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cag
07-27-2004, 06:17 AM
I have a really nice pink cucumber. It has the little spikes etc. My concern is that it seems to be shrinking. It stays up on the glass all the time, and doesn't go down to the sand to feed. It practically inverts itself when I feed bio plankton in order to filter feed. But that doesn't seem to be enough. Any ideas on how to get it to feed in the sand, or how else to make it happy? :question:

roverT
07-27-2004, 06:38 AM
I noticed on another post that you use crushed coral, is this right? If so I think cukes prefer fine sand to sift so that could be a problem.

cag
07-28-2004, 01:44 AM
what I have now is very fine. It swirls all over hte place when you move things, I would like some that is a bit more coarse. But I could get more fine stuff if it would actually go down and feed in the stuff. Any other ways to encourage them ? :confused:

roverT
07-28-2004, 03:51 AM
I wouldn't want to go anymore coarse because you have to think that they have to pass this stuff through themselves. I got a black cuke from a LFS and they had very coarse CC when I got him home, he began to got through my sugar sand and when I first saw him expel the bigger CC he almost looked constipated and it shot out of him a couple of inches :biggrin: . I really don't know how to get him on the bottom, is there even any food leftover for him to eat on the bottom?

Quinn
07-28-2004, 04:26 AM
How old is your tank, what size of a sandbed do you have, and how much organic gunk do you figure is in the sand? These guys need to actually filter sand through their bodies to eat. I expect if you're not seeing those tell-tale pellets on the sand, he isn't eating.

cag
07-28-2004, 08:12 AM
Tank is very young, but the sand and rock came from an existing tank that had been up for about 9 months. Water is stable, and it seems like lots of food on the bottom. This guy just hangs there near the protien skimmer, and extends all these pink christmas tree like feathers to filter feed from one end about three times a day. I am giving them bio plankton, and he seems to feed just after I put it in, but he is still shrinking. He doesn't seem to care about other larger food items floating around. Is there anything else I can put near him or among the filter feathers that will help? Should I risk pulling him off the glass and putting him back down on the sand bed? Beyond filtering water or sand what do the spiney little twurps eat? Any ideas?

MitchM
07-28-2004, 12:46 PM
It sounds like a suspension feeding cucumber to me.
Same feeding as a sea apple. Phytoplankton is what it's looking for.

Here's an article from Advanced Aquarist that explains the feeding requirements for sea apples and suspension fed cukes.:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/invert.htm

quote:

Until recently the ability to regularly feed phytoplankton to a reef tank was quite a feat, and involved complicated and time-consuming culture techniques to raise greenwater at home.  Recently several suppliers have started to market phytoplankton for home aquaria and you can now buy live, frozen or spray-dried phytoplankton cultures to feed your reef in much the same way as you add other prepared foods.  There are a number of good articles available online for how to culture phytoplankton at home (e.g., Marini 2002, Toonen 1998a), but it is now so simple to buy phytoplankton to feed to a reef tank rather than growing your own that unless you’ve got a very large tank and are using a lot of phytoplankton, most people opt to simply buy it.  If you’re a real do-it-yourselfer, then it is certainly possible and cheap to culture algae at home, but you have to do it correctly or the phytoplankton can not only be non-nutritious, under some improper culture conditions, it can be downright toxic (see, Toonen 1998a).  If you want to culture phytoplankton, then take the time to read some of the articles above and do it properly.  Otherwise, I’d suggest purchasing your phytoplankton and let someone else do the work of culturing the stuff for you.

end quote.

And one kind word of advice, know what you're buying and what it's feeding requirements are before you buy it.

Mitch :smile:

Quinn
07-28-2004, 04:17 PM
Good call Mitch, I was assuming it was like my pink cuke but if it's got the filter branches or whatever the technical name is...

What's the possibility of removing it from the tank every few days and placing it in a bucket with bio plankton so it can eat its fill?

MitchM
07-28-2004, 04:30 PM
What's the possibility of removing it from the tank every few days and placing it in a bucket with bio plankton so it can eat its fill?

I doubt that that would be sufficient. The article indicated that these animals are constant feeders.
Given that our tanks have pretty low plankton levels to start with, I doubt that any filter feeders are receiving full nutrition at the best of times...

Mitch