CUC or fish first

[GR00VY]

My tank is cycled my qt is cycled. What do I need first? Should I get CUC and drop them in DT and let them sit for the 76 days and then add fish or should I add fish and then Put CUC in QT?

Not a big tank. 29 gallon. Only going to put 4 fish in max. Would like to add some soft coral and an anemone down the road.

 

[Billldg]

You r showing patience so that is great, I didn’t have any, lol! You can drop a few snails in your DT and a few weeks later start putting fish in your QT tank depending on how long you r going to QT them. If you r going to use copper then definitely put the snails in your DT first, because once you put copper in your QT tank it is their forever.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

My tank is cycled my qt is cycled. What do I need first? Should I get CUC and drop them in DT and let them sit for the 76 days and then add fish or should I add fish and then Put CUC in QT?

Not a big tank. 29 gallon. Only going to put 4 fish in max. Would like to add some soft coral and an anemone down the road.

Clean up crew depends on if you have the food to support them or are willing to feed them. Most of the time when setting up a new tank, I usually have to wait a bit after adding fish or there is not enough for the CUC to eat in the DT. I instead QT my fish, put in tank when done, and have another QT for the CUC going (pretty much started when I set the DT Up) and feed them for the time needed to ensure no baddies make it into the DT. All while making sure I do not cross contaminate either QT. For CUC, a QT in a small tank with a simple HOB filter and heater makes feeding them easy and can be as simple as some nori rubberbanded to a rock for snails. Hermits can eat nori as well or you can feed sinking pellets to them. It is also easier to ensure they get only what they will eat. Their bioload is also very small and I have never had an issue with ammonia while QTing a CUC.

 

[Kenneth Hooper]

I had the same question with my 75 gal. I opted to go light on the CUC - one hermit and a couple of snails plus a brittle star. I went light on the CUC because I was afraid they wouldn't have enough to eat until I added additional livestock.

 

[GR00VY]

I think I’m going to go fish first and get a a separate tank for CUC. Get one or two fish in qt tank within the next few days. Get them in dt tank next month sometime. While I’m doing that I will start the qt on inverts.

My kids are getting impatient and want some fish to look at. Snails just don’t have the same visual pop as snails. Lol