Here's a pic from a couple weeks ago. This is about as bad as the algae ont he rock/sand gets. Pardon the filthy glass, I had spilled all over it during a water change and forgot to wipe it before the pic. Those streaks are always more visible in pictures than they are to just the naked eye, lol.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Eh. Looks like diatom. In 3 more months yes your gonna wanna up your.cuc some.
D

 

[miltonkl]

Cleaner shrimps look cool but just steal food from coral mouths

I never saw this mentioned before getting one. People always talk about them "cleaning" the fish and setting up a station... My cleaner just keeps stealing from my anemone and it drives me crazy. Even if I feed him first, he'll drop his food and run across the tank to steal from the anemone instead. He does look cool but I'm about ready to get rid of it, lol.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Lol he's hungry. Let him eat. Your stuff will.live.
D

 

[ying yang]

I never saw this mentioned before getting one. People always talk about them "cleaning" the fish and setting up a station... My cleaner just keeps stealing from my anemone and it drives me crazy. Even if I feed him first, he'll drop his food and run across the tank to steal from the anemone instead. He does look cool but I'm about ready to get rid of it, lol.

Yeah they first class ###### ha ha
Mine does same and drops his food and steals from corals mouths or hermits .
Well to be fair it seems most things in my tank just want eat or attack each other or have some kind of beef lol