Cleanup crew ideas

merlberg · Dec 11, 2015

eatbreakfast said:
Urchins won't bother fish at all, unless a fish gets startled and inadvertently swims into an urchin spine, they won't interact.

Gotcha!

merlberg · Dec 11, 2015

vladandlilith said:
My experience with my Stars and Stripes Puffer and my Porcupine Puffer are that my Stars and Stripes will eat any smaller fish that has ever been in that tank and the only cuc that didn't get annihilated were my long spine urchins.

Wow really... Ok i will def. look into getting an urchin esp. Since more than 1 person mentioned tht. Thank you. I was just worried about the urchin messing around with any of my fish because when i went to my lfs one day n i asked about this black one i seen she told me no because it was very aggressive. But as i said i will look into it more now. Thanks again.

Waters · Dec 11, 2015

Urchins definitely won't mess with fish. The best ones in my experience are the tuxedo urchins. You don't have to worry about the long spines not only catching your hands in the tank, but also knocking frags off your rocks.

merlberg · Dec 11, 2015

Waters said:
Urchins definitely won't mess with fish. The best ones in my experience are the tuxedo urchins. You don't have to worry about the long spines not only catching your hands in the tank, but also knocking frags off your rocks.

Ok good to knw.. N in refernce to the long urchins do you mean i "do" have to worry about them catching my hand in the tank and knocking things off?

Waters · Dec 12, 2015

merlberg said:
Ok good to knw.. N in refernce to the long urchins do you mean i "do" have to worry about them catching my hand in the tank and knocking things off?

The longspine urchin is venomous, its' sting being roughly equivalent to a bee sting. They also tend to bulldoze more due to the longer spines, sometimes knocking frags around that aren't attached.

merlberg · Dec 12, 2015

Waters said:
The longspine urchin is venomous, its' sting being roughly equivalent to a bee sting. They also tend to bulldoze more due to the longer spines, sometimes knocking frags around that aren't attached.

Venomous?! Really. Hmm that prob. Wouldnt work for me lol. I'm sometimes scared to put my hand in my tank because of my humu trigger lml. I'd prob. Be terrified now that i knw it is venomous. Thanks for the heeads up.

merlberg · Dec 14, 2015

Can i put 2 different urchins together anyone?

eatbreakfast · Dec 14, 2015

merlberg said:
Can i put 2 different urchins together anyone?

Yes,they are fine together.

merlberg · Dec 15, 2015

Thnks

KPhilly · Dec 15, 2015

I remember my Urchin being quite the "pooper," though. Not sure if that bothers you much, but it adds to the waste.

merlberg · Dec 15, 2015

KPhilly said:
I remember my Urchin being quite the "pooper," though. Not sure if that bothers you much, but it adds to the waste.

I didnt think of tht... Thnks for the reminder as now i may stick with 1.

Pete polyp · Dec 15, 2015

Waters said:
The longspine urchin is venomous, its' sting being roughly equivalent to a bee sting. They also tend to bulldoze more due to the longer spines, sometimes knocking frags around that aren't attached.

I had a long spine get me in the palm several years ago. Although it wasn't extremely painful it did hurt all the way past my elbow. It was just a tiny little stick too. A bigger problem you could have with an urchin is to get stuck really good and a spine break off in your skin. There's no way to remove the spine and you would have to wear it until it comes out on its own.

merlberg · Dec 15, 2015

Pete polyp said:
I had a long spine get me in the palm several years ago. Although it wasn't extremely painful it did hurt all the way past my elbow. It was just a tiny little stick too. A bigger problem you could have with an urchin is to get stuck really good and a spine break off in your skin. There's no way to remove the spine and you would have to wear it until it comes out on its own.

Omg thts horrible. Ummm and tht is what i was looking at to get. What do you think about the short spine one? I knw for sure i do not want a long spine one now, i'd be too afraid to put my hand in my tank lol

Waters · Dec 15, 2015

merlberg said:
Omg thts horrible. Ummm and tht is what i was looking at to get. What do you think about the short spine one? I knw for sure i do not want a long spine one now, i'd be too afraid to put my hand in my tank lol

The short spine tuxedo urchins are excellent members of the CUC. You have no worries regarding the long spines (they can easily be handled) and they seem to "sense" their surroundings better, being much more unlikely to knock stuff over. You may find a frag stuck to their back lol, but that is about it. They like to cover themselves for protection with anything they can grab and carry.

merlberg · Dec 15, 2015

Waters said:
The short spine tuxedo urchins are excellent members of the CUC. You have no worries regarding the long spines (they can easily be handled) and they seem to "sense" their surroundings better, being much more unlikely to knock stuff over. You may find a frag stuck to their back lol, but that is about it. They like to cover themselves for protection with anything they can grab and carry.

Lol ok thts good to hear. Thanks alot for the info!