livestock for sump/Fuge

[good11s]

anyone have a reccomendation for what livestock I can/should put in my sump/fuge?

I have LR rubble in the first baffle, and a DSB fuge in another.

I was thinking about a couple of hermit crabs in the LR baffle and some snails in the fuge.

What kind of snails would be best for the Fuge? Keep the DSB clean?

Should I put any crabs in the fuge? I am afraid they might go after the snails and/or eat the Cheato? Thoughts?

Also, how do I keep them from crawling out (crabs or snails?)

 

[fijiwigi]

on thetop of the baffles if you cut 1/2 inch it helps prevent snails from cruising over the baffle. They sell detrivore kits at inland aquatics http://www.inlandaquatics.com/prod/prod_detrit.html That bring some life to the deep sand bed. Add some sand sifting snails such as the nassarius snail and your ready to roll.

 

[good11s]

I didnt think about the detrivore kit for the DSB in the fuge.

Has anyone else had luck with the addition of a kit like this for their DSB?

 

[melosu58]

When I first started my fuge I didnt add any livestock to it and had no plans to. But since I have had to banish a CC star and a crab to it. You really dont need anything in there. Just save it for someone that is bad.

 

[MT79]

Unless you have to put something in the fuge, I would not add any predators like crabs, hermit crabs, etc. You want your fuge to contain as much of the beneficial fauna found on live rock and live sand as possible. Things such as pods, bristle worms, mini stars, and sponges, should be allowed to inhabit and reproduce with out being preyed upon for the best results. Having said that, some nassarius snails would help maintain the sand bed, bristle worms also do a great job at this in fuges. FWIW I never added anything but live rock and cheato to my fuge and it's crawling w/ all sorts of critters in there now. A good detrivore kit may help speed the process though.

 

[SparKy697]

I picked up some cheato on ebay and it turned out to be full of life. Pods and stars all over the place. Be patient though, they did not show themselves for quite a while. The only addition that I could suggest based on my small experience is a few turbo snails. My fuge got so overgrown with algae on the glass that you could not even see inside. The turbos fixed that in a day or two and keep things crystal clear now. I like the idea of keeping the refugium true to it's name. A safe haven for all things edible.