Question on CUC?

[lacosta28]

I am coming up on my 4th week cycling my tank. So far I have 5 turbo snails, 3 margarita snails and 3 nassarius snails. I may need more nassarius snails because the sand is still pretty bad. However, all the rocks are pretty much cleaned up from the turbo snails.

I may have gotten too many turbo snails since they did such a great job in a short time. Should I take them back to the LFS? Or should I try and keep them and feed them? I wanted some opinions becaause the last thing I want is for them to starve to death. I value their life as much as I would a clown, tang, or any fish.

I am also sorry for all the questions lately, but after the so called advice I have gotten from my LFS lately I just dont trust them. I do use the search and find a lot of things out that way. So I am not as bad as I could be.

anyway thank you all for these great forums and all the nice people tha tare here to share their knowledge. I try and contribute the little that I do know when I can.

[jer77]

tank size?
# of turbo's?

[lacosta28]

Sorry I put that the first 2 times then my computer froze. It's a 90gallon and i have 5 Turbos.

[jer77]

About CUC's:

My favorites are Trochus snails, white and black stripped zebra and scarlet reef hermits. I liked the nassarius snails but the larger ones eat a lot of good stuff in the sand too. Turbo snails are ok, but the trochus seem to last longer since they usually come from warmer pacific waters. Margarita snails come from cooler waters in the pacific so I think they don't last as long in warmer water.

[jer77]

That amount of turbo's is good. I wouldn't worry about keeping 5 fed. If one does end up to go missing keep a look out to make sure it isn't rotting. You should be able to tell if one croaks from the skimmer and the smell.

[lacosta28]

Thanks that is great information Jer77. My LFS didn't have much of a selection. Maybe this weekend they will have more to choose from. 2 of the Turbo's are monsters too. I am worried now that most of the diatom is gone they will not have much else to eat. I could try feeding them or see if I can take them back so they can go to a different home.

[jer77]

Do you get regular algae growth on the glass?

Cerith snails are better for cleaning the sand than nassarius snails are.

Look at this site for the inverts there. They have everything I've talked about:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/a...lies.cfm?c=497

[SwampyBill]

First off, welcome to Reef Central! Don't apologize for asking questions. You're in the right place to ask. We've all been where you are at the beginning, & the only stupid question is the one NOT asked. You're good on snails for now. As jer77 said, margarita snails are from coolers waters, so usually don't last long in our warmer tanks. After tank is cycled & you have more of a bioload with a fish or two, you might add a few more nassarius & some scarlet legged hermits to the mix (they're usually more peaceful than blue-legs). Like you, I started with a 90 gal tank. Good luck!

[lacosta28]

Awesome thanks for all the information everyone. I will just kick back and enjoy the tank for a while before I put anything else in. I actually get a lot of entertainment watching these snails move around. I can't imagine what it will be like when I get my first fish in there.

[Angel*Fish]

I agree with you, I'd take at least 4 of the turbos back and personally I would never add a crab to my tank. If it were me, I'd look into adding some cerith snails.

[jokim]

yeah ceriths are nice, so is fighting conch

[jeff@zina.com]

The turbo snails will be fine, although they tend to be bulldozers and knock stuff around. A bit of nori or other vegetable matter will supplement their diet, but you kind of want them hungry and looking for algae.

Jeff

[davocean]

Should be totally fine, if they get too big swap them, sometimes they knock stuff over.
I like astrea, cerith, and nerites best.
People seem about 50/50 on liking hermits, I don't like them.
As your tank matures add more, I'm a firm believer in if you can count them you don't have enough!
My 150g has at least 50-75 ceriths, 30-50 or more astrea, about 20-30 nerites just for example, but I've been running a year or more now.

[DoubleM 10]

the 46 im setting up now has 3 scarlet crabs and thats if for crabs. my other 2 tanks i put the crabs in cause i HATE stuff on the glass.

after learning more about the hobby snails are good. and in most cases better than crabs. so the new tank will have minimal crabs

i have 4 turbos, 18 nass. 3 scarlet crabs, 1 emreld crab

this tank will be FOWLR. no corals

[davocean]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention emerald crab, those and commensal/acro crabs are the only two allowed in my tank.

[patsfan1130]

I have to disagree with most of you. 5 turbo snails in a 4 week old 90 is far too many. I personally would take at least 3 if not 4 back. In my 7 year old 90 I only keep 3 and they keep the tank looking extremely nice. In my 300 I have 8. IMO those are going to starve to death.

[Angel*Fish]

Originally Posted by patsfan1130

I have to disagree with most of you. 5 turbo snails in a 4 week old 90 is far too many. I personally would take at least 3 if not 4 back. In my 7 year old 90 I only keep 3 and they keep the tank looking extremely nice. In my 300 I have 8. IMO those are going to starve to death.

Yes, everyone but me

[lacosta28]

I plan on taking most back this weekend since I don't want them to starve. The tank is pretty much clean so they really don't have anything else to eat. Maybe they will even give me half back in store credit. If not at least the snails will get a place to live where they can eat.

Thanks everyone.

[davocean]

I'd do what Jeff@zina suggested, toss in a little food if concerned.

[Angel*Fish]

Having a bunch a turbos snails you have to add more food to your tank to target feed kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it?

[davocean]

Not really, for one they will most likely be fine, but to add some flakes or something if you're concerned takes very little effort, much less effort than pulling them and driving to LFS, and you are going to need them, and many more pretty soon.
Alot of people have about 1 snail per gallon, maybe not at first, but we use alot.
You'd be surprised how fast a new tank will build up algae.

[Angel*Fish]

Surely you don't mean one turbo snail per gallon. In my 100 g tank all I bought for it was 5 nassarius snails. There were several limpets that came in on LR. Using snails to mow the algae lawn is bad husbandry in my opinion. Aside from an early battle with bryopsis I had no hair algae.

[usefulidiot213]

As you can tell there is a wide difference in opinion when it comes to CUC. However, there is a lot of good info just don't take one person's recommendation as gold. I like to mix it up with different snails, Scarlet hermits, Emerald Crabs & a Sally lightfoot.
A lot of people say they will never put a Sally Lightfoot in their tank because it becomes it gets too big, and turns predatoral. However, I have had a few over the past 7 years and never seen this happen.

[Angel*Fish]

You just aren't notiing what they are eating. I'm not saying no one can have a successful tank with crabs, but know what they are doing and make an informed choice.

[joshik]

i like the astreas too... not as big and clumsy as the turbos. i keep a lot of hermits and astreas along with some shrimp. i got some new live rock with lots of HA and the CUC are going to town on it!