The CUC lovers thread!

[eenoo]

Heres a heart urchin! Such a cutie. Definitely one of my favorite CUC critters. He loves munching on all the spaghetti worms in the sand.

 

[betareef]

Nice. I was interested in a Halloween hermit, but I have conches. Would they kill my conches for shells?

I have never heard of a hermit killing in order to get a shell. I believe they are opportunistic, and simply inhabit dead shells they find.

 

[Baby Damsel 219]

yes, Hawaiian hermits will kill your conch snail, but if you provide lots of its favorite shells it will leave it alone, I have them in my reef. These shells do best

 

[betareef]

yes, Hawaiian hermits will kill your conch snail, but if you provide lots of its favorite shells it will leave it alone, I have them in my reef. These shells do best

Wow, I will stick with the local Aussie hermits then. Much better behaved

They also do not like cone shells as much - they prefer a rounder opening to the long thin one on a cone.

 

[JoJosReef]

Heres a heart urchin! Such a cutie. Definitely one of my favorite CUC critters. He loves munching on all the spaghetti worms in the sand.

That's a new one. I'll have to look into these.

 

[betareef]

That's a new one. I'll have to look into these.

I have found them on some of our northern beaches, alongside sand dollar urchins. The heart urchins are ball shaped but out of round , and when held the right way, look heart shaped. Sand dollar urchins are flat like a coin, although I have seen some quite large ones. You see them in their hundreds at low tide. The will need sand substrate to be happy.

 

[JoJosReef]

Surprise appearance from the money cowrie this AM! Mantle half-way extended:

Highly recommend one or more of these for any tank. They work at night, apparently pretty diligently, and are very long-lived!

 

[betareef]

A quick visit to the foreshore results in three chitons and three nerites for CUC.

 

[betareef]

So they are in the tank and at work already

 

[luis angel]

 

[fishguy242]

he is hungry...

 

[luis angel]

he is hungry...

Is that bad or good? and if it's bad, what can I do? I always try to add a little extra food so that the cuc also eats what falls on the sand. Thank you

 

[fishguy242]

Is that bad or good? and if it's bad, what can I do? I always try to add a little extra food so that the cuc also eats what falls on the sand. Thank you

if not on algae covered glass, yes move to "dirty "area of sand

 

[luis angel]

if not on algae covered glass, yes move to "dirty "area of sand

I only try to clean 3 walls of the tank, I always leave 1 wall a little dirty so that the cuc has to clean and eat, and the star goes up once or twice a week, the other time it is under the sand and only I see her every 2 days or so

 

[fishguy242]

ole One Eye Willy...

 

[Sdbuehler1]

My pin cushion urchin with a dead tuxedo turban hat

 

[JoJosReef]

Three conches now. I haven't tried a cucumber or sand sifting stars (or sea biscuits), but these guys do enough for the sand bed by themselves. This one even climbs to reach for more film algae.

 

[taytay_1119]

This is my blue leg hermit, conch, and a nassarius that had a hitch hiker.
My hermit is my fav out of them all. He’ll be in one corner of the tank and then you look back and he’s clear over on the opposite side. He’s got a lot of character for a crab lol.
My conch always reminds me of the vacuum off of teletubies ‍

 

[JoJosReef]

Marginella snail from ReefCleaners making a rare showing. No idea how they do compared to Nassarius vibex, but they are pretty! I do wonder if they are dangerous around clams, though...

 

[fishguy242]

Hitchhiker surprise, in the sump now...