Tuxedo Urchin and Crabs

[lkoechle]

Recently I've been battling a GHA outbreak. I was gone in Florida for a month and hubby was rather lax on the tank maintenance. I've bought a new clean up crew since I was down to two turbo snails and one hermit crab. We also bought two emerald crabs since hubby thought they were cool and we thought we knew the risk. Nobody told me it would eat my new fuzzy chiton And since I am back home, the tank is on it's daily water change schedule again. I change daily because my tank is skimmerless and I figure it's just a good habit to be in if there's an emergency.

 

Anyways, both of us have always wanted a Blue Tuxedo Urchin. I've read they are dynamite algae eaters and I am sort of okay if it eats my coraline. I'd rather it not, but I won't be sad if it does.

 

After the experience with my chiton, I want to know if the urchin would be in danger from my emeralds? Also, I don't glue my rock work and it seems to handle a fair amount of pushing from my big snails, so I think it's safe but how hard does an urchin push? Do urchins push rockwork?

 

Thanks! Oh, and I have a 20 long if anyone is wondering.

[albertthiel]

Recently I've been battling a GHA outbreak. I was gone in Florida for a month and hubby was rather lax on the tank maintenance. I've bought a new clean up crew since I was down to two turbo snails and one hermit crab. We also bought two emerald crabs since hubby thought they were cool and we thought we knew the risk. Nobody told me it would eat my new fuzzy chiton And since I am back home, the tank is on it's daily water change schedule again. I change daily because my tank is skimmerless and I figure it's just a good habit to be in if there's an emergency.

 

Anyways, both of us have always wanted a Blue Tuxedo Urchin. I've read they are dynamite algae eaters and I am sort of okay if it eats my coraline. I'd rather it not, but I won't be sad if it does.

 

After the experience with my chiton, I want to know if the urchin would be in danger from my emeralds? Also, I don't glue my rock work and it seems to handle a fair amount of pushing from my big snails, so I think it's safe but how hard does an urchin push? Do urchins push rockwork?

 

Thanks! Oh, and I have a 20 long if anyone is wondering.

Feed them, and feed them more and make sure he has enough food and some to spare and he should (note I say should) leave everything else alone

 

When he does not have enough food he will go for whatever else he can get including what you mentioned, and more. Some have reported that they went for small fish.

 

So the key I guess is to keep the Crab well fed with algae and seaweed and left over fish foods.

 

FWIW

[AirportFF]

Nobody told me it would eat my new fuzzy chiton

 

 

Hmmmm... that's probably what happened to mine.....

[albertthiel]

Hmmmm... that's probably what happened to mine.....

 

Yes that is a good possibility if he was running out of what he normally feeds on and went looking for whatever else he could get a bite on

 

Albert

[HVani]

I have had my tuxedo urchin for almost a year. During that time I've had emerald crabs off and on and they have never bothered my urchin.

[lkoechle]

Yes that is a good possibility if he was running out of what he normally feeds on and went looking for whatever else he could get a bite on

 

Albert

 

Thats probably what happened. We had gotten the crabs a day earlier. The LFS had them in a tank with no algae or anything else for them to nom on. So I think the crab was making up for lost time. Still really pooed on my day. The chiton was really cool and I looked forward to watching it. However, I'm not about to spend $2.50 on a Chiton but $28 on shipping from ReefCleaners. The only reason I had ordered it was because I got a quick crew and had free shipping as a result. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any chitons at the LFSs around here.

 

 

I have had my tuxedo urchin for almost a year. During that time I've had emerald crabs off and on and they have never bothered my urchin.

 

 

It's good to hear that everyone has the same consensus as long as the crabs are happy the urchin should be fine. I was pretty alarmed after seeing the crab rip into the chiton.