Sand cucs (The one's that don't poison the tank)

[AWD]

I have a sand-stirring star in a 125 gal. I am not real impressed with his/her work nor the 30 sand snails( I forgot what they're called at the moment). I would like to put in a cucumber that is safe. What ones are the best looking and/or work the best at keeping the sand white?

Thanks,

Andy

 

[Anonymous]

You're probably talking about tiger tail cukes. They are brown with white spots. You want to be careful because there are 2 that are very similiar and so they are both often called tiger tail cukes at the LFS. One has feelers at his mouth to catch particles in the water column and the other doesn't. If you want a sand stirrer, you want the one without the mouthparts.

Now that you know the name, try a search - I'm sure you'll find a ton of info here on them. They're aways being discussed.

And the snails are probably nassarius. Being so small, you need a lot of them.

 

[leftovers]

All cucumbers can retract their tenticles into their body so to say that a tiger tail without tenticle safer wouldn't be very accurate. Also all cucumbers are poisonous to a degree and can take down a tank and it inhabitants. Also unless the cucumber is a filter feeder i.e. hangs out on rock in the open and waves it tenticles around looking for food, it will consume sand and poop sand leaving you with nice white sand logs along its journey. Others will actually burrow to a small degree into the sand consuming particulates.

The most popular cuke is the Tiger tail: Holothuria impatiens


Cukes belong to the class Holothuroidea and are echnoderms aka sea stars (for the polically fishy correct) aka star fish and the like.

Examples of filter feeding cukes from google:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=& ... gle+Search


or if you are hungry: http://www.orientmag.com/recipe7.htm


or for a nice site about the tiger tail look here: http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/inve ... grtail.htm


enjoy

 

[Anonymous]

Well that's disturbing, I thought the impatiens cukes would not nuke a tank.

Has anyone had a disaster that was caused by a tiger tail releasing poisons they could share?

 

[wade1]

I can say from experience that it depends on the situation as to whether a 'nuke' occurs or not. I have had Atlantic sand eaters die and disintegrate without visible sign. Yet, when its twin brother got caught in a powerhead, either it released toxin or its flesh was consumed by my fish and it killed all of them excepting clowns. Tangs, lawnmower blenny, wrasse all dead in hours. But, it didn't have any direct effect on the rest of the corals and clams. So, its my opinion that most cukes only nuke a tank under extreme stress or when their flesh is consumed.

The moral of the story?
Keep your powerheads elevated and away from the glass. They are asking to get a quick introduction to holothurian physiology.