star or cucumber
- Thread starter grandmarm
- Start date
puffrbware
Member
Why not both?
puffrbware
Member
Brittles are very aggresive and may even eat fish.. but it may not have a taste for a cuke since they're poisonus
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I would deff do more research about keeping the 2--- A large cuke will prob clean better --if you want a clean sandbed and cant keep the 2 together i would go with a cuke, nassurous snails, and serpent stars are affective. Sandsifters are good but a lil too good and cleans stuff in your tank that you wouldnt want touched.
[hr]
I would deff do more research about keeping the 2--- A large cuke will prob clean better --if you want a clean sandbed and cant keep the 2 together i would go with a cuke, nassurous snails, and serpent stars are affective. Sandsifters are good but a lil too good and cleans stuff in your tank that you wouldnt want touched.
ophiura
Active Member
Originally posted by PuffrBware
Brittles are very aggresive
What do you base this on??
This is really just not true. But any animal that is left to scavenge will not pass up a free meal when it is hungry. And most brittlestars are left to scavenge.
Now I am biased towards brittlestars and am sworn to defend them, but really they are very cool and do not deserve something like that description.
The green brittlestar is a known predator, but I reckon that considering the number of people that keep them, very few have any issues. I had 3 in a 15g with a sixline wrasse and they never touched him. Ditto with many other species. But similarly, many people have issues with species other than the green...I would just say it is quite rare relative to the number of people who keep them. And it certainly is not a generalization.
Some people have issues which means some individual brittlestars may eat things...but by no means are they "very aggressive." It is a risk, in keeping a tank, that our animals might eat each other.
The brittlestar will not eat the eel. We are talking, at most, about very small fish like clowns or shrimp. But also note that many are "caught in the act" so people think...they are part of the clean up crew. I do wonder how many times they actually caught a fish versus how many times they were accused of it simply by doing their job and cleaning a dead one.
Brittlestars should not be left to scavenge and should be spot fed. They are not sand sifters. They will not generally harm sea cucumbers (again, I've kept them together). There is NO REASON they can not be kept together, IMO.
As for the cukes, well, be sure you actually get a sand sifter cuke and that you do not have crushed coral. You need a fine particle size for them to eat properly. It should be noted that sand sifter cukes may fair better in tanks than filter feeders, assuming again you have proper substrate for it. Bright colored cukes are generally not sand sifters.
Avoid sand sifter stars, which tend to starve in most tanks after eating good things (eg worms) in your sand bed.
klongo
Member
I have to say thank you for all of your WONDERFUL posts regarding starfish. I happen to love them and want to add several to my 150g once it's been up and running a bit longer (only been 3 months).
Can you recommend a 'best' star to add to a FOWLR tank?
I had a red serpent star in my 30 gallon until we found it on the carpet outside of the tank. It was my favorite creature and it upset me a lot that it died. I'm hoping to add one to my new tank in the spring.
As far as cucumbers go - what do I look for as far as one to keep my sandbed clean? Something dull? a specific species?
Thanks, again, for all of your knowledge.
Can you recommend a 'best' star to add to a FOWLR tank?
I had a red serpent star in my 30 gallon until we found it on the carpet outside of the tank. It was my favorite creature and it upset me a lot that it died. I'm hoping to add one to my new tank in the spring.
As far as cucumbers go - what do I look for as far as one to keep my sandbed clean? Something dull? a specific species?
Thanks, again, for all of your knowledge.
ophiura
Active Member
Hi Klongo, you are most welcome! Thanks! 
Definitely wait on the stars, to make sure the tank stabilizes. Unfortunately there are all sorts of things that are settling that we can't test for, and it is best to let the tank mature for awhile longer. Glad you are planning on that.
The major question is what type of fish are you planning on keeping in your FOWLR?
The reef stars are definitely out, IMO, which includes Linckia and Fromia. Some might disagree but in general I feel they do best in tanks with lots and lots of LR and a mature reef.
But if you wish to keep normal predators of stars, like triggers, large wrasses, puffers and some large angels, this would be important to know!
Definitely wait on the stars, to make sure the tank stabilizes. Unfortunately there are all sorts of things that are settling that we can't test for, and it is best to let the tank mature for awhile longer. Glad you are planning on that.
The major question is what type of fish are you planning on keeping in your FOWLR?
The reef stars are definitely out, IMO, which includes Linckia and Fromia. Some might disagree but in general I feel they do best in tanks with lots and lots of LR and a mature reef.
But if you wish to keep normal predators of stars, like triggers, large wrasses, puffers and some large angels, this would be important to know!
klongo
Member
The plan is to wait until the tank has been up between 6 and 9 months. My fish list (at the moment!) includes:
two ocellaris
watchman goby
flame hawk
5 blue/green chromis
raccoon butterfly
small angel (not sure which one)
an emperor angel
a flasher or fairy wrasse
I have 190 pounds of live rock at the moment (80 pounds from my 30 gallon which was up for a year) and 110 pounds new.
So what are my options for a starfish that won't get eaten. Acdtually, maybe I'd trade a fish off of my list to get a star!
two ocellaris
watchman goby
flame hawk
5 blue/green chromis
raccoon butterfly
small angel (not sure which one)
an emperor angel
a flasher or fairy wrasse
I have 190 pounds of live rock at the moment (80 pounds from my 30 gallon which was up for a year) and 110 pounds new.
So what are my options for a starfish that won't get eaten. Acdtually, maybe I'd trade a fish off of my list to get a star!