tuxedo urchin lovers

[Millticket]

Thinking about getting a red or blue tuxedo urchin for my tank. I think they look awesome, plus it may munch on my green hair algae as well. I know some people say they munch on coraline which wouldn't bother me either. In terms of current tank invertebrates, its just my rbta, snails, and 5 small hermits. All my coral are glued down.

So can anyone who loves them, give some thoughts/advice on keeping them happy?

 

[schatzi]

They take care of themselves pretty well I think. I've had one for several months now and other than eating my foam wall it's been interesting to watch. You will be amazed at what they find to put on their head (actually butt) to camouflage themselves. It does make them harder to find sometimes, well in a bigger tank.

 

[Millticket]

They take care of themselves pretty well I think. I've had one for several months now and other than eating my foam wall it's been interesting to watch. You will be amazed at what they find to put on their head (actually butt) to camouflage themselves. It does make them harder to find sometimes, well in a bigger tank.

It sounds like they are a blast to watch. I forgot to ask, but any problems with zoas?

 

[schatzi]

I never saw any but that doesn't mean it can't happen. The teeth on those things are fierce. In fact I can't recall ever seeing it on any of the corals or mushrooms but it will knock things around, frags and rocks that aren't glued down. the tank it's in now doesn't have any coral, just rock and sand.

 

[medic155]

I never saw any but that doesn't mean it can't happen. The teeth on those things are fierce. In fact I can't recall ever seeing it on any of the corals or mushrooms but it will knock things around, frags and rocks that aren't glued down. the tank it's in now doesn't have any coral, just rock and sand.

+1. I'm picking frags out of the sand every 2 or three days from my Halloween tuxedo. He likes to "clean" my frag rack, and by clean, I mean move every flipping frag around to where he thinks is best. But he is awesome to watch.

 

[aandfsoccr04]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1733895&highlight=tuxedo+urchin

 

[Millticket]

Thanks for the replies and thanks for the link. Great information. There's one on divers den that I'm going to get for next week. Can't wait to get the little guy in my tank and the amusement that will follow. Thanks again!

 

[Almondsaz]

I have kept both the pincushion and the tuxedo and have had great luck with both of them. I kept the tuxedo in my 120 and it did eat coraline, but I had some much I could only tell by the rock it was currently cleaning. They are definitely a no fuss invert and I always enjoyed watching it. One thing that I was told was not to pull the debris off it that it picks up along the way - it is there camouflage.

In my current tank which is only a 40 gallon, I have a pink pincushion and it will pick up the zoanthids that aren't glued down, but everything else seems to be fine, even all my acans. There are some that I would not recommend like the long spine (unless you had bangaii cardinals and were breeding them) or pencil which are not reef safe and tear apart the aquascape.

 

[TAZ_67]

They take care of themselves pretty well I think. I've had one for several months now and other than eating my foam wall it's been interesting to watch. You will be amazed at what they find to put on their head (actually butt) to camouflage themselves. It does make them harder to find sometimes, well in a bigger tank.

Mine has had about everything imaginable stuck to him. He gets around to. He is probably the lowest maintanance thing that I have in the tank.

 

[Millticket]

Glad to hear. I just bought a red tuxedo from divers den. Now I just have to wait until Tuesday....

 

[Paul B]

They take care of themselves. Sometimes I give him a nice piece of hair algae from my algae scrubber to munch on.

This is how you have to dress when you collect tuxedo urchins.

 

[Millticket]

They take care of themselves. Sometimes I give him a nice piece of hair algae from my algae scrubber to munch on.

This is how you have to dress when you collect tuxedo urchins.

Haha nice! I hope mine will chow down on some gha.

I just got through reading your feeder thread. Got me thinking about doing some of your dyi feeders. Awesome stuff!

 

[hoju74]

Mine is constantly stealing rubble from my jawfish. Mine was sold to me as a multi-colored urchin. Just make sure your corals are glued down tight..

 

[nam2212]

I have had a blue tuxedo urchin for a few months. Mine has been carrying around a few frags of pink clove polyps for a while now. They are very low maintenance IMO.

 

[Paul B]

I also have one of those