Tuxedo urchins

[Cory]

Ive read an article by Ron Shimmik stating that blue tuxedo urchins generally just like corraline algae. This had made me hesitant to buy one because im worried it wont have enough to eat! Does it survive on hair algae too?

 

[Reef.]

Ive read an article by Ron Shimmik stating that blue tuxedo urchins generally just like corraline algae. This had made me hesitant to buy one because im worried it wont have enough to eat! Does it survive on hair algae too?

I believe if it’s short it will eat it but not if it’s long.

 

[Cory]

I believe if it’s short it will eat it but not if it’s long.

Do you have one?

 

[Reef.]

Do you have one?

No but been looking into getting one, they are meant to be very good cuc but come with other issues such as bashing into corals and I also believe they are fairly delicate? So not made my mind up yet.

 

[ZoWhat]

Tuxedos will eat coraline, rock algae, glass algae.... and depending on its disposition.... will eat certain Zoanthids

They tend to eat the dead tissue off struggling zoas.... that ends up pushing the struggling zoa into a final demise they don't recover from.

I've had greater success with short spine black urchins staying off my zoas

 

[Dkmoo]

They have higher survival rate in mature tanks.

If you have decent coroline growth rate you got nothing to worry about. They eat other stuff too but prefer coraline.

 

[Cory]

Thanks guys. I have two decorator urchins and have no problem feeding them. They even eat pellets.

 

[Trever]

I recently (a few weeks now) got a Tuxedo Urchin that is doing a great job on my GHA.

 

[Cory]

I recently (a few weeks now) got a Tuxedo Urchin that is doing a great job on my GHA.

Nice i guess ill pick one up next time around!

 

[GCL]

In my experience tuxedo urchins are great at eating algae. I’ve had both a pencil urchin and a long spine urchin go after zoas when I had pretty much no algae in the tank for them to eat. But I’ve had a tuxedo since I started my tank and it hasn’t touched any corals.

 

[malacoda]

When I got my tuxedo, I placed it on a rock near a patch of hair algae I was hoping it would significantly trim back if not totally get rid of (only patch in my tank).

It spent about the first week mowing it all down except in a few crevices it couldn't reach.

Then it moved on in search of other food and found the back wall of my tank which has plenty of coralline spots and film algae.

Now and then it moves onto the sidewalls to eat coralline off my gyres, but then always returns to the back wall...

Also tried giving it nori 2-3 times ... but it never ate it. Just wore it like a cloak until it broke down into little bits and pieces that floated away.

Have had it for almost 5 months now ... and it has yet to venture back onto the rocks. Meanwhile the patch of GHA has grown back.

Saw the same behavior with the tuxedo I had previously in my tank.

Bottom line: They will eat GHA but prefer coralline.

 

[radiata]

What R2R needs is an authoritative review listing the algaes that our tropical reef urchins have a preference
for. (Please let me know if such a list already exists!)

 

[DrZoidburg]

I went with a collector urchin. Doesn't sleep like the others do and doesn't eat the coralline algae. Its on the move 24/7. Then got a pincushion cause collector wasn't eating fast enough (for me). Well the collector urchin mows laps around the pincushion.

 

[davidcalgary29]

I have both a variegated urchin and a tuxedo urchin in my IM40, the front of which is getting encrusted with coralline. They have eaten some of the coralline, but not enough for requiring me to scrape away at it every week.

Tuxedo urchins are a lot hardier than people think. I kept one in a 4g jarquarium for a couple of months before moving it into my RSM250. While it did eat most of the halymenia I kept in the jar, it apparently wasn't hungry enough to stop it from using the leftovers as camouflage.