Should I or should I not be interested in cucumbers and/or urchins?

[wienerdog]

Just wondering. I haven't heard many good things. I have a 20L,too small?

[uwwmatt]

Just wondering. I haven't heard many good things. I have a 20L,too small?

 

I say no for both of them. Cucumbers will nuke your tank and urchins will bulldoze it. Plus probably not enough food for either in a tank that size.

[wienerdog]

I say no for both of them. Cucumbers will nuke your tank and urchins will bulldoze it. Plus probably not enough food for either in a tank that size.

Point taken, thanks!!

[Reef Goddess]

Cucumbers will not nuke you tank . If you have a sandbed getting one or two small cucumbers will be very beneficial and they help eat through detritus and some algae that builds up. Cerith snails are also very good for this.

 

Urchins are only good if you have major algae problems as they will chow down on your good coralline algae when there is no more green algae. They are very few worth-while urchins that are good for a reef tank in the long term.

[CoralWhisperer]

Cucumbers will not nuke you tank . If you have a sandbed getting one or two small cucumbers will be very beneficial and they help eat through detritus and some algae that builds up. Cerith snails are also very good for this.

 

Urchins are only good if you have major algae problems as they will chow down on your good coralline algae when there is no more green algae. They are very few worth-while urchins that are good for a reef tank in the long term.

 

So whatcha think about those bright pink cukes?

Saw a couple at lfs yesterday, and they look purty . . .

 

pink sea cucumber

[pj86]

Not all cucumber will nuke your tank but most will. The smaller ones such as the yellow cucumber because of its size will not cause much distress in a medium size tank if upset. As long has you keep vigilant on how they are doing then it will be fine. Here is a great article http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/invert.htm

[ajmckay]

Cucumbers will eat a good deal of your infauna... The beneficial microorganisms which live in your sand bed.

 

Urchins are fine. I would stay away from larger species and longspine urchins, but smaller ones are good. One note is that they are good at eating coralline algae. It's difficult for me to grow any in my tank because my urchin eats it. Also as mentioned they will re-arrange your rock work, so be careful with coral placement and such.

[Reef Goddess]

Okay, lets say this regular black, black/white, doodoo brown, tan/yellow sea cucumbers will not nuke your tank and are good for it.

 

Tiny yellow ones, hot pink/green ones, sea apples, and pretty much any type of filter feeding sea cucumber could nuke your tank and should only be kept by advanced reefers.

 

Sheesh...

[brandolando4]

i had a black one for a couple weeks, it accidentally got ripped in half when i was rearranging the rock work tho:(

[CoralWhisperer]

Okay, lets say this regular black, black/white, doodoo brown, tan/yellow sea cucumbers will not nuke your tank and are good for it.

 

Tiny yellow ones, hot pink/green ones, sea apples, and pretty much any type of filter feeding sea cucumber could nuke your tank and should only be kept by advanced reefers.

 

Sheesh...

 

Dammit . . .

I can do without

[pj86]

I have 3 yellow filter feeding cucumbers (Colochirus robustus) in my 3g picotope, so according to many my tank is a ticking time bomb...haha.

[Reef Goddess]

I don't really think the yellow ones are unsafe and they're supposed to be very easy to keep. It was just a blanket statement to satify the masses. But filter-feeding cucs do best in established systems.

[FishStrings]

A pencil or tuxedo urchin is fine but they will most definitely eat the coralline algae off the rock. As for a sea cucumber, a good skimmer removes most of the discharge immediately. A yellow or even a pink sea cucumber would be absolutely fine for an appropriate size tank. I currently have both a pink sea cucumber and a pencil urchin. The only downside to the urchin is it will knock loose objects over in the tank.

[Urchinhead]

For your size tank a tuxedo urchin would be best. Its no more destructive than a turbo snail and does 4 times the work in terms of algae. Drip acclimate as they don't do well with rapid salinity changes. You may need to end up feeding it because of lack of algae to eat. Use unflavored plain Nori. If it drops its spines its a goner so keep an eye out for that as an indicator of when to pull it and euthanize it least it kick off somewhere where you can't get to it.

[Reef Goddess]

Talk about the full spectrum of opinions. lol Maybe you should just stick to snails.