Tiger Tail Cuke doing his thing ???

Phil_g1017 · 02-10-2004, 10:45 PM

I suspect this is a birds and bees thing, if not what?

Phil_g1017 · 02-10-2004, 10:48 PM

photo 1 (I hope)

Phil_g1017 · 02-10-2004, 10:49 PM

Hope he or she is happy photo 2

Phil_g1017 · 02-10-2004, 10:51 PM

Photo 3 (such as it is)

Phil_g1017 · 02-13-2004, 12:56 AM

Do I need to post on RC to get a response

bscaggs06 · 02-13-2004, 01:08 AM

I would give ya a good response but i have no idea about them Sorry :-(

dwall174 · 02-13-2004, 01:59 AM

Hopefull thats what he's doing! I can't help you myself because I never had one of them. The Some Cukes can release a poison when threatened which can be toxic to some fish & corals.

ShirleyM · 02-13-2004, 07:28 AM

Tiger Tails divide to reproduce...in our tank they went through a division and two eventually became 4 or 6...

However....when one made it over the overflow and got caught in the external return pump, his guts and all the deadly chemicals inside his guts were spewed back into the tank. All but three fish died -- no corals were affected...this all took place within 2-1/5 start to finish. The marine biologist who owns Inland Aquatics explained the chemistry of the disaster...

They will release their poisons if suddenly traumatized.

*be careful*. The toxin does not hang around...it's organic and degrades (Tom, help me out here...) and so you don't have to do a complete water change like we were in the process of doing...after the fact. Our Pacific Regal tang, which we still have, was all but dead. We moved him to the FOWLR tank and guarded him from attack...he survived the night and was returned to the reef tank before the fowlr woke up. The pair of perculas made it through. Our losses were huge, costly, and very emotional, as we had had them for years and were very attached to them. Their deaths came very quickly.

By the way, maybe it's the lack of clarity in your photos, but those don't look like Tiger Tails to me...we have golden cukes now. Are those goldens? (I'm not implying that goldens are safer by any means)

~ Shirley

Geoff · 02-13-2004, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Phil_g1017
Do I need to post on RC to get a response

dang, i was asleep at 2 in the morning.

it does not look like a cuke puke. cuke puke is much larger and substantial.

i think it is a birds and bees thing.

<a href="http://www.darwinfoundation.org/marine/FAQcuke.html">article</a> on cumbers.

G~

Phil_g1017 · 02-14-2004, 01:59 AM

Thanks to all who responded,.

<< maybe it's the lack of clarity in your photos, but those don't look like Tiger Tails to me >>

Shirley what you said is so true,

I have a lot to learn about photography. My beginners photos are a joke in comparison to what I have seen on these boards. I have ordered some now lenses I think I need to get a tripod too.

I believe it is a Tiger tail cuke. I bought it as such from a reputable dealer. It has been in my the tank doing fine for 9 months. Normally it tends to be nocturnal. It is out of sight under the rocks most of the time during the day. This was the first time we ever saw it sort of raise his body and release something. It is now several days after that event, all life appears happy, nothing bad has happened in the tank so I don't believe it was a toxic release.

Geoff; Interesting that your link on cukes was from the "Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galopagos. I will spend three days in the Galopagos in March I think we will visit that research station.

This is way off topic but I started the thread so I'll go ahead and ask you. I have been looking on various threads for something I think you may have said about Refugiums. As I remember it, you think the fuge adds to the bioload of the system. Do you remember what thread where the subject was discussed? I would like to read your thoughts on the subject.

icebear · 02-14-2004, 07:08 AM

the fuge adds to the water volume of the setup, thereby reducing strain on the bioload or increasing its potential a bit.

basically, i have a 27 sump/fuge on a 46 gallon main tank. i can consider my system to be about 70 gallons more or less, so technically i could stock it more like a 70 than a 45....i also have a nice out-of-the way place to run my filter media, hook up my skimmer and keep the waterheater in so it dosen't clutter the look of the main tank any more than necessary.

there's lots of threads on it

Coralbeauty · 02-14-2004, 10:00 AM

I have had TT cucs for several years. I do not know how many I have since they have divided often. I have never seen sexual reproduction only asexual. Through the years I have heard that they have toxins and I have heard that they do not have toxins. So I find Shirley's post very interesting and worry some. About two weeks ago I also had one which almost went down the overflow at about 0200. It was not just the organic spike that caused the losses?????

Worried and interested!
Connie

ShirleyM · 02-14-2004, 10:52 AM

No, it was not the organic spike that caused your losses; it was the organic chemical released. Morgan Lidester, marine biologist and owner of Inland Aquatics -- huge reef laboratory along with small reef shop -- explained all this to me and named the chemicals, of which I not longer have the notes. Even Morgan said that he would have another tiger tail for the benefits, that the fact mine crawled to the top and went over the overflow was extremely unusual. Well, we were "cuke-less" for a very long time, then last summer got the two golden cukes. They have stayed on the bottom...but then, so had our tiger tails for quite some time...

http://www.inlandaquatics.com/

~ Shirley

Geoff · 02-14-2004, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Phil_g1017

Geoff; Interesting that your link on cukes was from the "Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galopagos. I will spend three days in the Galopagos in March I think we will visit that research station.

This is way off topic but I started the thread so I'll go ahead and ask you. I have been looking on various threads for something I think you may have said about Refugiums. As I remember it, you think the fuge adds to the bioload of the system. Do you remember what thread where the subject was discussed? I would like to read your thoughts on the subject.

i would love to go to the Galopagos some day!

i do not know which thread that was and doing a search using refugium and my name will not be very helpfull, i am a huge blabber mouth.

plus my view on them has changed quite a bit in the last year or so.

i used to have one with an 8-9" DSB in it, the sand is gone and the only left in it are a couple of pieces of LR that i did not want in the display. IMO they are only usefull for increasing the total volume of water in the system. this added volume helps is diffusing any harmfull compounds in the system. they can also give another area for gas exchange. this also helps to keep the system cooler.

i feel that they are not usefull in supplying food for the display. simple question: why would a pod want to leave the refugium? better yet, why would it want to get sucked into a pump? i think you are just wasting bio-load capacity on critters that are not helping the entire system.

for nutrient export with algae, this does have its merits. can be used to keep pH under control by reverse lighting. this is the only thing keeping me from just turning off the light completely over my refuge. if you are using caleurpa this could be more trouble than it is worth. you must make sure it does not go sexual or you will be in worse shape than you were before. Halimeda is a great algae for this.

hth,

G~

ShirleyM · 02-15-2004, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Geoff

for nutrient export with algae, this does have its merits. can be used to keep pH under control by reverse lighting. this is the only thing keeping me from just turning off the light completely over my refuge. if you are using caleurpa this could be more trouble than it is worth. you must make sure it does not go sexual or you will be in worse shape than you were before. Halimeda is a great algae for this.

Hi Geoff,

And that's the very reason I wish we *had* a refugium -- to keep nitrates down in the fowlr tank. There are no critters to take care of waste b/c the fish eat them! We have one huge brittle star in there, and that's it. But he eats the fresh shrimp we feed the fish.

~ Shirley