I think i love tuxedo urchins

[Lavey29]

So I have been dealing with a moderate level of GHA for months. I pull it out and it grows back to long before the snail crew gets on it. My emerald crabs are to busy eating my corals to be disturbed.

Well my local Petco had some nice tuxedo urchins and I bought 2. Wow, these dudes are total lawn mowers. They are wreaking a path of destruction on my GHA. I could care less if they want acan hats to wear as long as they keep pulverising.

 

[JachPot]

Tuxedo Urchins are by far my favorite thing to add to a tank that isn't a fish or a euphylia. My 13.5 probably isn't large enough for one, so I haven't grabbed one. I'm planning on setting up a 60-90 and I'll probably have at least 1 of each color maybe 2 if I go with the 90.


And in programmer speak, tuxedo's wearing your corals is a feature, not a bug

 

[Lavey29]

Tuxedo Urchins are by far my favorite thing to add to a tank that isn't a fish or a euphylia. My 13.5 probably isn't large enough for one, so I haven't grabbed one. I'm planning on setting up a 60-90 and I'll probably have at least 1 of each color maybe 2 if I go with the 90.


And in programmer speak, tuxedo's wearing your corals is a feature, not a bug

I was hesitant to get them because I didn't want my coraline eaten but so far these dudes are earning their hats.

 

[JachPot]

I never actually had mine strip coraline (not that they don't). I had an algae issue and the one I had only went for the green stuff. I guess in hindsight it did eat coraline off the glass, but that's just a bonus lol

 

[Lavey29]

My banded shrimp was giving them a hard stare down though so hopefully he doesn't try to make a snack out of them or my emerald crabs.

 

[Lavey29]

I never actually had mine strip coraline (not that they don't). I had an algae issue and the one I had only went for the green stuff. I guess in hindsight it did eat coraline off the glass, but that's just a bonus lol

I don't have much on the glass mainly on the rocks and powerheads. They can clean the back glass to its an algae farm there.

 

[blaxsun]

I also have a pair that are absolute workhorses.

 

[Lavey29]

I also have a pair that are absolute workhorses.

Any issues with fish or crabs going after them? How many is good for medium size tank maintenance?

 

[olonmv]

Tuxedo Urchins are by far my favorite thing to add to a tank that isn't a fish or a euphylia. My 13.5 probably isn't large enough for one, so I haven't grabbed one. I'm planning on setting up a 60-90 and I'll probably have at least 1 of each color maybe 2 if I go with the 90.


And in programmer speak, tuxedo's wearing your corals is a feature, not a bug

I have one in my 13.5. He is constantly doin his thing. He currently has about 3 zoa colonies and a few shells as a wardrobe.

 

[JachPot]

I have one in my 13.5. He is constantly doin his thing. He currently has about 3 zoa colonies and a few shells as a wardrobe.

How big is yours? I wanted to get one, but I didn't want him to starve, or to strip my rocks of all the coraline. I've already got an 11 snail cleaning crew.

 

[shakacuz]

added a red tuxedo to my sump for some gha/turf algae and residual bryopsis. i can clearly see where it has been on the bio rocks i have in the sump! workhorse for sure!

 

[olonmv]

How big is yours? I wanted to get one, but I didn't want him to starve, or to strip my rocks of all the coraline. I've already got an 11 snail cleaning crew.

He’s slightly bigger than a golf ball…I was afraid of the same thing but was told that they also scavenge.

 

[Sean Clark]

I have never had a Tuxedo, maybe I will try one.

 

[JachPot]

I have never had a Tuxedo, maybe I will try one.

10/10 recommend them if you have stuff glued down lol

 

[blaxsun]

Any issues with fish or crabs going after them? How many is good for medium size tank maintenance?

None - they pretty much fly under the radar. I've had them for just over a year now. They started out in a pair of IM Fusion 25 tanks and have been flying around in a much larger Red Sea 750XXL. I don't really have a problem with algae, per say - so I suspect 2 would probably be ideal for a medium sized tank.

 

[Lavey29]

Look at this patch he stripped overnight. You go boy, keep on munchin...

 

[olonmv]

Look at this patch he stripped overnight. You go boy, keep on munchin...

I had a patch of GHA and sticking my hands in the tank is something I don’t like doin if I can avoid it. My tuxedo urchin was a use of good money and has proven to be an essential part of my cuc.

 

[Lavey29]

I had a patch of GHA and sticking my hands in the tank is something I don’t like doin if I can avoid it. My tuxedo urchin was a use of good money and has proven to be an essential part of my cuc.

Do you notice just sticking your hand in will cause multiple corals to close for awhile?

 

[olonmv]

Do you notice just sticking your hand in will cause multiple corals to close for awhile?

I can’t say that I have unless I touch them by accident. Being an electrician, it makes me nervous sticking my hands in the tank especially when I’ve worked an 8 hr day. I’ll usually wait until after I have a hot shower before messing with stuff. Personally, I just hate having to dry stuff off after adjusting stuff in the tank lol.

 

[Kmst80]

Any issues with fish or crabs going after them? How many is good for medium size tank maintenance?

I Used to have two...loved them. Then the Mithrax Crab grew to big and I saw it going for my trochus snails. Mithrax Crab went....but urchins were gone too
...apparently the favourite food of bigger crabs