Cucumbers and sand sifting stars...

[icebear]

My tank is a DSB (the new castle brand of southdown).... i know, i know... i just like the look of a DSB and all the critters that wrom around in it, and i have only one fish (a toadfish named Todd) and its not going to be a fish full tank... just him and some zoas and mushrooms (which i always seem to find myself enjoying more than the other 'real' corals)...and decorative algaes so i don't expect the bed to fill up very fast, and i'll just replace it when the time comes...

But i don't know anything about cucumbers. My last tank before i made it a BB was a CC, and i was told then that CC will plug up a cuke, and since DSB are going out of style i havn't heard much about sand sifter stars...so....


do i need them, and if i don't need them, can i have a cuke? I just want one, but i don't want to starve or otherwise kill one....


I'm saving up to do an order from IPSF for strombus snails and some macros and a couple tiny leather frags, anthelias, pods and etc... they have cukes too and i figure i'll add that in if its ok'd....

but just tell me whats the best kind of sand sifting stars or cukes....

[jph]

Originally Posted by icebear

My tank is a DSB (the new castle brand of southdown).... i know, i know... i just like the look of a DSB and all the critters that wrom around in it, and i have only one fish (a toadfish named Todd) and its not going to be a fish full tank... just him and some zoas and mushrooms (which i always seem to find myself enjoying more than the other 'real' corals)...and decorative algaes so i don't expect the bed to fill up very fast, and i'll just replace it when the time comes...

But i don't know anything about cucumbers. My last tank before i made it a BB was a CC, and i was told then that CC will plug up a cuke, and since DSB are going out of style i havn't heard much about sand sifter stars...so....

do i need them, and if i don't need them, can i have a cuke? I just want one, but i don't want to starve or otherwise kill one....


I'm saving up to do an order from IPSF for strombus snails and some macros and a couple tiny leather frags, anthelias, pods and etc... they have cukes too and i figure i'll add that in if its ok'd....

but just tell me whats the best kind of sand sifting stars or cukes....

is this for the 30g tank in your sig ?

if so, a sandsifting star will eat everything that lives in your sandbed, and then die.

a sand sifting cuke would be OK though.

again, discalimer: that's what i've read


J.

[Sambo]

So far I've been very happy with my cuc - (browny version). I don't know whether there's a huge difference between black, black/pink, brown or tiger versions though...

[Twitterbait]

No... if you stir a DSB you will upset the balance of the bacteria in the bed. I would not add anything that will sift the bed.

[jph]

Originally Posted by Twitterbait

No... if you stir a DSB you will upset the balance of the bacteria in the bed. I would not add anything that will sift the bed.

i was under the impression that if you get sifters/stirres that won't go down too deep, and don't disturb the sand deeper than an inch or so it's all good, and even beneficial.



J.

[Twitterbait]

The problem is that most of the sand sifters in the hobby will go down too deep. I have seen many sand beds killed because of fish, cukes, and stars. then the sifter dies.

[Sambo]

FWIW, my cuke doesn't do more than skim the surface.

[Twitterbait]

My tiger is all over the sand in my nano... now he is shrinking because he cleaned it out.

[icebear]

Hmmm... well Todd likes to move sand around a lot himself (he hollows out space under the rocks).... so i wonder if my DSB is really going to be able to 'act' like an original DSB is supposed to anyway. i have dunes from flow also...

i wanted a tiger and a pinky

...didn't know that sand sifting stars actually eat sandbed bugs.... i assumed they ate the algaes that get between the grains of sand...eek...


Darn, i wanted a cuke, just as much as cause i wanted to name one Puke and the other Huey....

[ChrisPrusha]

Skip the star, imo...not good for a sand bed. I don't know if a tigertail will have enough to eat in a 30g. The Drs recommend 3 inches of cuke for every 20 gallons, so you might be okay...althought tigertails can get close to a foot in length.

[icebear]

ok, didn't know tigers got that big, wooh... i must have read the inches as centimeters....or something.... ?

[ChrisPrusha]

I've had one for a few years, and he's about 6 inches long. And cute as a button!

[icebear]

i discoverd why i'm having the worst time looking up info on the foolish things.... seems our web security is being triggerd by a small 3-letter word in "cucumber" that does not allow pages or photos of cucumbers and info to load.....LOL

[Twitterbait]

Originally Posted by ChrisPrusha

I've had one for a few years, and he's about 6 inches long. And cute as a button!

more like cute as a piece of fuzzy cat poo...

[110galreef]

I have the Pink fuzzy cat poo one!

And he's about 8" long! Big Poo

He is currently out right now too, so I'll get a pic