Fowlr safe cuc

[Jmas4]

I have a fowlr tank and I need a cuc to eat uneaten food and algae. Mostly the uneaten food. My nitrates are at 5 but it is still enough for hair algae growth. The main fish I am worried about is my snowflake eel at about 20 inches and my niger and picasso trigger. My idea was a urchin to eat algae and it's spines protect itself form predators and a brittle star or a serpent star to eat detritus. Will this work? Will my fish eat them? Which urchin do you recomend?

 

[Jmas4]

Anyone?

 

[Maritimer]

Don't know about yours, but queen triggers have been observed blowing longspine urchins upside-down to get at the soft insides . . .

~Bruce

 

[Chris Ferrell]

I did have urchin once with a Picasso trigger and it did not go well. He literally picked the spines off till he could flip it over and eat it. Any shrimps or crabs might end up lunch in my opinoin, not sure about the niger. I have read that if you feed them heavily they might not bother them but I guess that defeats the problem with excess food. Good luck

 

[saltlife757]

For my FOWLR I used to just through a handful of hermit crabs in there every 1-2 months. Most predator tanks will eat most of your CUC over time. That's why I wouldn't worry about spending tons of money of expensive CUC. Just go simple and get the proper amount of hermits according to your tank size. They'll get eaten eventually, so you keep replenishing them. Worked for me

 

[Jmas4]

I did have urchin once with a Picasso trigger and it did not go well. He literally picked the spines off till he could flip it over and eat it. Any shrimps or crabs might end up lunch in my opinoin, not sure about the niger. I have read that if you feed them heavily they might not bother them but I guess that defeats the problem with excess food. Good luck

Do you know what type of urchin?

 

[p.pep85]

i have a large sail fin blenny and i added bristleworms for a cuc. both seem to work and stay alive with my lion and puffers.

 

[eatbreakfast]

With the fish in the tank, any inverts will not last long.

Have you considered a foxface or rabbitfish? They are both excellent algae eaters and have venomous dorsal spines, so can handle being with aggressive fish.

GFO or carbon dosing could also be helpful options.

 

[Duke4Life]

Those triggers will eat whatever you add. @Jmas4 have any pics of these? Some of these post take me back a few years

 

[cu455]

Trial and error. Throw some large snails and small snails, hermits, a urchin and see what lasts. Things workout a lot of times when they shouldn't.

 

[Nigelk]

I have a Koran Angel in with my puffer and snowflake for the algae, I also have 2 very large hermits which are brilliant for cleaning up the mess from the puffer and for some reason 3 snails have not been eaten by the puffer so as others say just buy a mix and see what happens.