are urchins "safe" with mantis'

[ZC]

title say it.... are urchins safe with mantis shrimps? I've got some algae on my rocks and sand bed that won't seem to go away with just water changes and running phosban. So I was thinking of putting in a large urchin maybe a long spine or a tuxedo ( since those are pretty common and easy to find). What's your opinion??? Oh yeah and i've got a 3'' O.S. in my 20g tank.

Also if you know of anything else that may be safe to try for algae removal let me know i'm open to anything. Only thing is snails, crabs, and anything else that moves fast will only last seconds in my tank...... My mantis is MEAN!

 

[Thurge]

Nothing is "Mantis Safe" except a tank without a mantis. That being said it is worth the try. I have kept Urchin's with other species of mantis with no problem. Try a small one and worse case scenario is it becomes lunch. Mantis should be fed live food on occasion to keep them in tip top shape anyway.

 

[Gonodactylus]

I've seen O. s eat urchins in aquaria.

Roy

 

[ZC]

well i'll try a small one first, maybe I can come across a small hitchhiker on some LR at the LFS...

 

[Red_Six]

I have three urchins in my tank with mantis and they do not bother them. Two of the urchins were dime sized hitchhikers that have grown into golf ball sized adults. The mantis are three inches long and 1 inch long. My mantis eat snails, hermit crabs, abalone and fish.

 

[turnabod]

i keep a javanese damsel with my peacock. i think he likes the company

 

[seahorsedreams]

I kept an pincushion urchin with a G. chiragra for months. Then one day I guess he "knocked on the roof" and there was no more urchin. He also lived with a domino damsel. It stayed in the cave cuddled up to him.... then one day I guess the urchin got bored.... no more damsel.

So although people have kept other critters in their mantis tank you cannot put one in there and say without a doubt "Ya, that critter is safe".

 

[bump321]

I was just given a big plum sized urchin. If my OS mantis gets after it will she get hurt ? She is over 4 inches.

 

[seahorsedreams]

I was a bit nervous with my long spin urchin and the peacock. A few times I saw him swim and start to come down on it belly first... just made me nervous so that I had to move it out. The regular pin cushion type won't hurt 'em.

 

[bump321]

It not the long spin one. It has short ones