What do you folks employ as a CUC for tanks with such invert-munchers as triggers, eels, and puffers?
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Cleanup crew for aggressive FOWLR?
- Thread starter Cksnffr
- Start date
A good scraper and water changes. There aren't really any options that will be safe. Limpets can often avoid predation, but are seldom available for sale--they often come in as hitchhikers. Any snails, hermits, stars or other normal cleaners will be snacks, eventually. So that means you will have to be the clean up crew.
Like already said, any CUC in a predator tank will more than likely just become food. With puffers, you actually have to feed them snails so they can use the shells to grind down their teeth, otherwise their teeth will keep growing to the point the puffer can't open its mouth to eat anymore.
When it comes to predator tanks, I am still 'old school' in my thinking on how to set one up. I actually recommend using under gravel filters and course sand/crushed coral along with a very small amount of live rock and the biggest skimmer you can afford (predators make A LOT of waste, so much that I had to use a net to scoop out their #2's on a daily basis). That method worked perfect for me for a decade with predators, never lost one or even had a sick fish in that time.
When it comes to predator tanks, I am still 'old school' in my thinking on how to set one up. I actually recommend using under gravel filters and course sand/crushed coral along with a very small amount of live rock and the biggest skimmer you can afford (predators make A LOT of waste, so much that I had to use a net to scoop out their #2's on a daily basis). That method worked perfect for me for a decade with predators, never lost one or even had a sick fish in that time.
Cool. What is the "new school" thinking then?
Since puffers need to eat things with shells, can you attempt to strike a balance between having an inexpensive CUC (snails, cheap hermits) and keeping the puffer fed? That is, sort of overstock and replenish the CUC? Or would the puffer just gorge on all of them?
To what extent would an algae blenny and some sand-sifting gobies replace a traditional CUC?
Thanks!
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Since puffers need to eat things with shells, can you attempt to strike a balance between having an inexpensive CUC (snails, cheap hermits) and keeping the puffer fed? That is, sort of overstock and replenish the CUC? Or would the puffer just gorge on all of them?
To what extent would an algae blenny and some sand-sifting gobies replace a traditional CUC?
Thanks!
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New school method would be to setup the tank like a reef, utilizing the various methods for nutrient control (algae scrubbers, bio-media reactors, gfo, carbon, skimmer, filter socks, etc). If you think the tank may become a reef some day down the road it wouldn't be a bad idea to start buying the equipment for that purpose but utilize them on the predator tank. I just think many of them are over kill for a predator tank and an unneeded expense.
I have never met an algae blenny that did any work once it realized it got fed on a daily basis. They are cool fish, but I wouldn't expect much algae reduction from them. Snails or Tangs will do a much better job at that.
If your predators are well fed (silversides and krill mostly) they won't devour a clean up crew right away but I wouldn't be surprised if you lost 1 or 2 snails/crabs a day. You can certainly keep a large enough CUC with predators but it will be costly. Even the cheapest deals you are still looking at around $1 a snail/crab online once you include shipping, and usually more at LFS.
I have never met an algae blenny that did any work once it realized it got fed on a daily basis. They are cool fish, but I wouldn't expect much algae reduction from them. Snails or Tangs will do a much better job at that.
If your predators are well fed (silversides and krill mostly) they won't devour a clean up crew right away but I wouldn't be surprised if you lost 1 or 2 snails/crabs a day. You can certainly keep a large enough CUC with predators but it will be costly. Even the cheapest deals you are still looking at around $1 a snail/crab online once you include shipping, and usually more at LFS.
Triggers tend to be much harder on snails than puffers, at least IME. You could try it, but expect it to be VERY expensive, and eventually, the snails will figure out there's a predator in the water so will start climbing out--happened with a mantis shrimp tank I had. I had ceriths that bred in the reef, so I'd toss them in for food, and then have to knock them into the water once a day to feed the mantis. With a small mantis (they also need 'crunchy' foods or they can't always molt successfully), it wasn't difficult to keep him fed from the reef. I had a predator tank running at the same time, and even dumping in 10-15 at a time, the trigger and burrfish decimated them within a week.
(and Hi, Ace! LTNS. How's SoCal?)
(and Hi, Ace! LTNS. How's SoCal?)
You could always get a robosnail 
http://www.robosnail.com/?gclid=CKGDg8WghbsCFYVZ7AodGykADg
I would just commit to investing in a good skimmer, reactors for GFO and carbon and a good water change schedule.
http://www.robosnail.com/?gclid=CKGDg8WghbsCFYVZ7AodGykADg
I would just commit to investing in a good skimmer, reactors for GFO and carbon and a good water change schedule.
