Urchin carrying large nerite snail...can it be removed or ?

[Sagecritter4life]

Well folks title says it all my smaller Blue Tuxedo picked up a large Nerite snail shell (think he was deceased) almost as big as him that I was going to remove today and do sniff test on lol...so can I remove the shell from him or will it harm the urchin etc by removing it?

Don't want to injure him if pulls spines out or his little feelers/feet get injured?

Thanks in advance from any urchin owners sorry no pictures lol

 

[EmdeReef]

Well folks title says it all my smaller Blue Tuxedo picked up a large Nerite snail shell (think he was deceased) almost as big as him that I was going to remove today and do sniff test on lol...so can I remove the shell from him or will it harm the urchin etc by removing it?

Don't want to injure him if pulls spines out or his little feelers/feet get injured?

Thanks in advance from any urchin owners sorry no pictures lol

You absolutely can, my urchin picks up everything, just pull gently as you don't want to break its spines. I remove a snail at least 3x a week. Still love the guy for keeping the glass clean of coralline

 

[Sagecritter4life]

You absolutely can, my urchin picks up everything, just pull gently as you don't want to break its spines. I remove a snail at least 3x a week. Still love the guy for keeping the glass clean of coralline

Thanks EmdeReef...yeah he has been great addition to clean up crew lol leaving those little white trails algae free on my rock everywhere he goes [emoji6]

 

[ThunderGoose]

I've taken things from my urchins and I've also handed them other things (like empty snail shells). My tuxedo doesn't carry much around but my other one (short spine?) will pick up anything she can BUT if she already has "enough" she'll leave everything else alone.

 

[EmdeReef]

I've taken things from my urchins and I've also handed them other things (like empty snail shells). My tuxedo doesn't carry much around but my other one (short spine?) will pick up anything she can BUT if she already has "enough" she'll leave everything else alone.

They're mini bulldozers and fun to watch but coralline algae stands no chance. I'll see spots in the morning and by the evening they'll be cleaned up. The only place I have coralline is on my overflow box and hard to reach corners. Can be annoying with frags when you first add before deciding where to glue. I usually give mine a large piece of nori every day after just adding frags, that seems to work and the urchin won't move much for as long as I feed.

 

[Reeffer noob]

I used to have very thick layers of coraline (160 gallon)... within weeks of having my urchin he had eaten what has taken a year to grow.. i love the big guy but he is a terrorist... constantly knocking over frags and more established pieces

 

[Greckel]

I used to have very thick layers of coraline (160 gallon)... within weeks of having my urchin he had eaten what has taken a year to grow.. i love the big guy but he is a terrorist... constantly knocking over frags and more established pieces

I just got my first tuxedo on Friday. He's really testing my glue jobs.