Anyone have Tuxedo Urchin?

[generalee]

After reading book sand such I still want to get first hand info on an invert. Does anyone have a Tuxedo Urchin in their tank and if so what are you doing to keep him alive? Any drawbacks? Size of tank? Would you do it again? Thanks for the info, John.

[KingOfJericho]

I've got one... for $20 he's yours. You just plop it in the tank and forget about it. He roves around eating algae all day.

[kelley_mc]

Drawbacks are they eat Coraline....

[KingOfJericho]

They eat *some* coraline but I never found it to be an issue. He managed to crawl into my overflow and is feasting in there. I just don't want him to starve.

[pecan2phat]

The blue tux that I have seems to prefer coralline. I have him in a 180g so that he doesn't strip my rocks bare.
It's also annoying that every 3-4 days, I need to go in the tank to pluck off all the snails that he has attached to him.

[generalee]

I'm not concerned with coralline as it grows like crazy in my tank. Of course it probably wouldn't clean the corraline off my glass, that would be hoping for too much.
I knew that items in the tank would stick to the guy so if all I have to worry about is some grooming, I guess it's ok.
What about dieing? I haven't read anything on that subject, does it release any toxins upon immediate death?

[KingOfJericho]

Not sure about the dying but it's hilarious when my shrimp molt and the molts stick to him for like a week.

[Herpn]

I wrote up a long reply earlier but it never got posted. Hmm

Well,
I had one for 3 years I kept it in my 75 most of the time. I would take it out and put it in my 26 to give it more food and help to keep the 26 clean. It would eat alot of my corline (sometimes off the glass). About 6 months ago I put it in my 26 and forgot about it. When I finally rememberd it was in there ( I saw it) it had a white spot on it and it had dropped a few spines and the color was not as bright. I put it back into my 75 but it never recovered. I think it starved in my 26. I have a ton of rock in each tank.

Good Luck.

[generalee]

So Chuck, do the URchins only feed on Corraline or did you suppliment with anything like Nori?

[Herpn]

I did not feed mine it ate the algae in the tank. The green too. When I would take it out of a tank this would give the algae a chance to grow. It did bother me a bit that it ate most of my coraline. It did keep the tanks clean though.

[amcarrig]

I used to have one in my old 90 gallon but got rid of it shortly after I noticed it toting around my 3" maxima clam. If the urchin had decided to drop that clam behind the rockwork, it would have been doomed. It will stick whatever isn't nailed down in your tank onto its back, assuming it's not too heavy for it to carry.