Thoughts on this CUC

[Thanos]

Just wanted a few opinions on my CUC for my 65 gallon softy/LPS reef before I finish buying everything. Stocking that I have right now is:
-2 Ocellaris Clowns
-1 Firefish
-1 Royal Gramma
-1 Azure Damselfish
-3 Hermits
-4 Trochus Snails
-1 Long Spine Black Sea Urchin

What I'm planning on getting:
-1 Tiger conch
-5 Cerith snails
-1 Banded Serpent Star
-1 Peppermint Shrimp

My main concern right now is that I'd too many CUC members and everything would starve. I'm thinking about dropping either the conch or the starfish to make sure the other one has enough food but I'm not sure this is necessary as this is my first tank. Thoughts/suggestions?

 

[EricR]

I'm not experienced enough to give good advice. Looks good to me and I'll just add these two comments:
-- My tiger conch and couple nassarius snails are "cool" and interesting (40 gallon tank).
-- I considered peppermint shrimp but read some posts noting that individual specimens have gone after corals, plus saw a couple of YouTube videos that seemed to back this up.

 

[Thanos]

I'm not experienced enough to give good advice. Looks good to me and I'll just add these two comments:
-- My tiger conch and couple nassarius snails are "cool" and interesting (40 gallon tank).
-- I considered peppermint shrimp but read some posts noting that individual specimens have gone after corals, plus saw a couple of YouTube videos that seemed to back this up.

Have heard this as well about a variety of shrimp too, not necessarily that they directly kill coral but more that they harass and stress them out while looking for food which can eventually lead to death. The shrimp is the lowest on my priority list since from what I've heard they're not super efficient cleaners, more just something you get bc it looks cool.

 

[Lavey29]

I have the same size tank. It depends on your current needs for algae control. I started small and increased numbers and variety as needed. With all my tank troubles though one thing I'm proud of is my invert success. I think I have the best looking cleaner crew on R2R and I rarely lose one.

 

[EricR]

One of the videos I saw was an overnight massacre of the polyps on some allegedly healthy hard coral (can't remember type) and showed the shrimp picking away at it the next morning -- seemed legit but who knows what ll the factors were. *I'm leaning towards a skunk cleaner shrimp or two, personally.

 

[Thanos]

I have the same size tank. It depends on your current needs for algae control. I started small and increased numbers and variety as needed. With all my tank troubles though one thing I'm proud of is my invert success. I think I have the best looking cleaner crew on R2R and I rarely lose one.

Tank has been running about 5 months. In terms of algae, there's a lot of diatoms and green cyanobacteria, and a little bit of hair algae.

 

[damsels are not mean]

You are light on snails IMO. I would do a lot more than that. They don't have to be expensive, and given the fact that you see lots of algae you can absolutely support more. I think you need more surface cleaners which includes your trochus but also ninja star snails, turbos, money cowries, and limpets. The conch and ceriths might be enough to clean what's on the substrate and the serpent star will eat any leftover food pretty well. Of course you can always add more, so don't go crazy and definitely don't buy any "cleaner packs" because they are usually way too heavy and full of things that aren't that great at their jobs.

I would drop the peppermint in favor of other shrimps unless you want to tackle aiptasia. They are iffy on reef safeness and other shrimps are prettier IMO. I like the smaller gold, yellow, and blue coral banded shrimps as scavengers. They are not as active as cleaner shrimp and will mostly be bottom feeders whereas cleaner shrimp will try to steal food more often.

 

[Reeferjunkie]

I would suggest a few turbo or astrea snails some of the best cuc imo

 

[Thanos]

I would suggest a few turbo or astrea snails some of the best cuc imo

I only want snails that can self-right, so I'm limiting it to Trochus, Nassarius, and Cerith.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Id recommend 50 small ceriths and 10 nerite.
Ur gonna get algae soon if not already is my guess. Depends on the tank.
Fts?
D

 

[damsels are not mean]

I only want snails that can self-right, so I'm limiting it to Trochus, Nassarius, and Cerith.

Ninja stars are a type of astrea that can self right. Aren't as expensive as trochus and have a cool shell. I think having a mix of both is good as diversity in your CUC is never a bad thing.