Adding CUC at Early Part of Ugly Stage

[ecas12]

I am just starting to notice brown spots grow larger in my sand bed. It has not come close to covering my whole tank yet, and I don't see any obvious algae growth on any of my rock (it has been pretty sparse). I want to liven up my tank a little bit with some inverts as I am throwing in a Starry Blenny on Sunday after QT, and figured it might make sense to grab some algae eating snails/crabs since I will be feeding the blenny nori and algae pellets (along with the mysis shrimp I already feed the two clowns in the tank). Will a small variety of hermits/trochus/nassarius/emerald crabs survive off of some small pockets of detritus in my sandbed plus new food being dropped in the tank?

 

[paintman]

Turkey baster and a tooth brush is the best CUC you can ever buy. Stop killing inverts for no reason.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

the brown is likely just the diatoms, they will pass quickly enough on their own. I would hold off on buying lots of CUC until you get the real outbreak, but yeah its fun to add a few inverts to liven up the tank in the meantime. Just dont buy pure herbivores for now, get omnivores and carivores until you get algae, and be sure to feed enough so they get food too.