Tuxedo Urchin

[crazyfishgirl]

Tuxedo urchins have always intrigued me and so was wondering if they were approptriate for a 39 gallon tank. I do have algae for it to eat, and some coraline, and do realize that I'll most likely have to supplement its feeding at some point. One of my questions is, how " bulldozery" are they? Would it be knocking my rocks all over the place? Or are they more like turbo snails in that if a rocks loose, it'll get knocked over? And how touchy are they in terms of water parameters like salinity and ph? I did a search but nothing much came up. Any urchin keeping tips would be greatly appreciated

[Squared]

i keep a halloween urchin, which is bigger than a tuxedo and in my 29g tank, and he dosn't knock anything down anymore. just make sure everything is glued, and glued on well.

 

mine eats a lot coraline, but also eats some GHA.

[ednangel]

from 1 to 5

I would give a 4 as far as "bulldozery" goes

as far as algae (coralline particularly) eaters a 5

[steve 2]

I had 2 but with doing vodka dosing my nutrient levels aren't high enough to support a lot of algae (kinda the idea of doing it). One tuxido died but the other is still going strong. They do knock things over that are not well secured. They may not eat all kinds of coraline algae. I have some areas of thick c. algae growth but the tuxido seems to leave them alone. Cool animals, love the way they pick up baggage (shells nad what not) and carry it around with them.

Steve

[nathanq.inc]

I have blue tuxedo in my 10gal. He's definitely not a bull dozer! they only grow to a maximum of 2" - 3" my knowledge and rarely anywhere near that. Mine doesn't even eat coraline algae (and most will not! it's easier for them to eat algae than the coraline as it's hard, so they go for the soft stuff that sometimes grows over the coraline, this does sometimes cause them to accidentally eat the coraline though so I can see why people think that haha. But it's like cows grazing on a field, helps keep a healthy variety of organisms and doesn't let one species dominate.)

 

Be prepared for them to lift everything they can. Even snails, crabs, coral, shells, basically anything the can get a hold of.

 

And as for supplemental feeding I'm just about to start a topic and discover how! Whenever I place food for him (i've tried thin sliced carrot, potato and nori) he just picks it up! and all my crabs climb on him and so do my shrimps. It's very difficult! Anyway I'd say they were very hardy and perfect for a nano aquarium.

[crazyfishgirl]

Thanks for all the replys. Will definately give some serious thought to getting one. Just have to glue down some coral drags first will I need to put things in my tank for him to camouflage himself with?

[nathanq.inc]

I put some shells in my tank for him but he prefers just using my coarse substrate. You should be fine! It might take a day or two before he starts picking stuff up so don't worry if he doesn't do it straight away.

[crazyfishgirl]

I put some shells in my tank for him but he prefers just using my coarse substrate. You should be fine! It might take a day or two before he starts picking stuff up so don't worry if he doesn't do it straight away.

 

Cool. Next question, when I pick one out, I imagine I should get one that that has stuff on him already, right? Instead of one that doesn't? Isn't a camoflaged urchin a healthy one?

[bioload]

Cool. Next question, when I pick one out, I imagine I should get one that that has stuff on him already, right? Instead of one that doesn't? Isn't a camoflaged urchin a healthy one?

 

I have 2 in my 56g and somedays they are completely covered in stuff and other days little if anything. They have used shells, coarser pieces of sand,molted shrimp exoskeleton(that was a funny one) and one even had a live hermit crab stuck on him for a couple days. So I don't think you can go by how much of a disguise they have at the moment since it varies so much. If one is decorated then I think thats a good sign, but no decoration may not necessarily be bad.. If they start dropping "spines" that is a bad sign.Excellent algae eaters leaving completely bare rock behind.Take ALOT of time when acclimating.

 

EDIT: mine have been np at all as far as knocking things over but my tank is a little larger and everything is well attached and/or encrusted to the substrate.They are pretty small.

[nathanq.inc]

To be safe, pick one out that is camouflaged, it's definitely a sign of a happy sea urchin. Look for one that is wriggling its long tentacles about as well (although they do this more often during the evening so they might not be so prominent when you go to view him).

