Never add "THIS INVERT" to your reef aquarium?

[Roatan Reef]

Pincushion Urchin is great and cute...no problems whatsoever.

Emerald Crabs...not so much. I have about 7 in a 40GB tank, the adults are massive. They don't mess with Zoas, Hammer, Goniopora etc...but they not only cleaned my GSP, they straight up ate it all.

Good for cleaning GHA, but after that, they eat Coral. I'm gonna remove the 2 big guys soon.

 

[JoJosReef]

I just added a *decorator crab w/sponges from ReefCleaners* in my nano. It chewed on every coral it came across even after I fed it catfish pellets to fill it's stomach. Acans, blastos, rhodactis, scoly... Also took out a huge chunk of GHA. This thing is a trash compactor but not reef safe (but amazing and bizarre creature)!

 

[Julbra]

If it has crab in the name it doesn’t come near my wallet. Heard too many horror stories on here about them. Same for urchins.
My tiger pistol shrimp was spraying sand all over initially but now has a fairly stable cave complex it’s not so bad. He does redesign it every so often but no more burying the scolymia.

 

[reefinginBD]

I won’t put Hermits as they tend to annoy the snails. I much rather prefer using snails and shrimp instead of hermits.

 

[sfin52]

I'm surprised by the all urchin comments. I have a rock boring urchin. Never messed with a frag. Had it for 3 yrs.

 

[sfin52]

Which one?

There are two types of 'Halloween Hermits'. One is an orange/black color variant of the Blue Knuckled Hermit crab (Calicinus elegans) and this one I found quite aggressive. The other one is one of four species in the Ciliopagurus genus and I have had this one for a while in my current nano without issues (I only have tiny collunista snails, so no worries there).

Any pics

 

[Jim Gomoll]

Glad I read these posts - No Peppermint Shrimp!
Was going to get one or two for a aptasia outbreak, but not now after reading all the horror stories of them tearing up corals its a no go.

Love my Mexican Turbo snails for they do a great job. However, as they have grown to 1 3/8" they are bulldozers knocking over frags or displacing them on sand bed. Can’t bring myself to remove them so guess I’ll keep gluing corals down.

 

[Kapachuka3]

Personally i am done with urchins. Not because i dont like them because they look so cool

But i dont know many people that have had long term success with them. They seem to be sooooooooooooooooo sensitve to any peramiter swing and then just die

Never again

I’ve had mine for a year and about 4 months, he’s doing great. I think it’s more of just feeding with seaweed.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Slate pencil urchins. They love encrusting corals. They're omnivores and mine ate an entire lepto frag in a few hours. He's in the sump now snacking on gracilaria and frozen shrimp, haha.

 

[DHill6]

Personally i am done with urchins. Not because i dont like them because they look so cool

But i dont know many people that have had long term success with them. They seem to be sooooooooooooooooo sensitve to any peramiter swing and then just die

Never again

Tuxedo urchin 3 years and no problem.

 

[czoolander]

I gotta respectfully disagree, I have an urchin going into his second year and he survived the MESS that was my first year. Recently my sister almost cooked my tank but guess what, that urchin is still hauling tail.

If you truly love them, give one another shot. My Meatball is virtually indestructible lol

Well i am glad you are having success i do like urchins and i did say that some reefers have success with them. my point was that most reefers fail with urchins rather then succeed they are far too tempermental to acclimation and tank peramiters .

I have tried a couple times and they just starved out i think........ when there was all kinds of algea in the tank to eat and they just had zero interest in eating anything so yeah we can agree or disagree but i wont put an urchin in my tank again

 

[TopClamSkoo]

My peppermints did a great job on aiptasia but I won't be replacing them unless I find myself with an aiptasia problem again. I actually enjoyed them for the most part, they spawned regularly to the delight of my fish, and they were fun to watch. They only tried to destroy one coral (birdsnest), but that was still one coral too many. Just can't trust them!

Just had a thought......

They say gorilla crabs are horrible and must be taken out asap right????
I've battled getting one out years ago and currently trying to get one out on my new tank...
However, this gorilla crab has left everything alone and it's been more than a month now..
The same applies to the gorilla crab i killed years ago..he lived happily with all my corals for over a year until I discovered him..
From my recollection, when I had a peppermint in the past, these jerks would be destroying lps corals within about a week of introduction esp if u have no aiptasia..

So.... Maybe it's unfair to say gorilla crabs are the spawn of the devil!!

I mean I had a anemone crab live on my bta for 2 weeks. I even fed his butt regularly... But within 2 weeks.. I caught him eating my hammer!

Thoughts??

 

[MuggyReef]

And what size tank? I’d never put any type of linckia in a smaller tank think 50 gallons or less at least longterm.

125 gallon, it’s my first reef tank too.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

125 gallon, it’s my first reef tank too.

Have you done any research? Do you know have any idea what they eat?

 

[Crotalus]

Personally i am done with urchins. Not because i dont like them because they look so cool

But i dont know many people that have had long term success with them. They seem to be sooooooooooooooooo sensitve to any peramiter swing and then just die

Never again

I have a short spine urchin and it's been in my tank for about 3 years. I did have 3 others that died one by one. I also had a long spine that was torn apart by a Chisel Tooth Wrasse. Since the Wrasse died I've had another long spine for over 6 months. The long spine has the added feature of not being able to pick up frags.
The short spine drags a frag out of my Magician Paly about once a month. I glue it to a plug and sell it to the LFS.

 

[czoolander]

I have a short spine urchin and it's been in my tank for about 3 years. I did have 3 others that died one by one. I also had a long spine that was torn apart by a Chisel Tooth Wrasse. Since the Wrasse died I've had another long spine for over 6 months. The long spine has the added feature of not being able to pick up frags.
The short spine drags a frag out of my Magician Paly about once a month. I glue it to a plug and sell it to the LFS.

Yeah urchins are super cool !!!!!!! I wish they would survive in my tank

But my reef seems to be an anomoly LOL

Before my two big zoanthid colonies were thriving now they are closed up for days meanwhile my new SPS frags are doing amazing . While before my SPS would die and zoanthids would thrive .

Reef tank driving me bonkers LOL

 

[Jmcdaniel0]

Starfish other than micro brittles

Finally someone like me!!! Like I dont mind the little brittle ones.... But every star fish I have had has caused problems... They just plow everything over. Same with Urchins... I love em, but man they are a pain.

Decorator crabs make me mad as well. They are industrious little critters at night

 

[Jmcdaniel0]

Purple porcelain crabs are not entirely reef safe: I woke up one morning to seeing mine chow down on a sleeper goby. I suppose it was "filtering" the tank for its food -- just not in the way that I anticipated.

So it was a feature, not a bug. lol

 

[Jmcdaniel0]

F peppermints!!! Ate my lobo, or at least ripped it apart going after it’s food, as well as a few other lps, luckily my wrasse decided to kill it and the hermits, problem solved lol

Wrasse do be like that sometimes....

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Finally someone like me!!! Like I dont mind the little brittle ones.... But every star fish I have had has caused problems... They just plow everything over. Same with Urchins... I love em, but man they are a pain.

Decorator crabs make me mad as well. They are industrious little critters at night

Wow really? Mine are model citizens