Sea Cucumbers

Gabreil · Mar 17, 2016

Anyone have any pros and cons on cucumbers

Possumcop · Mar 17, 2016

Good question, I'm curious myself

Saltine · Mar 17, 2016

I have two and they do wonders for my sand bed... They eat dirty sand and out comes pellets of perfectly white sand. Fun to see!

Naiad · Mar 17, 2016

Pros: great detritus eaters and very interesting animals. Most are very easy and require no real special care. Avoid sea apples and the few filter feeders.

Cons: can possibly nuke a tank. They do have a toxin that if they die a violent death they will release. Large specimens in small tanks with no chemical filtration are most at risk. I have lost three over the years with no problem.

reefndude · Mar 17, 2016

I've had one for about 3 years. Does a great job on the sand bed

TUSI · Mar 17, 2016

I have one for 8 years and does wonders

Naiad · Mar 17, 2016

Here is mine.

Brautumn · Mar 17, 2016

We have a tiger tail sea cucumber for almost a year and amazed at the places he can get into.

cloak · Mar 17, 2016

Check this out.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/1/inverts

HTH.

Gabreil · Mar 17, 2016

Naiad said:
Pros: great detritus eaters and very interesting animals. Most are very easy and require no real special care. Avoid sea apples and the few filter feeders.

Cons: can possibly nuke a tank. They do have a toxin that if they die a violent death they will release. Large specimens in small tanks with no chemical filtration are most at risk. I have lost three over the years with no problem.

Gabreil · Mar 17, 2016

Nalad, thanks for sharing. I should have mentioned I do have 2 ( doing a great job sifting and clean the sand )would like to rearrange about a 1/3 of the live rock in my system. I sometimes see 1 and sometimes the 2nd but for some time they are hanging were I'd like to rearrange. I'm afraid I may pinch one in the process which would set off it's defensive poison and distroy my many corals. They are the yellow type. Although I certainly don't want to injure them the investment in my corals would come first. And being new to this forum have to the thank everyone for you thought! This is great!

Gabreil said:
Anyone have any pros and cons on cucumbers

Maritimer · Mar 17, 2016

I've had no troubles with mine, and it's kind of cool to see this black-backed pink turd popping up in one part of the tank or another (H. edulis). Then again, I've only had the fellow for a month or so . . . and there's a mention in the article that Cloak shared of my species requiring a tank larger than what he's in . . . I tend to regard them as a great cleaner of the upper couple of millimeters of the sandbed, keeping the sand looking good - and a pretty cool creature in their own right!

BTW - Welcome to Reef2Reef!

~Bruce

Gabreil · Mar 17, 2016

cloak said:
Check this out.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/1/inverts

HTH.

Thanks for the sigbt! Tons of info.

Gabreil · Mar 18, 2016

Maritimer said:
I've had no troubles with mine, and it's kind of cool to see this black-backed pink turd popping up in one part of the tank or another (H. edulis). Then again, I've only had the fellow for a month or so . . . and there's a mention in the article that Cloak shared of my species requiring a tank larger than what he's in . . . I tend to regard them as a great cleaner of the upper couple of millimeters of the sandbed, keeping the sand looking good - and a pretty cool creature in their own right!

BTW - Welcome to Reef2Reef!

~Bruce

Thanks Bruce, interesting creatures for sure. Bad sand in, good sand out. Although wife isn't so sure as far as looks go...

Brewman1987 · Mar 18, 2016

I have 2 in my tank and have had zero problems. They clean the sand well and leave little sand pellets after they filter out the bad stuff. The only negative I have is they will clean the sand under a frag and possibly make it tip over.

Jacquie Samples · Mar 18, 2016

What is the smallest tank a cucumber can thrive in? I have heard that they can be quite large? I have a 29 gal biocube.

Gabreil · Mar 18, 2016

Brewman1987 said:
I have 2 in my tank and have had zero problems. They clean the sand well and leave little sand pellets after they filter out the bad stuff. The only negative I have is they will clean the sand under a frag and possibly make it tip over.

Gabreil · Mar 18, 2016

Thanks Brewman, not too bad of a trade off for cleaned sand.

Naiad · Mar 18, 2016

Gabreil said:
Nalad, thanks for sharing. I should have mentioned I do have 2 ( doing a great job sifting and clean the sand )would like to rearrange about a 1/3 of the live rock in my system. I sometimes see 1 and sometimes the 2nd but for some time they are hanging were I'd like to rearrange. I'm afraid I may pinch one in the process which would set off it's defensive poison and distroy my many corals. They are the yellow type. Although I certainly don't want to injure them the investment in my corals would come first. And being new to this forum have to the thank everyone for you thought! This is great!

If you are gentle it isn't hard to move them and not startle them. I would be sure to have fresh carbon running to be on the safe side though. I have had one cucumber and a few sea hares let loose in a 120 over the years. Other than a fish that got a face full everything was ok.