Handling tuxedo urchins

[Calappidae]

Can you pick up a tuxedo urchin or are they too prickly?

 

[Nina51]

i have bumped mine occasionally with my hand while working in the tank. prickly, for sure. why would you need to pick it up?

 

[Calappidae]

i have bumped mine occasionally with my hand while working in the tank. prickly, for sure. why would you need to pick it up?

Actually he's carrying a huge xenia frag (I got him like that at the LFS), I wanted to place it somewhere and steal it off him Just didn't want stung in the process

Update: he has too good of a grip on the frag.. I also picked him up and it didn't even scratch me, you'd have to hold him in a fist for the spines to actually hurt.

 

[Nina51]

haha! it's what they do. mine has picked up polyps and packed them around for days at a time. any shell, whether there's a snail in it or not, is also fair game although i see this more with my pincushion than i do with my tuxedo.

 

[ReeferBill]

You can handle them carefully , the spines are soft but the mouth has a beak. I use my long surgical clamp like a tong to clean off the shells and whatever they pick up to decorate themselves with...

 

[gnasher]

I've found the best way to pry something from an urchin's grip is to give him something more interesting in exchange. I found my pincushion gnawing on a dead turbo one day and could NOT pry it away from him. I gave him a little nori and he loosened his grip on the shell enough that I could take it.

 

[FTDelta]

I love tuxedo urchins. In fact, I wouldn't mind having one in my future SW tank.

 

[Betta132]

You have to try and place your fingertips on the bands between spines, but they really aren't that sharp. Like a poky hairbrush, really. I'd suggest holding it by the top or side... They have beaks, and although I've never been bitten I suspect it'd hurt.

 

[Calappidae]

Oi, he let go of the frag.. I glued it to a rock.. and it blew off.. *sigh*

Anyway, I'm constantly picking him up.. he's good for collecting algae and holding it for me to throw away.. looks stylish on him meanwhile.:jester: