I think i love tuxedo urchins

Kmst80 · Feb 20, 2022

Lavey29 said:
Look at this patch he stripped overnight. You go boy, keep on munchin...

Sometimes its the little things making the biggest impact.

Lavey29 · Feb 20, 2022

Kmst80 said:
Sometimes its the little things making the biggest impact.

Agreed. I think they are mainly nocturnal because see to be resting most of the day.

hart24601 · Feb 20, 2022

Urchins are fantastic and often overlooked and tux are my favorite. It’s not snails and crabs that do the majority of the algae removal along real reefs, it’s urchins.

ying yang · Feb 20, 2022

Love tuxedo urchins,I did have 2 blue but went on holiday fir a week in December and came back to a conch dead and next day a urchin,then over next 2 weeks another conch and urchin.
Not entirely sure if it was because less feeding that I left my tank sitter to feed or my rocks not enough algae for some reason even though elevated nutrients .
Trying to get to bottom of it and let rocks mature more before getting a halloween urchin next as they such nice colours indeed ^_^
All over shrimps / snails doing ok.
Actually 2nd conch to die watched him going about his business then a large cleaner shrimp poking and stabbing him then 30 minutes later shrimp got huge piece of him and he coveted in nassarious snails,so even though he looked like he was doing ok,maybe he wasn't and shrimps/ cuc sensed it and ended him pffft

Blumy · Feb 20, 2022

When they are done, let me borrow them. No green algae but coralline is out of control. Everyone gets all excited by it, not me. Grows on everything, glass, pumps, snails…

olonmv · Feb 20, 2022

hart24601 said:
Urchins are fantastic and often overlooked and tux are my favorite. It’s not snails and crabs that do the majority of the algae removal along real reefs, it’s urchins.

I can’t disagree. Ive seen more cleanup production in 3 weeks of having my TU than I have with my cuc.

gbroadbridge · Feb 21, 2022

JachPot said:
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.

I have one in my 13.5g nano.

Didn't buy him, he just hitched in on a coral and one day he got big enough to notice. About the size of a golfball and wearing a zoa frag.

He just wanders around eating something, no idea what but doesn't look like it's starving. Shares the tank with a pair if clowns and a peppermint shrimp

Daniel@R2R · Feb 21, 2022

2 pages and no photos? Y'all slacking! Haha! JK But can we get some pics of these awesome urchins? Show 'em off!

rmorris_14 · Feb 21, 2022

Daniel@R2R said:
2 pages and no photos? Y'all slacking! Haha! JK But can we get some pics of these awesome urchins? Show 'em off!

+1

jpark457 · Feb 21, 2022

I have a pincushion and it’s def my kids favorite thing in the tank. Big enough for them to find but active and small enough to move and hide while doing a good job cleaning. I have wanted a tuxedo but havent seen one for sale locally and don’t want to deal w shipping.

rmorris_14 · Feb 21, 2022

I've been battling GHA for months. and the only reason why I haven't gotten one, is because of the coraline rumor. Mine has just started to spread a little and I don't want the urchin to eat it.

Duncan62 · Feb 21, 2022

JachPot said:
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've had one in a tank full of hammers and nems in the past with no issues other than making sure things are fastened down. I've just started stocking a hammer and torch tank and want one for it. Have you had a problem mixing them? Thanks

Bato367 · Feb 21, 2022

I have a pincushion; his colors are fairly bland, but he is cool.

I wanted a tuxedo, but they didn't have any. My pincushion has eaten nearly all of my coraline, which I don't really like and I have a few tiny patches of GHA that it doesn't seem he has touched. Or maybe he has eaten some and that's why I only have a few tiny patches. The rocks definitely look clean though.

Duncan62 · Feb 21, 2022

Lavey29 said:
Do you notice just sticking your hand in will cause multiple corals to close for awhile?

My acans go into feed mode.

Lavey29 · Feb 21, 2022

rmorris_14 said:
I've been battling GHA for months. and the only reason why I haven't gotten one, is because of the coraline rumor. Mine has just started to spread a little and I don't want the urchin to eat it.

I think they will go after GHA much more then coraline plus you can place them where you want them to work on specific areas in the tank. That's what ibdid.

Duncan62 · Feb 21, 2022

Lavey29 said:
I think they will go after GHA much more then coraline plus you can place them where you want them to work on specific areas in the tank. That's what ibdid.

My tuxedos have liked the glass more than the pincushion. Both are great. I think the pincushion is a worse coraline scraper. It's worth it to keep most algea under control.

Lavey29 · Feb 21, 2022

Strange, one urchin is MIA now. He was tearing it up this morning but now has disappeared. The other one hasn't done to much work at all today. Just laying around. Hope they don't think this is a free vacation or something.