Acclimating Tuxedo Urchin

[schnebbles]

I lost one (he may have been DOA, not sure), and I have another arriving tomorrow and I want to do everything right.

He's coming from Liveaquaria and it looks like their salinity is 1.018-20 - so, how to acclimate him?

I read they need slow acclimation or they won't survive.

One site says 3 hours acclimation, that seems kind of long.

thank you so much!

 

[A sea K]

That salinity is too low. 1.018-1.020 is for fish, they keep the inverts @ 1.023-1.025
From the LA website FAQ's page,
The California facility maintains a specific gravity of 1.018- 1.020 for fish and 1.023 - 1.025 for corals and inverts at a water temperature of 76 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

[schnebbles]

Thank you A sea K - I did order a fish as well, so he will be lower. I'll just test it before I proceed.

I'm going to have to be really careful with these 2 - first live fish/inverts I've ordered online with such different salinity on the fish. It's a $45 fish so I don't want to screw up!

 

[homer1475]

Are you going to QT the fish?

Its easy if you QT. Just match your QT to the incoming salinity, temp acclimate, dump in.

I've never QT'ed inverts, so I just temp acclimate, and dump in.

 

[schnebbles]

I just put some water/salt in a qt and am going to match the salinity. I will have to then drip acclimate him to my 1.026? For the fish.

I also have 2 peppermint shrimp on the way so I'm just going to have to test each bag and acclimate in the same bucket as the urchin assuming it's the same since they are all inverts.