Cucumber?

[Giants13]

I just got a black cucumber the other day on thursday and i have not seen it since, this worries me because i know what a cucumber can do to a tank. Does anyone have any idea where this thing could be hiding? Do they go under the sand ?

[Bent]

Yes a cuc can and will bury itself.

Don't worry about the cuke nuke. It's a rare event, and they only ever do it if they die suddently and traumatically and feel as though they are being attacked. (I.e power head)

I currently have 3 cukes. A black Atlantic and two tiger tails, all 3 were over 2 feet long when I put them in and only see them when I'm turning over rocks for whatever reason.

[Ron Reefman]

I have a yellow cucumber from the Florida Keys in each of my 3 reef tanks. Sometimes I don't see them for months at a time. But the one in my 180g reef has been in there for over 23 years now.

[ZeeSparrow]

Originally Posted by Bent

I currently have 3 cukes. A black Atlantic and two tiger tails, all 3 were over 2 feet long when I put them in and only see them when I'm turning over rocks for whatever reason.

Liveaquaria says tiger tails get about 1 foot long... maybe up to 18". You have two of them over TWO FEET long?! Dang. What size is your tank, Ben?

[Giants13]

do u guys have crabs and hermits in the tank with the cucumber? i currently have 3 emerald crabs and 2 blue leg hermits and a lot of other, i think what you would call regular hermits lol.

[cloak]

Check this out.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/1/inverts

HTH.

[Bent]

Originally Posted by ZeeSparrow

Liveaquaria says tiger tails get about 1 foot long... maybe up to 18". You have two of them over TWO FEET long?! Dang. What size is your tank, Ben?

I got them from a LFS that's had them for years.

2 feet may be an exaggeration, lol. They are gigantic I know that much.

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by Giants13

do u guys have crabs and hermits in the tank with the cucumber? i currently have 3 emerald crabs and 2 blue leg hermits and a lot of other, i think what you would call regular hermits lol.

I have a number of bigger hermits (red legs and Halloween) and some Emerald crabs as well. they don't seem to bother the cucumber or the serpent stars.

[Ron Reefman]

And after not seeing it for a couple of weeks, it came out this morning. BTW, the Gorgonian that is attached to a clam next to the cucumber was a beach rescue last Nov. I had washed up on the beach from the Gulf of Mexico.

[Hitch08]

Put two cucumbers in my tank. Haven't seen them in a long time. Pretty sure whey are dead.

[Giants13]

i found mine last night its looking good, from what i have been reading only the sea apple will nuke ur tank if it dies?

[Bent]

Originally Posted by Giants13

i found mine last night its looking good, from what i have been reading only the sea apple will nuke ur tank if it dies?

They all have the ability to do it, it's just the apple is usually bigger and holds more toxin than the smaller ones. But that being said, I had a sea Apple once die once from a power outage and it didn't hurt a thing.

Again, IME the cuke will only release its toxin if it feels it is being attacked. Sudden and severe trauma seems to be the trigger. Which makes sense if you think that it's main goal is to try to elude an attacker. I think most of the horror stories happened to people when their cuke got caught in a power head, in which case it's usually a guarantee.