Sea Cucumbers

[p3rmafrost]

Does anyone here keep sea cucumbers? What has your experience been? I've heard they're good for turning over sand and I was considering grabbing one. I already have a goby in the tank and didn't want to risk adding another one. I've read that the sea cucumbers can 'nuke' a tank if they die, is that common? If you have pictures I'd love to see them.

[DaJMasta]

The more exotic ones, especially filter feeding types, carry a toxin that can hurt things in a tank if killed - I don't know if it's actually potent enough to kill everything quickly, but as it goes in many tanks, it doesn't take many deaths to start a sort of ammonia cascade that turns into a full nuke in a few hours.

I've had a couple of the standard sand sifting type from the Caribbean, and while some species can get big, they've stayed like 4" max for me.  Had one in the main display that after months in the sandbed, started venturing a little higher in the tank (presumably for food) and eventually got sucked into a powerhead, but the tank didn't seem to miss a beat.  I've got another in the sump of my other system that I see only occasionally, but it seems to be doing well.

While I would recommend them if you've got the sand bed to support them, if you're looking for a sand sifter I think conchs are a good choice too.  They eat less out of the sand itself, but do burrow in it quite a bit, so you get a good amount of churn, and they're both interesting to look at and pretty safe all around.

A little bit of a fun sea cucumber fact: they can sort of liquefy their bodies to be able to fit into even tighter spaces, solidifying on the far side, so they can get through incredibly small holes in rocks and such.

Edited March 17, 2023 by DaJMasta

[p3rmafrost]

Just now, DaJMasta said:

The more exotic ones, especially filter feeding types, carry a toxin that can hurt things in a tank if killed - I don't know if it's actually potent enough to kill everything quickly, but as it goes in many tanks, it doesn't take many deaths to start a sort of ammonia cascade that turns into a full nuke in a few hours.

I've had a couple of the standard sand sifting type from the Caribbean, and while some species can get big, they've stayed like 4" max for me.  Had one in the main display that after months in the sandbed, started venturing a little higher in the tank (presumably for food) and eventually got sucked into a powerhead, but the tank didn't seem to miss a beat.  I've got another in the sump of my other system that I see only occasionally, but it seems to be doing well.

While I would recommend them if you've got the sand bed to support them, if you're looking for a sand sifter I think conchs are a good choice too.  They eat less out of the sand itself, but do burrow in it quite a bit, so you get a good amount of churn, and they're both interesting to look at and pretty safe all around.

Thank you for that, that was helpful. Specifically I was looking at this guy:

 

https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/703/?pcatid=703

 

I wanted to go the conch route. I picked up an African Knobby Creeper (it's a snail, but kind of fills the role of a conch) and my hermits went nuts. They stalked it, murdered it, and now they fight over the shell. It's been an invert bloodbath. I have a suspicion that if I toss in another invert with a large shell my hermits with smaller shells with get all Lord of the Flies on it.

[DaJMasta]

As their info says, I think those are known to be more dangerous if they get killed, but they should be able to do the job, and if you're one to always have carbon running, maybe the risk isn't too high.

The ones I've used are these or like them https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/tank-cleaners/sea-cucumber-detail Not as pretty, but they do good work.  Also kept tiger tail cucumbers, which look a little more interesting, and haven't had problems with them.

[p3rmafrost]

That's a good lead, thank you. I'll keep an eye out and see if I can snag one of the ones you suggested. It doesn't need to be pretty, it just needs to kick up some sand and not get the tankmates too fired up.

[Origami]

I've got three in my tank. One donkey dung and two tiger tails. The oldest (DD) is close to 15 years old. The other two are over 10. Good for the sandbed and good tank mates.

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[p3rmafrost]

12 hours ago, Origami said:

I've got three in my tank. One donkey dung and two tiger tails. The oldest (DD) is close to 15 years old. The other two are over 10. Good for the sandbed and good tank mates.

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Excellent! I'm glad to hear they're not causing any issues. Did you get them locally? I think I'm going to start looking for one. 

[AlanM]

The main issues I had with tiger tails was that they would move the sand through their guts in large quantity and leave piles where it came out and they split fairly often I my tank. I ended up with 4 of them.

[p3rmafrost]

I imagine you could sell the splits, right? Do you still have them? 

[JJKK]

I have had Tiger Cucumbers for over 4 years.  Never had an issue except one showing up in my overflow.  Had to wait for him to go down the overflow to my basement sumo.  It was kinda mangled inside the Filter Roller(Clarisea) tube, but no issues.

 

  https://www.instagram.com/p/CScOYvEDKPp/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

I can catch one at night easily if you are still looking for one.

[p3rmafrost]

Aww, poor little dude. Glad he made it out safely. I'm interested. You're not too far from me. I'm doing tank maintenance today, so his new house will be all cleaned up and ready for him. Shoot me a PM with a price and your address and I'll swing by whenever you're ready. My afternoon is open. 

[Origami]

Excellent! I'm glad to hear they're not causing any issues. Did you get them locally? I think I'm going to start looking for one. 

No. It's been ages, but I think that I got them all as part of other CUC buys back then.

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