 

And regarding acclimating him - my wee guy arrived two days late from shipping so I had to get him out the bag asap so I let him float for 20 mins to get the temp right then poked wee holes in the bag and let it sit for another 20, added him to the tank and then did a 5 percent water change to get rid of the minky water i'd mixed in. He was fine! But generally I'd agree with the above and leave for a bit longer than this.

[crazyfishgirl]

Im definately going to pick one up this weekend. My LFS had some nice healthy looking ones (camouflaged and tentactles waving a bit) when I was there on monday. Pretty decent sizes too, although I'll probably get the smallest one. I can't wait to see it trundling around my tank with bits of things stuck to it

[HVani]

This thread makes me really happy

 

I was also hoping to add one of these guys to my Biocube.

[jeirdo]

One of the best creatures in my tank! They are excellent algae eaters...especially for things like short hair algae.

[nathanq.inc]

Blue Tuxedo Urchins in general make me really happy. I can sit and watch him for hours in the evening with the moonlighting on, waving his tentacles about and they can pick up some speed sometimes haha. All the best in looking after him! and let us know how he settles in

[crazyfishgirl]

Here he is

 

I drip acclimated him for about 45 minutes, then put him on the sand where he promptly started camouflaging himself with bits of coarse sand and some shells I put in there for him. Fascinating creature. Aside from sticking bits of things on himself he hasn't moved tho, is that okay? I imagine he's still getting used to things..at any rate, he makes a wonderful addition to my tank. I think im going to be spending alot of time watching him.

[HVani]

I picked up one last night as well. My LFS had gotten some in and they all looked fantastic (already had stuff on them and crawling around). I acclimated mine about the same amount of time then turned the lights out since it was evening anyway. He moved all over the tank after dark. When the lights came back on he staid in one place for a few hours then started moving again.

 

I agree that they are really neat. Mine has decorated himself with a bit of macro algae a rock and a poor snail I will have to rescue. He seems to like the snails the best lol.

[Dazed1]

I have a blue tuxedo and a white halloween urchin in my nanocube 28.

 

They will pick up anything and everything. Frag plugs, frags, crabs, snails algae, everything. They don't knock anything out, but are fun.

 

And oh, catch one pooping if you can. They make up ALOT of the crap, lol.

[Neya]

I have a blue tuxedo and a white halloween urchin in my nanocube 28.

 

They will pick up anything and everything. Frag plugs, frags, crabs, snails algae, everything. They don't knock anything out, but are fun.

 

And oh, catch one pooping if you can. They make up ALOT of the crap, lol.

My LFS gpot some in the other day. Whats the going price for these? does $20 ea seem about right? Id have to purchase it on hold, so I can get the mag down in my tank.

[crazyfishgirl]

I picked up one last night as well. My LFS had gotten some in and they all looked fantastic (already had stuff on them and crawling around). I acclimated mine about the same amount of time then turned the lights out since it was evening anyway. He moved all over the tank after dark. When the lights came back on he staid in one place for a few hours then started moving again.

 

I agree that they are really neat. Mine has decorated himself with a bit of macro algae a rock and a poor snail I will have to rescue. He seems to like the snails the best lol.

 

Let's see a picture! Mines hanginging out under a cave right now. Glad you decided to get one.

 

 

My LFS gpot some in the other day. Whats the going price for these? does $20 ea seem about right? Id have to purchase it on hold, so I can get the mag down in my tank.

 

20$ sounds good, I paid 25$ for mine

[steely185]

They don't seem to be bulldozers but will pick up hitchhikers.

 

[nathanq.inc]

Crazyfishgirl he looks amazing!!

[Alkamist]

i had one once but poor thing got sucked into a pump while i was gone and ended up dying

[crazyfishgirl]

Crazyfishgirl he looks amazing!!

 

Thanks! Im very excited to have him in my tank.

[HVani]

 

He's awesome! Mine sure does poop a lot though!

[eschaton]

I love my blue tuxedo. He's an algae-eating monster when he gets to the right corner of the tank, although it can take forever to get to it.

 

One thing I love about him is he helps me clean out bubble algae from the tank. He seems to prefer picking up bubble algae to carry around more than anything else. So if I pull a few off of him, then wait a few days, he'll have removed a few more and be carrying those around as well.