Reef Safe Urchins?

[wantananemone]

Tuxedo Urchins...how does everyone feel about these and reef tanks? I currently have fish, lots of live rock, frog spawn, and green star polyps.....will this urchin eat the frog spawn and star polyps? any other information will be helpful.

[demonsp]

They are great for algea but if there isnt enough then nori and i had a long spine that eat brine. They can knock stuff over though. Heres is a little info on him. GL

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...pcatid=595&N=0

[mysterybox]

All my tuxedo eats is calc algae! It never mowed anything down either.

[glaudds]

Beware...they like to steal loose frags!!!!

[wantananemone]

Thanks to you all for replying. Glaudds nice pic. its crazy how they pick things up.

[scotmc]

I have had no problems with mine. It 's been a great addition to the tank. Has not moved any frags, as of yet. After seeing that pictures, I am sure it will at some point.

[clowder]

Haha, that picture is too funny!

[ACBlinky]

Tuxedos are safe AFAIK, and there are other safe urchins as well. I've had no issues with my pincushion, other than him moving some frags around. Just like tuxedos, these guys will pick up anything that's not nailed down - my urchin wears a different hat each day; Speedy seems to change clothes more than some people!

[LobsterOfJustice]

Here is a picture of one of my 4 after picking up some various camoflage:

[wantananemone]

it's good to hear that they are safe. Lobsterofjustice that picture is crazy. i love it.

[Pmolan]

I banished my pencil and longspine to the fuge.. They can knock down all of the live rock they want in there.

[landlord]

That's a winner!. They're like the compulsive hoaders on Oprah. Fantastic picture pmolan.

[wantananemone]

"Tuxedos are safe AFAIK, and there are other safe urchins as well."

What are some other reef safe urchins?

[kl3377]

It's best when they pick up a hermit crab against its will, poor little guys look so helpless.

[LukFox]

Originally posted by wantananemone
"Tuxedos are safe AFAIK, and there are other safe urchins as well."

What are some other reef safe urchins?

Long spines are supposed to be safe, too. They get huge though, so unless you have the room, it'll eventually start knocking things over.


That said, I love my 4 tuxedos. They're hell on frags (they always steal the tooth picks!), but beyond that, they're fine.

[droptine11]

Are tuxedo urchins safe to put in an acrylic tank?

[asherah]

omg that's hilarious.. i had no idea they would do that
too funny..

asherah

[salth2owannabe]

My long spine is great to watch and it carefully moves around everything.

[asherah]

've read they eat all coraline off the rocks.. what's others experience on this ? I've considered getting one but not if it's going to scrape off all the coraline..=/

asherah

[kenny77]

they love coraline. if your tank has good water conditions then the only thing they have to eat is filament algae and coraline. so then you have to feed it with nori. which is another way to keep them away from coraline just a little bit

[LobsterOfJustice]

I have a pencil urchin, rock boring (small black spikey), pincushion, and tuxedo. The first to dont pick stuff up. The pincushion picks the most up.

I used to have a longspine but it quickly outgrew the tank. They need gigantic tanks.

[cfarrow2]

Mine ate some zoanthids. But I think he's worth having around anyway. Here he is doing some aquascaping.

[asherah]

lol.. that's too funny =p
i think the decorator crabs are funny too .. let's just camoflauge ourselves..
I have visions of ppl walking around with stuff stuck to themselves ;p

[fastfish]

I have four Tuxedo Urchins in my reef tank. They are doing a pretty good job at cleaning coraline off the sides of my tank.