Tuxedo Urchin Movement?

meverha1

New member
Curious to hear from other tuxedo urchin owners... how much does your urchin move?

I added one to my tank on Sunday - placed him on a rock that was covered in hair algae. So far it's moved about an inch. However, the short little trail behind the urchin is totally stripped of hair algae and the rock is pure white so it's eating. It also hasn't lost any spines.

Is low movement normal?
 
Sounds totally fine.. Its got a spot where its happy/eating as proven by the trial of white..

If your main motivation in life was eating and the fast food joint was open 24 hours having a free buffet would you leave there? :)
 
I agree, they'll just kinda move around for food as they see fit. Hanging in one place for a while is common. I have four different urchins including a tuxedo and they're all like that.
 
I am interested in adding one of two of those guys. I don't have much algae on rocks, but I have some in the back glass where I can't reach to clean.

Can they climb on glass?
Will they knockoff small frags?
 
I've heard that tuxedo urchins are less prone to knocking over rocks and frags than other urchins. However, they have been known to pick up a frag and "wear" it for awhile.
 
my tux will pick up hermit crabs sometime and wear them like a hat.... its funny.
floating thermometer is my favorite.. It will eventually let go and it rockets to the surface..
A little dragons breath macro.. probably a snail shell or 2 on the back side..
IMAG0280.jpg
 
floating thermometer is my favorite.. It will eventually let go and it rockets to the surface..
A little dragons breath macro.. probably a snail shell or 2 on the back side..
IMAG0280.jpg



That is one of the coolest pictures I've seen lol.


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I have 2 tuxedo urchins and they don't seem especially prone to knocking frags over. One is rather young/small (~1.25" in diameter) while the other is larger (~1.75" diameter). They both move around a fair bit, but will stay in one place a while if they find something they really like. The large one spends equal time on rock and glass. So far, mine have only decorated themselves with small things like a carbon pellet (not sure where he found that!), bits of algae, and small shells or sand particles. They are super cool creatures! :)
 
I love mine, he moves around a lot. My tank is only 4 months old so he probably has to to find food but he's the coolest thing. I am glad he survived my tank crash. He doesn't dress up much, only picks up gravel from the tank floor on occasion. I wish he would because I think it's funny.

McGyver - I love that pic!
 
mine probably moves about a foot an hour. super fascinating to watch. Once and a while it seems to find a rock it really likes and camps out, but i don't think I've ever seen mine in the same spot even 3 hours apart.
 
I'm dealing with a fairly significant hair algae issue so mine hasn't moved off the rock I initially placed it on but that rock is slowly becoming almost perfectly clean.

Thinking about picking up a 2nd urchin as my 110 gallon tank should be able to support 2, even when the initial hair algae issue is solved.
 
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