Tuxedo urchin and LPS polyps

[mr.lordacan]

Id like to get a tuxedo urchin as part of my CUC and saw they are aggressive GHA eaters and reef safe. However, should I have any concerns about the spines damaging the polyps of my LPS? Specifically trumpets and bubble coral?

 

[bvanfish]

Mine has not hurt anything or any corals but that’s my experience

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Oooo i want to know this too

I've been wanting a tux but worried about popping my octospawn

 

[rc8t6353]

They are the best CUC member in my opinion. Just make sure your frags are glued down! They like to take decorations!!

 

[mr.lordacan]

They are the best CUC member in my opinion. Just make sure your frags are glued down! They like to take decorations!!

Yeah, that’s what I’ve been reading! I always glue mine down, so I’m just hoping to confirm they don’t accidentally damage corals in passing. The posts I’ve seen so far are concerned about intentional grazing of soft corals, which doesn’t seem to be the case.

 

[ryanjohn1]

I’ve got a pin cushion urchin. It’s never hurt any of my lps. Again tho. Frags gotta be glued down.

 

[rc8t6353]

Oh, and besides wearing your coral for awhile, then dropping it, the are absolutely safe. My tank is heavy on LPS ( frogspawn,hammer, octospawn) and it never bothers them. Right now he's wearing some bubble algae!

 

[TWYOUNG]

I've made a lot of progress reducing long hair algae with snails but still have "fuz" on the rock. Looking at adding Tuxedo urchins but concerned they will also eliminate the coralline I'm just starting to grow. Can Tuxedos and coralline coexist?

 

[Marcs_Reef]

I've made a lot of progress reducing long hair algae with snails but still have "fuz" on the rock. Looking at adding Tuxedo urchins but concerned they will also eliminate the coralline I'm just starting to grow. Can Tuxedos and coralline coexist?

I want to know this as well. Hope someone responds

 

[OctaviusBrine]

Well with my experience with mine he was by far the best cleaner I’ve ever had. however he did much on my corals as well as my coralline. He ate part of my acan and the last straw was eating my scoly. I did also feed him to try and keep him happy so he didn’t eat corals. I moved him to my Fowler. He grew pretty big as well long spines. Black tuxedo btw. I’d say reef safe with cation just like the luck I have had with emerald crabs.

 

[Eric R.]

Tuxedos will 100% eat coraline algae. I would not worry about them eating corals, and I'm suspicious if they did, as they are herbivores not omnivores. My tuxedo does most of my cuc work as far as algae goes.

 

[mr.lordacan]

I want to know this as well. Hope someone responds

I’ve had my tuxedo for 2 months. He definitely eats coralline, but not all of it. I’ll have large swaths of coralline on my AIO and when my tuxedo goes over it, you see little pieces missing. But leaves plenty of coralline behind to continue growing

 

[Eric R.]

Sorry, to clarify, I meant that tuxedo urchins will eat coralline algae. Not that tuxedo urchins will eat 100% of your coralline algae. In my 13.5g evo, my one tuxedo has eaten most of the coralline over the last few months. I also don't supplement with much ca or alk between water changes, as it's mostly a softie/LPS tank with low ca/alk demand and I do large water changes once or twice a month, so my coralline doesn't grow very fast.

 

[Narideth]

I have two tanks, each with a blue tuxedo in them, and I've definitely learned a little about their habits.

They've not intentionally harmed any coral I have, which is softies and LPS, however I bought a new frag of firework cloves which were only loosely attached to the plug, and the urchin more or less ripped them off while eating the algae around the base. He carried them around for a bit before I saved them and worked on getting them reattached.

That being said, they are somehow incredibly gentle. I watch them munch over my zoas and scour the algae between the polyps with a surgeon's precision, leaving the zoas completely unharmed, if a little unhappy for the direct contact. They also knocked over one of my hammers which wasn't well glued - they can't exactly squeeze themselves smaller with a hard internal structure.

They are amazing cleaners, and so far it seems that if they have better algae to munch on they don't seem to mess with coralline, but it may simply be down to the preference of each critter.