I'm planning on starting a pico dedicated to ricordea and some zoa. The only tankmates i plan on having would be sexy shrimp. Would the pico require a CUC?

A snail would be a sound idea. I'd suggest (based on the size) one sand sifter, one rock cleaner, and one glass cleaner. My preferred CUC would be a Virgin Nerite, a Nassarius, and a Cerith.

However, a lot of people don't like VN's because they're "freshwater". Truth be told I had a pair of Olivine Nerites in a FW for ten years, and a trio of VN's in my Pico for about a year before the tank crashed. I never saw issues with either set, and love them like they was my own babies (seriously, BEST snails ever).

i plan on having a 3 gallon pico. i don't like the nassa snails because from past experience they crawl all over my coral and knocked down a bunch of my frags before. I was thinking nerite and cerith. What about hermit crabs?

that's a hit or miss with people. some hermits will pick on snails and some will start eating coral. my buddy had one in a 14 gallon biocube and he went spec ops on all the snails. lol.

i second the nass snail problem i have two in my picotope and they love to steal food from coral and bulldose everthing....but they are good for the sand...lol


try to find stomatella snails....they rock

I'll try to look for stomatella snails. I might try another nassa snail. it all depends

Stomatellas are awsome. Nassarius Vibex aren't too clumsy. They are much smaller than other species of nassarius and are better suited to picos. I have 4 in my Baraccuda. Astreas are good grazers too, but dumb as dirt.

hopefully the LFS has them

They are rare for some reason. I have only ever got them as hitchickers.

great....lol

Thanks for the heads up. I'll look around

sup evo whatcha doing over here! haha

lol sup D, i double tab nr and rs LOL

go get started and let see some picture buddy

OH oh oh to nano reef!

lol I need to get my tank first bro! lol. i'm still stoked cuz the LFS still has two sexy shrimp in stock but i'd have to wait until the tank cycles >< LOL

Reefcleaners has Nass Vibex snails. They're great, I love mine.

not sure if i want to pay for shipping for those for a pico tank though ><

When you were saying stomatellas were rare I beg to differ. MY PETCO had a bunch of them when I bought two turbos from their the guy picked off like 5 stomatella for me, free

just depends on the place. my lfs has hundreds and he gives 3 or four away all the time. it's weird. other people say they can never find them. i stared with 3 or 4 now i counted the ones i can see and there are about 8.

You need a good CUC to start with but you can do without them later on once your tank matures. These days I just rely on my hitchhikers to do the cleaning. Crabs are efficient cleaners but can become a nuisance when they start knocking things around.

the LR i'm using was out in the backyard bleaching under the sun prior to the pico setup so there are no hitchhikers. I was reviving the LR with old tank water from water changes in a bucket for the past few weeks.